Matt Archer: Blade's Edge by Kendra C. Highley Read Free Book Online Page A

the woman Mike said could kill us with just her thumbs.
    Uncle Mike sighed. “When your Mom was pregnant with you, Matt, Erik got a call. He was asked to go deep undercover—somewhere in Asia is all I know. Dani was so scared he’d die over there she just couldn’t take it anymore, and Erik had already made some pretty big enemies during his career. To keep you safe, she and Erik decided he should leave the family rather than endanger the three of you.”
    My dad wasn’t a deadbeat? He could have been part of my life? And he wasn’t because Mom was scared? I jumped to my feet, anger banging uneven jolts in my heart. Who cared if I had lied about my secret job—she’d lied about the most important thing in my life. I knew I was about to say something I’d never get to take back, but it was like my mouth had a mind of its own.
    I turned on Mom. “He’s out trying to keep the country safe and you made him leave? Damn it, Mom! Why? Why would you do that to us?”
    “Don’t you dare question me,” Mom said. “You have no idea what we went through or how agonizing that decision was for us.”
    “Maybe about as agonizing as thinking my dad didn’t give a crap about me for my whole freaking life?” I shouted. “Or wondering what I did to make him leave before I was even born?”
    “Matt, it wasn’t like that,” Uncle Mike said, sounding tired.
    “No? Then what happened?” I pointed at my mother, who’d risen from the recliner with her fists clenched. “Was it because she was too weak to handle the stress?”
    I drew in a shocked breath as soon as the words left my mouth. Mamie let out a horrified squeak and the room crackled with tension. Without a saying a thing, Mom stalked toward me, hand raised to slap my face.
    Julie, moving in a blur, reached Mom first and grabbed her arm. “Dani, let it go. He’s just upset and said something without thinking. Let it go.”
    Aunt Julie’s voice was completely calm and Mom’s arm relaxed. She took a step back, her chest heaving as she gulped down air. The stark silence that followed was broken only by Mamie’s hiccupped sobs and Mom stared at me, a pained expression contorting her face. She’d never struck me before, not even when I’d deserved it. I stared back, my mouth hanging open, still pissed and unsure if I should yell or start smashing furniture or fall at her feet to apologize.
    Aunt Julie put her hands on Mom’s shoulders and steered her into the kitchen. Mike watched them go. Mamie cried even harder while Brent rocked her back and forth. He looked up at me, a mixture of pity and hatred in his eyes.
    “I can’t believe you’d do this to Mom.” His glare deepened into something really ugly. “No, wait, I can. You’ve always acted like being the youngest gave you a right to do whatever you want and to Hell with the rest of us. You’re nothing but a selfish bastard.”
    I lunged at him. “You son of a—”
    Mike leapt off the love seat, grabbed both of my arms and marched me out the front door. He looked more angry than he ever had, even more than when I’d gotten into a fight at school last year. Without a word, he pushed me down the sidewalk to the park at the end of the block. It was empty, the swings swaying in the chill winter wind. A few wan-looking leaves fluttered off the aspen tree planted by the monkey bars and icicles dripped off the slide. Perfect place for a knock-down, drag-out fight.
    “Brent didn’t mean it, Matt.” Purple-faced, Mike picked up a fallen branch and snapped it. “He’s in shock.”
    “He called me a selfish bastard for being the youngest, and you blame it on shock? What planet are you on, Uncle Mike?” Neither of us had coats, but I was too pissed to be cold and I paced to keep my blood flowing hot.
    “This from the kid who just called his mother weak in front of her entire family?” Mike growled. “You’re not in a position to criticize your brother.”
    I crossed my arms to keep from punching the metal