Chapter 120

“Stop that. Relax.”

Once he noticed what I had, he stopped.

“Anyway, I told him to get out. See, I never thought—no matter what—that I could be pushed to the point that my reaction would be to pummel someone. Never.”

Rip waved it away. “He pushed you, bro.”

“That’s no excuse.”

“None of that makes you an abusive person.” Shelby brushed my arm again. Physical abuse was nothing new to me. Shelby and I had endured it all through childhood. It had taken us both quite a while to become comfortable touching one another or anyone else and even longer to accept it back.

“Yeah, well…”

“And Patrick is nothing like Tom,” Rip said. “Even if we didn’t know the extent of Tom’s shittiness, I could never stand the guy. He was arrogant and rude. Tell me Civil War reenactments and Renaissance Fairs are stupid,” Rip muttered.

“I’m sorry I didn’t see the signs. I’ll never forgive myself for that.” Shelby turned away. “After how we grew up, I definitely should have noticed something was off.”