If You Fight Friday Excerpt #2
From across the room, Robert said loudly, “Where are my daughter and Ryder? Come over here. I want to make sure everyone has met you two.”
Suddenly, every head turned and looked at us as we walked over to join Robert and the rest of the family. Out of habit, I put my hand on Serena’s lower back to guide her and saw Oliver’s face twist into a look of hate as he saw me touch her.
“Everyone, I think you know my daughter Serena and my adopted son Ryder,” Robert said as he wrapped his arms around us.
“Tonight I have almost my entire family here. We’re missing my daughter Janelle’s husband Charles, but we do have Serena’s husband Oliver. One big happy family, right?”
As he said this, he looked around at the four of us like he wanted to see our reaction to his ridiculous claim. Janelle lifted her wine glass in salute to his words while Oliver merely smiled through gritted teeth as he glared at me. Serena and I exchanged glances and played our parts, like we knew we must.
We’d done this enough times to know how we had to act.
“Music! We need music and dancing. Ryder, since Janelle is without her husband tonight, you’re going to have to take his place. Serena, your husband promises me he’ll do his best, even though he says he’s not much of a dancer.”
“Daddy, it’s not fair to put that kind of pressure on Oliver. Not everyone can be as good as Ryder,” she said, hate for her husband dripping off each word.
I stood in shock as Serena spoke. Robert’s eyes opened wide like he understood she hadn’t been trying to be complimentary.
“Ryder does seem to have dancing in his blood, but Oliver, all you have to do is give it your best shot,” Robert said with a wry grin, almost as if he enjoyed tweaking his son-in-law’s ego.
As I paid attention to the tension-filled look Serena and her husband shared, Janelle grabbed my arm and twirled in a circle next to me. “Time to dance, brother.”
Thankfully, other couples began to move toward the empty space at the end of the room so it wouldn’t just be the four of us on display. I’d be able to watch out for Serena easier with others around me to distract Robert.
Janelle took my hand in hers and waited for me to slide my arm around her waist before she began moving her feet. Already too drunk to do much of anything close to dancing, she smiled up at me and asked, “Do you remember that night after Serena went away and Daddy made us dance together at that party he had outside? It was right after she went to Italy.”
The memory of that night raced through my mind, leaving little to mention. Janelle had been drunk and just like that first party, she spent as much time falling into me as she did dancing. She also let her hands wander, grabbing my dick like she had the first time too.
Looking away to get a glance at Serena, I answered, “Yeah.”
I saw Serena and Oliver dancing nearby, the two of them barely touching one another and both of them looking miserable. I wanted to grab that husband of hers and dump Janelle on him so I could dance with Serena and bring a smile back to her face.
“You were still nursing a broken heart over my sister leaving, so nothing happened between us. But it could have if you weren’t so lost without her.”
I turned back to look at Janelle and saw her watching me carefully. “I didn’t realize you ever wanted something to happen between us. You are my sister, after all.”
She laughed at my attempt to use her father’s words against her. “That’s ridiculous, and you know it. You’re no more my brother than Oliver is. By the way, he hates you. Did you know that?”
I nodded, not wanting to act like that fact wasn’t well-known to even me. “I’ve heard.”
(c) Copyright 2017 Copper Key Media, LLC
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