Deceptive Truth: Cowboy Justice Association (Serials and Stalkers Book 4) by Olivia Jaymes (reading women .txt) 📕

Knox still had other questions before he was ready to answer anyone else's.

"How were they together? Did they seem happy? Did they argue? Did Cal say anything to you about her?"

"I'm not sure what you want me to say. I guess they seemed happy. They never argued as such in front of the family, at least not that I saw. Cal was bossy with her. You know his usual my-way-is-the best-way stuff that we grew up with. She didn't like it much more than we did, but she never yelled at him or anything. She seemed to just ignore him and do whatever her way and let him complain about it."

That didn't sound like a healthy relationship to Knox. At least it wasn't what he wanted.

"And Cal didn't say anything to you about her? Ever? What about when you saw him with someone new?"

Randy grinned. "I do remember that. I asked him about her and he said that he'd traded up."

"I swear I cannot be related to him," Knox muttered under his breath, completely disgusted. "Our family is a fucking mess."

"Come on, we're not that bad. Every family has issues. We're not the only ones."

"We have more issues than most."

"Lighten up. We turned out okay. Our family couldn't be that bad."

The great thing about Randy was that he was determined to see only the best in people. It was also his worst trait.

"They are that bad."

"Don't use them as an excuse not to come to Dylan's birthday party on Sunday. He'd love to have his favorite uncle there. Don't say no. Julia specifically told me to tell you that she wants you to come. They'll be food and the kids want to see you."

"I'll try," Knox said. "But I'm here to work on a case."

"Take a few hours and relax. Don't they give you time off?"

"They do, but–"

"No buts. Be there or Julia will call you and you'll have to say no to her."

She wouldn't make it easy either.

"So why are we talking about Cal and this woman? What's going on here?" Randy asked again. "Why couldn't we meet at the house?"

Knox gave his younger brother the condensed version of the story without going into detail about how he'd met Jenna. That wasn't any else's business but his.

"Wait, she thinks that Cal had something to do with her sister's disappearance? Cal? No way. That's crazy talk." Randy's eyes widened in surprise when Knox didn't immediately jump in and agree. "You don't actually think that she's right, do you? Because Cal has a quirky personality but Jesus Christ, he's not a killer. Or a kidnapper. Or whatever it is that you think he might have done."

"Quirky? You're being easy on him."

"And you're out of control," Randy sputtered, his cheeks red. "This is Cal. He's our brother. Our brother. He's not a goddamn killer. He wouldn't hurt a fly."

Knox had anticipated this argument. "We both know that's not true. Cal has been in lots of fights. Hell, he's spent a few nights in the drunk tank for busting up a bar. He's not a pacifist."

"Those were men, not women," Randy argued right back. "That's a completely different thing. He wouldn't hurt a female."

"We've seen him verbally abuse his girlfriends," Knox pointed out. "He has little to no respect for others. He has no empathy. He doesn't care how other people feel."

"That doesn't make him a kidnapper or a killer." Randy shook his head. "That's why you're doing this, isn't it? So you can prove, once and for all, that your brother is a piece of shit. I can't believe this, Knox. He's your brother. Where's your family loyalty?"

Knox didn't have a chance to respond. His phone began to buzz, and he reached for it in his breast pocket, checking the screen to see who it was. He declined to take the call but Randy must have seen the screen as well.

"Is that Dad? Aren't you going to answer it?"

Shoving the phone back into his pocket, Knox shook his head. "No."

"I know Dad has been calling you."

Knox knew were this was going.

"And?"

"He's upset that you haven't been returning his calls or texts."

"He's upset? Are you upset too? Because you're scowling at me."

"He's changed. You should talk to him."

It was all Knox could do not to throw back his head and laugh out loud.

"He's changed? I doubt it."

"People change, brother."

"Sure they do. If they want to change. Dad's never wanted to change. He doesn't see that there's anything wrong with the way he lives his life. Christ, he's been out...how long? Nine months? He's already drove Patty away, and moved in with an even younger woman. How old is she, Randy? Is she even thirty? She's too young to see all the red flags that Dad is waving around but eventually she will. But by then he will have spent all her money and broken her damn heart by boozing and running around. And Cal isn't any better."

"They're family. You can't turn your back on them."

"Yes, I can. Happily, might I add. They're like a drowning man, Randy. If you try to save them, you'll get pulled under too. They don't care who they hurt."

"Dad isn't like that anymore."

Knox noticed that his brother couldn't say the same for Cal.

"That's great then. Good for him. I'm glad that he saw the light."

"But you're not going to call him back?"

"Nope. I've given him lots of chances and he threw them all away. I'm done.