DECEIT (B723) by Hazel Grace (ebook reader for surface pro .TXT) 📕

is wrapped in a sling as he holds me like we've done this a million times before.

He's smart, too, because when I don't return it, he chuckles lightly and begins to back off.

"Not a big hugger, huh?" His voice comes off as a pained tease, but he releases me and takes a step back to look me over. "No biggie, I can respect space."

I nod, feeling uncomfortable because I feel responsible for not sticking around to make sure he didn't get in trouble. He didn't—thank fuck—however, it would've been nice for me to find out for myself.

He’s not like me; I like that.

He can smile easily and tease. If we weren’t separated, maybe he would’ve rubbed off on me.

"What are you doing here? Don't you live like a few hours away?"

"Shouldn't I be?” I counter. “Scarlett called."

He bobs his head and gives me another look. "Yeah…you should. It's good to see you—" He shoves his hand into the pocket of his gray Adidas sweatshirt, but I notice his body begins to shake a little. "—it's…been a long time."

"Yeah, it has."

Hardy bows his head, the worry he's feeling not hidden from his lightly peppered face.

He was always a good kid, the class clown, while I was the one that took out the clowns that fucked around with me or my kid brother and sister. He didn’t like school much, but he knew how important I believed it was, so he did his best.

"Aren't you supposed to be restrained?" I jerk my jaw at his free hands, and my brother's lips curl wide before pulling out a small flat-head screwdriver from the pocket of his sweatshirt. "Scarlett is good at finding things."

I shake my head, amused and realizing these two are not what I expected.

Fucking Christ, it's been over two decades and they still grew up with my determination and smartass antics.

"Wanna sit down?" He offers me his chair with his hand and I shake my head.

"Nah, but you can for me."

My brother nods, taking a seat and exhaling a heavy breath. It's only seconds later that he mutters, "I'm so fucked."

I frown, not sure what he's referring to exactly, but I can imagine it being his young daughter.

So I ignore the comment, filing it away to come back to it later. "I made Scarlett get some air. We gotta talk."

Hardy raises his chin and hits me with a little touch of my scowl. "I'm not leaving my little girl alone. We can talk here."

"You need some—"

"I need—" His tone is stern, but then he swiftly softens it. "—I need to just be here."

"Alright." I steal a glance at the little girl when the door behind me opens, drawing my focus to a lanky cop in a blue uniform with a pair of handcuffs in his hands.

"Excuse me, are you Mr. Hardy Bishop?"

My brow lifts. "For?"

He shifts his buck twenty of weight. "There has been some destruction of hospital property." His ballsy focus trails down the length of me. "Are you him?"

I notice no badge on his chest and the large flashlight that hangs from his belt where a gun would reside. "I don't know—" I shrug, pinning him to the doorway with my glare. "—wanna come in here and search me, rent-a-cop?"

He frowns, his dirty blonde hair ruffled like he was just woken up from a nap to do this shit. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to—"

"Come in."

He hesitates, opening the door wider like he's going to do something but doesn't bother to take another step inside. Weighing out his chances of trying to pull me out of the room is starting to dawn on his face before he straightens his spine with confidence due to the distance between us.

"Can you please keep it down, sir? We can't have outbursts and—"

"Thanks for checking in."

He grounds his jaw but takes my dismissive cue and closes the door softly behind him. Pivoting, I find my brother looking up at me with raised brows.

"You have a lot of run-ins with the cops?"

I snort silently through my nose. "That was no cop. Security guard."

Hardy's lips attempt to smile, but he falls short. "Yeah…I…kinda lost my shit."

"Kinda?" I cross my arms along my chest and lean against the corner of the wall. "You're scaring the shit out of Scarlett."

"I've been an asshole to Scarlett." He looks over at his daughter. "I just…I can't do this. She deserves—shit, man, her mother is gone. What the hell do I tell her? How do I explain this to a five-year-old? What if—"

"What did the doctors say?"

Hardy begins to rub at his temple. "They have her on medication to bring the swelling in her brain down. She has bruising, obviously a broken arm. They'll be watching her for the next forty-eight to seventy-two hours."

"Her mother was driving?"

"Yeah, was hit by a bunch of teenage boys fucking around. She...called before she died. Told me where she was, that's how I knew where to find them. Almost sent their car over—" He stops, his body beginning to shake again. "We broke up after Maddy turned two, but we co-parented well together. She and I just didn't work out. It was mutual."

"We'll get her out of the hospital and take her home," I tell him as he settles himself down. "Shit's going to be fine as long as you don't break half the place on your way out."

My brother remains silent, alluding to more thoughts sprinting through his head.

My eyes fall back onto the little bundle of curls, sleeping peacefully without a care in the world. That doesn't know she'll never see her mother again.

"Madelyn, right?"

"Yeah."

"You staying in my shitty trailer when she visits?" Hardy squints his nose. He stays there most of the time, from my understanding, saving money up to buy a house.

"Nah, we stay in a nice hotel, and she gets to swim in the pool. We order room service and watch Disney movies. She enjoys it."

"You guys can stay at my house, it's outside of Pittsburgh. She'll have