Free Breathe Me (A 'Me' Novel) by Jeri Williams

minute?”
    “You should save your strength, Mom,” Matt said, but she sent him a pleading look, so he relented. He let go of her hand and patted it in a placating gesture.
    If Mom was up and good, she would have slapped him on the back of the neck for that move. As it was, she barely had enough strength to lift a hand for water.
    I shot my brother a smug look on his way out, and because I was a dick, I waited until the door closed behind him to agree with him.
    “Ma, he’s right, you should save your strength,” I said. I had no idea why she wanted alone time with me other than to tell me she loved me, and I already knew that. Honestly, it was a little uncomfortable to be there with her nurse in the room and shit, when she was on the verge of…death.
    “You were my first born, my fighter. I remember when they told me I was having a baby boy. I was so happy I came home and told your father, and we picked out your name before we even decorated your nursery.” She took a long breath then continued. “He wasn’t always the way you remember him, Dek. He loved you, still does.” She coughed.
    She would want to have this conversation now, knowing damn well I wouldn’t bounce out because she was literally on her deathbed. My spine stiffened because I knew what she was going to say, and I didn’t want to hear the shit.
    “I’m sorry I didn’t notice what was happening until it was too late.”
    “Ma, don’t.” My jaw tightened. She had told me this a thousand times. I knew that, and I wasn’t faulting her for not doing anything when my fuckhead father would pound his fist into my flesh for no fucking reason other than that I was alive. No, I faulted her for loving him more.
    “No, listen, I know you think I chose him over you, but I didn’t. By the time I knew what was happening, I was too sick to leave him. He is a good man, a husband and father, he just made some bad choices that I didn’t agree with and that cost me to lose my son.” She was getting so winded and had to take longer intervals before speaking again. When she did, it was on a sigh. “I lost my son, and you will never know how sorry I am for that.”
    “You didn’t lose me, Ma. I’m here, aren’t I? I came back for you.” I clenched my fist because she was doing it again—making excuses for him. “Don’t make excuses for that bas—”
    “Deklan.” His voice reverberated through the air, making everyone in the room freeze as his silver gaze bore into my own. It’s my own personal hell that I look so much like the son of a bitch. I fucking hated looking in the mirror and seeing the same eyes that caused me pain all my life staring back at me. It made me want to punch shit. He stalked in, my brother on his heels like a fucking puppy begging for attention, and stopped short at the end of the bed. His stance was much like mine, on the defense, instilling fear in all that challenged him.
    Everyone except me. That asshole couldn’t instill shit in me anymore.
    “Your mother should be resting, not wasting her energy talking.” Royce Kane gave off an aura of superiority that I fucking hated. Being the owner of Kane’s Dry Cleaning, he had about four or five chains in several cities, including Dacula, and in surrounding states. He was used to giving people orders and them being followed. I used to be the dutiful son and all that shit, until I wised the fuck up. Now, he only adopted this tone with me because he knew it irked my fucking nerves.
    “Talking to me, you mean.” I tensed, ready to lay it out all nice and pretty for him. Fuck you, old man.
    “Dek,” Matty said in a warning tone, for whose sake I didn’t know, also didn’t care.
    “It’s okay, Matthew. Your brother obviously has something he would like to say to me that is so important he has to tell me now, while my wife lies dying.”
    I shot a glance at Mom, but she had already fallen back to sleep. Thank God she hadn’t heard that. I didn’t come here to fight with