Page 99 of Reckless Devotion

“I’m sorry,” Mason says gruffly, sliding his hands into the pockets of his tux. “For being unfair.”

I frown. “Who are you and what have you done with my brother?”

He looks sharply up in what could almost be considered an eye roll. “Take it or leave it.”

I can’t believe my ears. Or in fact, I totally can because this is Mason we’re talking about. He waltzes in here after thirty years of animosity and expects me to wipe all that away in a matter of seconds?

“You’ve got some nerve.” I place my glass down onto the curved wall of balustrades that circles the balcony harder than intended.

I have every plan to leave his grumpy ass here and go to look for Pepper, but he stops me by holding his arm out to block my path.

“I know I’m an asshole, and I know you don’t deserve it.” The glacial blue in his eyes glints, clean-shaven jaw clamped tight.

“Then why do it?” I throw back in challenge, feeling years of repressed animosity boil to the surface.

“You’ve got his eyes,” he says softly, darkness flitting across his own. My body goes rigid, adrenaline pumping through my system. We battle silently, his icy blues to my browns—the ones I inherited from our father.“And you look more like him the older you get.”

I feel my lip threaten to curl into a sneer and work very hard to stop it, heart hammering against my ribs. “I’m not him,” I growl through gritted teeth.

I think deep down I subconsciously knew it might be this, especially as my own mother grows more reluctant to be near me when she’s having an episode. Sometimes I see it in her face; the betrayal, the disgust, likeI’mthe one who—

“I know, but it’s hard sometimes.” Mason shrugs, lowering his arm. “I’m not saying it’s fair, but it’s the truth.”

“And what am I meant to do with that piece of information? Print it off and wipe my ass?”

Part of me wishes he hadn’t bothered. On one hand, it’s validating to have him acknowledge the unfair way he treats me, but on the other…ignorance is bliss. Anything that places me in my father’s likeness makes my skin crawl and is something I can live without.

He lets out a low sigh, his gaze glued to the guests who dance around the catwalk. “I’ll try and work on it.”

“It wasn’t just you, you know.” I steeple my spine, watching his face turn pale.

He whips it my way. “What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean.”

The piano song below shifts, transforming into something more upbeat. It does nothing to lift the overpowering density that cloaks the air between us. Mason had it worse than me. Alotworse. And for that reason, I never told him about my own experience with our delightful father, although I’d always wondered if he knew.

“Motherfucker!”Mason curses, turning away from me and pacing to the back of the balcony, swiping a hand down his face, hard. “I swear to god, if that piece of shit weren’t dead already, I’d kill him myself.”

“You didn’t know?” I swallow thickly around the wedge in my throat.

Mason turns back around, his face drawn tight and tortured. “He told me he wouldn’t touch you if I kept quiet.”

A strange sensation splits my stomach in two, taking me aback. I stare, and stare, and stare. Reality seeps in, that Mason suffered in silence for all those years in some misguided attempt to save me.

“Well, he was a liar.” I sniff, running a finger around a collar that suddenly feels claustrophobic. “Which is no great leap, considering what we know about him.”

“There is that.” Mason presses two fingers and a thumb into his eyes and sighs. “Look, it was shitty and it happened. We can’t change that, but I’ll try and do better. Okay?”

I shrug. “Okay.”

I’m not sure that a leopard can change his spots. Mason was so locked down before Mia that I’d expect to see more emotion on a robot. The version of himself that he is today is worlds apart. Perhaps some people max out their capacity for change, but we’re brothers and there is no getting away from that, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.

He steps up to me, placing his hand on the back of my neck. I’m a big guy, but at six-foot-seven, my brother is bigger. In more ways than one. I don’t think you ever quite grow out of the way you idolize your older brother. What he fails to see is that I spent most of our childhood trying tobehim. Because to me, he was the coolest fucking thing on this planet, and yet all he did was shun me.

“And in case it isn’t clear, I love you and I always have.”

The bridge of my nose stings, shock barreling into every corner of my body. I’m too stunned to even say anything in return as he offers me a final nod and walks away.