The Bucket List (A REVERSE HAREM ROMANCE)

15. THOMAS

My eyes snapped open the moment I heared the door closed. I was on my feet and hurrying to the front door ever before Steven had placed his keys down.

"Where the hell have you been?" I yelled. "I called and called but you never answered. I left messages which you never returned. Answer me, dammit!"

Steven frowned at me. Without answering, he pushed me aside and made his way into the kitchen. I was close on his heels, trying to control the anger that was burning through me.

"Steven—"

"You're not my father Thomas. I can stay out the whole night if I want to."

Gripping his arm, I spun him around and slammed him back against the wall. With my forearm pressed across his chest, I glared at him.

"Where were you?" I asked him.

"Thomas—"

"Goddammit, Steven. We've nearly lost our father three weeks ago. I don't want the same to happen to you. Do you have any idea how worried I was?"

He blinked at me. "This isn't about Albany?"

"No. This is about you not coming home and not calling me to let me know that you're okay." I hated the fact that my voice cracked.

The last thing I wanted was for him know how badly his actions affected me. I was never one to worry about these types of things, but after the scare we had three weeks ago regarding our father's accident, I couldn't help but fear that something was going to happen to my brother too.

Steven's eyes softened. "I'm okay."

He reached up and gripped my shoulder. Giving me a small smile, he gave my shoulder a squeeze and then pushed me away from him.

"I'm sorry I made you worry," Steven said. "Albany and I were talking and we ended up falling asleep. I had my phone on silent. It never crossed my mind to give you a call."

I leaned back against the cabinets and stared at my brother as he moved around the kitchen to make himself some coffee.

His clothes were wrinkled and his usual neat hair was messy. Steven had a stain on his shirt which drew my attention.

"Why are you wearing my shirt?" I asked him.

"I borrowed it." He added boiling water to the cup and stirred it before he turned to look at me. "I didn't want to dress too formal. It was a casual date."

"What did you do?"

Instead of answering, Steven gave me a secretive smile, picked up his cup and walked out of the kitchen. I stayed rooted in place for a few more seconds before curiosity got the best of me. Straightening, I followed him down the hall and into his bedroom.

"What did you do?" I asked him again as I fell back onto his bed. "Come on, I thought we agreed to keep each other in the loop."

"When did we agree on that?"

I shook my hand at him. "Doesn't matter. Now tell me what you did."

Shaking his head, he pulled the shirt over his head and threw it into the laundry basket. He toed off his shoes before he took a seat on the edge of the bed and turned slightly to look at me.

"We went to the park with Spotty and—"

"You took a dog on your date?"

He glared at me. "We stayed at the park for a few hours then went to the shelter to drop Spotty off."

"That's it?" I asked him.

"What do you think we did?" he questioned.

"Did you have sex? Did you tell her about the bet we made? Did you kiss her? How did you end up falling asleep?"