Page 10 of Never To Be Mine

“You think I’m a dragon slayer?”

I wanted to be a dragon slayer, right? I liked saving people from charlatans. Usually. But I wasn’t sure I loved the way it came across on camera. I looked like the dragon rather than the slayer.

“You’re my hero.” She smiled.

“Liar.”

“Don’t freak out. You called him out. That’s what you do. Someone just had the bright idea to twist it and use it for their promotion. He’s riding your coattails.”

My mind spun. I could see the fallout from that stupid video like I was gazing into a crystal ball. Once again, I couldn’t breathe. Kari took the phone and looked at me with genuine concern.

“Just breathe. Remember that one yogi? Her breathing techniques were amazing. Touch your thumb to your finger.”

I wanted to tell her to fuck off and let me have my freakout. But I did it anyway because a panic attack was absolutely a possibility.

The breathing exercises were almost working. My heart rate was starting to slow. The panic was beginning to recede. Then my office door swung open.

My father stood in the doorway, his usually warm expression replaced with something harder. His jaw was set and his eyes flashed with anger. No. Disappointment. Anger would have been fine. Anger I could manage.

Disappointment was unbearable.

“What the hell happened at that expo?”

4

HOLLIS

Ileaned back in my chair and watched Callum hold court by the grill at Drew’s house. All of us Blackwell siblings had our homes right on the beach, up and down the southern California coastline. We all needed the ocean views to stay sane in our busy lives.

Our oldest brother, Callum, looked relaxed, like he was just grilling burgers, but I knew he was paying attention to everything. One hand held a spatula and the other was wrapped around a beer. He had on khaki shorts and an ugly Hawaiian shirt. I had no idea why he had it on but assumed Victoria, his wife, put him up to it.

Callum in love was a strange and wonderful thing to witness. He’d spent years being deliberately self-contained. Always holding everybody together, never needing anything from anyone. Then one day Victoria walked into his life and knocked him sideways. Technically he knocked her sideways, literally, and the rest was history. They fell in love and were in the process of living happily ever after.

She was good for him and vice versa.

Micah sat down at the table and handed me a fresh IPA.

“Thanks,” I said. “Where’s Drew? He went in to get me a drink like an hour ago.”

“Inside. Kensey’s in there with him.”

I snorted. “Ah. Of course. The newlyweds.”

Drew and Kensey had known each other since they were kids. Everyone always knew they should be together except for them. She moved away and started a whole life without him, but when she’d come back to California for the summer, their lifelong friendship became something deeper. She’d taken a job working with Drew to help him out, and somewhere in the middle of it the two of them figured their shit out. Kensey had gotten a teaching job here in LA and turned her whole life sideways to be with Drew.

I was glad she did. Drew was better with her here. More settled. And really happy.

The sliding door opened and they came out together, Kensey carrying a bowl of salad.

“Food’s almost ready,” she announced.

Ten minutes later, we were all sitting outside on the deck with the ocean breeze coming off the water.

I took another bite of my burger, trying to focus on the flavors. The texture was better than last week’s batch—I’d adjusted the binding agents—but something was still off. Some mushroom powder might help.

My imitation meat burgers were good. Really good. I even got my brothers to agree they were better than anything else on the market. But I could make them better. More importantly, I needed to work out how to keep the quality up while making them in bulk. So far, that had been no easy task.

“What’s that face?” my youngest brother, Beau, asked, pointing his beer at me. “You look like you’re doing calculus.”