I couldn’t stand that I didn’t know for certain. I wanted to tell my stupid-ass insecurity to shut it. Parker liked me for me. That should be enough. But she’d been in love with a guy like Dean—lighter, sweeter. Not a big bruiser with a foul mouth. Maybe I was simply Mr. Good for Right Now, not Mr. Right.

God, I couldn’t believe I actually thought that. I sounded like a Cosmo article.

Dean’s goofy smile fell. “Hey, you know I didn’t mean that, right? It’s obvious that she’s really into you, Rhys.”

“I don’t want to have this conversation.” I glared at him. “When was it obvious?”

Damn it, I sounded needy as fuck.

Thankfully, my brother didn’t point that out. “At the bar. She couldn’t keep her eyes off you. I knew then you two would get together.”

Sighing, I sat back on the couch and pinched the bridge of my nose. “She’s great. I like her. A lot. But …”

“She has scabies?”

I dropped my hand and shot him a look. “Do you even know what that means?”

“It’s a condition that—”

“Forget I asked. She doesn’t have scabies. She has a dead first love.”

His eyes glinted. “Let me guess—she killed him and now you fear for your life.”

It was perverse that I wanted to laugh. I glared instead. “Would you cut it out? No, Deanie, he died. Hit and run. She hasn’t dated anyone since.”

Dean went pale and flopped back on his seat. “Jesus. That’s … harsh. And a lot for you to live up to, huh?”

“No kidding.” I shook my head. “How do I compete with someone she’s obviously built into a perfect paragon of young love?”

“Well, I mean, good sex has to help.” He narrowed his eyes on me. “You rocked her world, right? Left her good and satisfied?”

“What do you take me for? I’m not a chump.” I kind of loved Parker using that word earlier and felt a smile forming at the thought of her. “My woman was definitely satisfied.”

Because she was my woman. At least for now. I wasn’t about to give her up to a ghost. If Parker eventually grew bored with me or wanted to move on, there was nothing I could do about it. But I was damn sure going to enjoy what I had with her right now.

“You left her limping, then?” Dean asked.

I threw a couch pillow at him.

Laughing, he batted it away. “Thought so.”

“Keep it up and I’m putting you in a headlock.” It was my greatest threat when we were younger, and Mom would freak out if I got too rough with Dean.

The thought of my mother was sobering. Parker had said I was making Dean a chump by keeping him in the dark. She was right, I’d had all but become a hovering, interfering parent to my brother. Shit, but I hated talking about this.

My stomach curdled as I searched for a good way to get it all out.

“I’ve been lying to you.” Okay, not the best way to start.

Dean frowned. “You didn’t rock Parker’s world? Because I have tips—”

This kid.

“Jesus.” I huffed out a laugh. I loved my brother something fierce. “No. Not that. Dean … shit. It’s about Dad and the way he left things.”

“You mean with the gym about to be repossessed by the bank?”

“What?” I blinked. “How …”

His smile was slanted and more than a bit annoyed. “Yeah, I don’t know if you truly understand this, but I’m not a total dumb-ass. And your method of hiding shit from me sucks balls, bro.”

Well, hell.

I sighed again. “There’s more to it than just that …” I told him the whole sordid tale, Mom’s medical bills, Dad’s stupid gambling mistakes, how he’d made a shit ton of bad investments with my earnings. I ended with Kyle Garret’s offer to buy the gym, and Fairchild’s attempts to push me into another bout.

He swallowed several times before speaking. “Why did you … fuck, I know why you kept it from me.” He glared as though he was mentally punching my face. “It’s insulting as fuck, you know, treating me as if I’m a kid.”

“I know.” I rubbed my aching chest. “I’m sorry. I just got in the habit of looking out for you and I didn’t want you to worry.”

His tight nod was his only answer.

“I shouldn’t have done that,” I added.

“No, you shouldn’t have. But you told me now, so I guess that’s something.” He blew out a long breath and shook his head as if to clear it. “You quit boxing because of Jake.”

The pain in my chest grew. “Yes.”

Dean’s blue eyes, the exact shade of our mother’s, met mine. Sorrow and worry rested in his. “This guy will own a piece of your soul if you do this.”

“Yes,” I said again, because I knew that too. It’s what pissed me off the most.