A Brother's Honor Read Online Free PDF Page A

in the world. You just had to know how to work it to get that side exposed.
    “Jace, are you okay?” Caden asked softly.
    Jace, who’d been staring down into his cup of coffee, lifted a tormented gaze to him. “Not really. Remember how after Dad’s trial we thought our world had ended? After losing Mom, we had to hear all that bullshit about Dad killing her, losing our friends and seeing what asses our neighbors were?”
    Caden recalled those difficult days. “Yes.”
    “It was hard for me, but the one bright spot was Granddad. He was there, and I’m sure it wasn’t easy for a sixty-year-old man to take on raising three teenage boys.”
    Caden agreed. It probably wasn’t easy. “And he did so while keeping a firm managing hand on Granger Aeronautics. Who’ll be looking over things now?”
    Jace shrugged. “Probably Freeman. He’s vice president.”
    “Only because the old man couldn’t convince you to move from out West and into the spot. He always wanted you to take his place, Jace.”
    Jace’s dark brown eyes narrowed at his brother. “It’s kind of late for that, isn’t it? Besides, if I remember correctly, he wanted all of us to take a part in the company, not just me.”
    “Yes, but with you being the first Granger grandchild, it would have been your place more than mine or Dalton’s. It was expected.”
    And it had been. Richard had made sure all three of his grandsons worked for the corporation during their summer months of high school and college, whether they had wanted to or not. He had been crushed when all three told him they had no desire to work in the company their great-grandfather had formed. But that decision from Jace had disappointed him the most. He still held hope that Jace would change his mind and take his father’s place once he completed law school. When he saw Jace wouldn’t change his mind, Richard had finally left the matter alone.
    “And it wasn’t expected of you?” Jace asked with an edge to his voice.
    Caden refused to back away from the truth. “Not as much. He knew I was too much into my music to think of ever fitting in with the business suit crowd. I wouldn’t last a year. I would have been fired for playing my sax during work hours.”
    Jace nodded. “And Dalton?”
    Caden grinned. “Our baby brother wouldn’t have been able to keep his hands to himself when it came to a pretty woman.”
    Jace threw his head back and laughed. “Now, that’s the truth.”
    It felt good to hear Jace laugh, Caden thought. He wondered how often his brother laughed at all anymore. And what about Dalton? How many times did he laugh these days? Caden could only speak for himself, but his own laughter was a rare thing, with long stretches in between.
    “And speaking of Dalton,” Caden spoke up to say. “Where the hell is he? And don’t tell me he doesn’t plan on coming.”
    The amusement was immediately wiped from Jace’s face. “Okay, I won’t tell you.”
    “Why?” Caden asked, and heard the disgusted tone of his own voice. “Did you not tell him how serious things were?”
    “Yes, I told him, and it’s his feeling that the old man wouldn’t care one way or the other if he were here or not.”
    “Bullshit.”
    “I know, but Dalton has a hard head and is stubborn to a fault. He never forgave Richard for not letting him claim his trust fund when he turned twenty-five.”
    Caden frowned. “Granddad had good reason for doing what he did, and you and I both know it. Dalton was chasing anything in a skirt and had already blown most of that endorsement money, which should have set him up for life.”
    “Yes, but evidently Dalton doesn’t see it that way. Having to wait until he’s thirty to get what we got at twenty-five is a thorn in his side,” Jace said.
    Caden didn’t say anything for a moment, and then, after taking another sip of his coffee, he said, “I could have waited since I haven’t touched mine, anyway. What about you?”
    Jace shook his head. “I