“Pussy,” I muttered under my breath as I stacked the two smaller boxes on top of each other and picked them up. I wasn’t sure what was in them, but they were so light, they could have been empty for all I knew.

He grumbled something back that I didn’t catch, and I resisted the urge to kick one of his legs out from under him as I followed him back into the bar. Inside, the twins were still being extra careful not to crush the table toppers, but Garret wasn’t watching what he was doing and tripped over the box on the floor.

My brother cursed viciously, trying to stay upright, but he dropped the larger box he was carrying right on top of a box that still had at least a third of the toppers inside.

“You broked them!” Ian shouted, pushing the larger box off the one he and his twin were responsible for. “You messed up all of Nova’s pretty flowers.”

“You shouldn’t have left them in the middle of the floor for anyone to trip over,” Garret snarled at him. “Someone could have gotten hurt because of you two little brats.”

“Maybe if you watched where you were going, you would have seen it,” I shot back, getting between him and the twins because I didn’t trust him not to strike out at them. I didn’t trust my brother with a lot of things, and hurting someone smaller than himself would have been something he would have done without hesitation. “They didn’t do anything wrong. You’re the one who was clumsy. And on top of that, you’re yelling at little kids. Does that make you feel more like a man, Garret? Does trying to scare little boys make you feel powerful?”

“What’s wrong, Nova?” he countered, stepping into my space. “Are you feeling bitchy because you’re not getting your way for once? Ryan isn’t here yet, and you don’t have the entire world fawning over you every second of the day?”

I huffed in amusement. I didn’t get why he was so jealous of me. He hated that people actually liked me, when, more often than not, they tried to avoid being around him. I couldn’t really blame them, though. Garret’s personality hadn’t changed all that much over the years. If anything, it had only gotten worse since he’d begun working for Ryan’s family. Now that he’d moved up a little in the ranks, he thought he was invincible.

“I don’t need Ryan or anyone else to drop you on your ass.”

“What are you going to do, little sister?” he sneered. “Run to Dad and tell him I hurt your feelings?”

The things I could have done to him would have made him swallow his tongue in shock, but I just stood there, smirking up at him.

And it only pissed him off more.

He lowered his head and his voice. “Ryan is never going to love you the way you want him to. He doesn’t even want to be your friend these days. His dick finally started working, and he’s been using it on every bitch in heat that comes sniffing around. It might have taken him longer than normal to learn how to use his cock, but he’s become a pro now. Where do you think he was last night?”