Shift by Sidney Bristol Page B

For some crazy reason he wanted her to understand, even if he hated telling her. He propped his elbows on the armrests as he sifted through the threads of events that led up to his injuries, trying to pick the best place to begin.
    He gathered his thoughts, busying his hands by flipping through several tabs, refreshing as he went. “You’re aware we were all selected for this operation because we could fit the roles Julian wanted.”
    â€œYeah.”
    Opening those memories was akin to slicing his wrist just for the fun of watching it bleed. He might tell himself he was over it, that it was all history, but it was a lie. The residual ache was gone, but the betrayal was still there.
    â€œMy brother got mixed up with some guys he met at South Beach and came to me for help. I helped him. And he skipped town after taking out a loan from the same guys, in my name. I couldn’t repay them so they took their due out of my hide .” Those were the exact words. They’d played on repeat in Emery’s head all through the extensive recovery and rebuilding of his knee, not to mention how long it had taken all the other injuries to heal.
    â€œYour brother?” Tori gaped at him, her mouth hanging slightly open.
    â€œNot all siblings are like Roni.”
    She shook her head. He could feel her automatic denial, but it was the truth. His brother, the wanted child, was a scumbag.
    â€œWhat . . . What was he doing? How did you get involved? Why?”
    Though her questions didn’t follow a logical order, he’d expected Tori to ask. Usually Emery didn’t share the story at all, much less answer the first question, but it was Tori. And he’d just spent the morning ripping into her family history. It was only fair. He inhaled slowly and leaned back farther, glancing at the front of the house at the same moment a neighbor strolled by with her fluffy purse pooch on a leash. Thing looked more like a stuffed animal than a real dog.
    â€œHow could your brother do that to you?” Tori leaned forward, elbows on the table, hands in her hair.
    She was truly distressed on his account. He hadn’t expected that. The knowledge dislodged something within him that went knocking about in his chest while the muscles contracted slightly as warmth spread through his torso.
    He pushed the emotions aside, refusing to feel anything when it came to his brother or family.
    â€œMy brother was always the favored child. He probably thought I could handle whatever they threw at me, because up until then I had.”
    â€œWhat did he say after?”
    Emery stared at her a moment. “He hasn’t said anything.”
    â€œWhat? Is he . . . is he dead?”
    â€œNo, last I looked in on him he’d moved into our parents’ garage out in Deerfield, so he’s very much alive.”
    â€œWait—so you’re saying he’s never spoken to you after all that went down? Even now?”
    â€œCorrect.” Anger was a hot, dangerous thing that felt as though it wrapped around him, showering him with the toxic rage that had for a time threatened to make him go too far.
    â€œEmery. Whole sentences. Please?”
    It went against his nature to talk about himself. His parents had made sure to impart the knowledge to him, from a young age, that no one cared about his story, and though intellectually he knew that wasn’t the case, the little boy inside of him still clammed up in moments like these, expecting nothing more than the sharp tongue of his mother or the backhand from his father. But Tori wasn’t either of those people, and she was nothing like his brother.
    â€œHelping my brother meant getting involved with some bad people. My brother skipped town, down to the Keys, holed up, and let me take the fall for the skimming he’d been doing. He knew he was about to get caught, so he got a loan in my name, to shift the blame, and left. These guys, they knew it was my brother, but