As Hot as It Gets

His lips formed a thin, angry line.

“What did your brother do, Jackson?”

“He beat the shit out of me.”

Her eyes went wider than Frisbees. “What?”

“He beat me,” Jackson said dully. “And I’m not talkin’ about a mean right hook or a kick to the nuts. He busted me up real good—two black eyes, split lip, broken nose, sprained wrist, three fractured ribs.”

Mia was agape. “Oh God.”

“My dad heard the commotion and rushed into the barn—he had to wrestle Shane off me. My folks wanted to call an ambulance, but I refused, so Dad carried me inside and my mama cleaned me up best as she could.” Jackson set his jaw. “Wasn’t long before the sheriff showed up, but before he could step foot in the house, Casper’s truck was speedin’ up the drive again. This time Tiff was behind the wheel.”

Mia scowled. “About f**king time she showed up.”

“Apparently Casper had come back to the farm in a rage, told Tiff that he was pressing charges, and she knew she couldn’t let the lie go on. She came clean, right there in front of everyone. My folks, Shane, the sheriff. I realized later how difficult that must’ve been for her, admitting to a group of people that she’d asked me to tie her up and f**k her in the ass—and that she’d enjoyed it.”

“Difficult for her? Did she even stop to consider how difficult it would be for you to be accused of rape? What a…a…bitch!”

A weak smile lifted Jackson’s lips. He found Mia’s fury on his behalf oddly sweet, but still he had to argue, “She wasn’t acting out of malice. She panicked, pure and simple.”

“Don’t you dare defend her. Tiffany Griffen is a first-class bitch for doing what she did. She could’ve destroyed your entire life!”

“She did,” he said ruefully. “No matter her motives, and even though she recanted her story, the damage had already been done. I was beaten to a bloody pulp, things between Shane and me could never be the same after what he’d done. And then there was the people in town…”

Mia narrowed her eyes. “What about them?”

“Let’s just say the folks of Abbott Creek aren’t the forgetting type. They like to whisper and gossip and spread shit around that ain’t true. I couldn’t go into town after that without folks staring and pointing at me. No matter how many times I denied any wrongdoing, or how many times Tiff admitted that she’d lied, some people still believed I’d done it. I think Shane secretly believed it too, because he never apologized for beating on me.”

“Please don’t tell me you stayed with Tiff,” Mia said in a menacing tone.

“I ended it the moment the sheriff left the house.”

“Good.”

“But yeah, life f**kin’ sucked after that.” Guilt swirled in his stomach as he thought back to those days. “I felt so bad for my folks. People were whispering behind their backs, half of them callin’ me a ra**st, the other half—the ones who believed me—taunting them about having a kinky sex fiend for a son. Eventually I couldn’t take it anymore, so I drove to a recruiting office in Dallas and enlisted.”

“And this was, what, eight years ago?”

He nodded.

“But you’ve been home since?”

“Only a handful of times, and every time I go back, I have to deal with the same irritating whispers. Not to mention seein’ Tiff and my brother blissfully in love.”

“I can’t believe they ended up together,” Mia grumbled. “They don’t deserve to be happy together after what they did.”

He sighed. “It was a complicated situation. I don’t begrudge them their happiness, but…fuck, but I don’t want to see it flaunted in front of my face, y’know?”

“So Shane really didn’t apologize to you?” Disbelief lingered in her expression.

“Nope. In fact, the two of us have barely exchanged ten words in eight years. He does his best to avoid me whenever I’m in town.”

“I can’t believe this has been going on for so long. Why didn’t you ever confront him?”

“I didn’t want to put my folks through another confrontation,” he said gruffly. “They’ve already suffered enough.”

“And you think an eight-year-long rift between their sons isn’t making them suffer?”

Mia had a point. And she was also spot-on. Jackson’s mother had been pleading with him for years to make things right with his brother, but he couldn’t muster up the desire to do it. Whenever he thought about Shane, he remembered meaty fists smashing into his ribs. He remembered the coppery taste of blood in his mouth, the sticky feel of it pouring out of his nose. And each time he saw his brother in person, he experienced the sickest urge to return the favor. To show Shane what it felt like to have your body ripped to shreds by your own brother.

“Jackson…” Mia bit her lip as she met his eyes. “I can’t believe I’m saying this—it probably makes me the biggest hypocrite on the planet—but I think you should go home for Thanksgiving and air everything out with Shane.”

An ironic smile tickled his lips. “Yep, totally hypocritical.”

“I know, but my situation with my mother is different,” she protested. “I’ve given her a million chances to prove me wrong. You and Shane never even talked about what happened.”