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

swing set. “Maybe I said something stupid in the heat of the moment, but did you even hear what Brent said, that I didn’t care about the rest of the family? That’s complete crap and you know it! Brent’s always resented me, for being the ‘baby,’ even though he was always bigger and faster and more talented. I bet he was glad to finally have an excuse to say it outright.”
    Mike closed his eyes. “You don’t know that. Sibling rivalry is a weird thing. Brent’s just really messed up right now. We never told you or Mamie, but Brent was the apple of your dad’s eye. Of the three of you, he’s the only one who truly lost his dad. You and Mamie were too young to remember him, but Erik left a hole in Brent’s life. If I were you, I’d give Brent the benefit of the doubt.”
    “And if he keeps saying I’m too self-centered to care about Mom or Mamie?” I asked. If Mike thought I’d just let this go, he was an idiot.
    “Then you can kick his ass, and say I told you it was okay,” Mike said. “Just don’t kill him.”
    He wasn’t kidding.
    “Fine. What about Mom?”
    “For starters, you had no right to talk to your mother that way. Do you have any idea what she went through? What she and Erik sacrificed for you? Everything we did, every lie we told, was to protect you kids. Erik wanted it this way. Better for you to think he abandoned you than live in a constant state of anxiety, or be in danger from people who want him dead,” Mike said. “Of all people, I’d expect you to understand that. And now Dani has to go through it again, but it’s worse—it’s her baby out there.”
    I swallowed some of my rage, trying to see it from his side. I’d never win if I argued, that much I knew. But it also explained why Mike had been so against telling Mom about my job. “Because now she has the burden of knowing.”
    “Yes,” he snapped. “And you acting like an ungrateful five-year-old didn’t help defuse the situation. You didn’t have the full picture, sure, and I’d be mad about that, too. But the mission hangs in the balance. You aren’t eighteen. Forget about joining the team full time. If Dani refuses to give her permission, we’ll have to put you on inactive status until you become a legal adult.” He turned to me, real fear sparking in his brown eyes. “You and your knife, out of the field for more than two years? We’d be overrun!”
    “She was gonna find out sometime, Uncle Mike,” I said, making no attempt to sound reasonable. I’d tried to tell him and the colonel both that we needed to talk to Mom for months. They hadn’t listened and here we were. My only options now were to convince her to let me stay on the team, or turn my back on my family and sue for emancipation.
    My anger turned to icy fear. I had the papers in my desk. I never even told Mamie that I’d looked into emancipation because I worried it’d hurt her. And if I was really honest, the idea made me feel sick inside. Becoming legally separated from my family just so I could fight monsters wasn’t something I wanted to do. Hopefully, I wouldn’t have to.
    “This was bound to happen,” I said quietly.
    “I know, I know.” Mike dropped the last pieces of his mangled tree branch. “But try to see this from her side of things. Her brother enlisted her youngest child into the Green Berets without asking.”
    Mike was right; I’d known it in my gut all along. But she’d lied, too. Even knowing what I’d put her through, I still felt totally betrayed that she’d kept Dad a secret all these years. Yeah, she had a right to be pissed with me. I had a right to be pissed with her, too, but I’d have to back down—at least for now—if I wanted to stay on the team.
    “So now what?” I asked, each word punctuated by a puff of steam in the chilly air. “Mom’s hysterical. Mamie is, too. Brent wishes he didn’t know me. Do we go back and sort this out, or can we leave the country until everyone calms