16
XANDER
I was buttoning my shirt when I met the men as they came in the front door. I’d heard them approach the house, their voices loud like those who’d had too much to drink. Tyler had his arm over one of his father’s shoulders, laughing at something he said.
Once the door was closed behind them, the pretense slipped.
I shook both of Tyler’s fathers’ hands. They were both in their late fifties. While their hair was more gray than dark, they would not be men I wished to bother. They were powerful in town and had built the large ranch that Tyler and I now ran. I’d known them for years and they were the fathers I never had.
“Well?”
“First, congratulations on your marriage, son,” Roger Tannenbaum said, slapping me on the shoulder. He didn’t do it lightly. “It is good to see you smili
