Bran cleared his throat. Guiltily. “We need to meet Tay Withe at the distillery. I thought about taking Rave there on Friday and spending the night at a local B&B. She would love to get Daniel out of the city for a day.”
Hugh didn’t respond. The key to his sons was making them so uncomfortable they eventually gave up the information he wanted. He crossed his arms and continued to look between them. Even when the drinks were set in front of them and they pretended great interest and joy in a glass of water, he didn’t relent.
Patrick cleared his throat next. Guilty AF. “River would like a short excursion too. Plus, now that Rowan’s back, the three of them are supposed to be getting a design plan together.”
He’d give it to them. They hadn’t given up their wives’ whereabouts yet—which meant they’d been asked by those same women not to tell him. This had to be about last night. Christ. He was starting to sweat. He didn’t like that he and Rowan hadgone to bed without working things out. He really didn’t like not knowing where she was. He’d just gotten her back, and now this. He was barely holding his shit together. His sons would talk, or they would regret it.
Before the shit hit the fan last night, she’d said she was telling Bébhinn goodbye at eight. Her doctor’s appointment was at eight forty-five. She only had a couple of errands after that. She should have been home for lunch.
The Byrne sisters were together. They had to be.
“Withe is a hell of a distiller. Good call on that, Dad,” Bran rambled.
Hugh didn’t even blink.
“For fuck’s sake. What’s your problem?” Patrick asked.
Finally.
“You’re the one that fucked up last night, and now we’re all paying for you being an asshole to Row,” Bran gripped his shot glass in frustration.
“You hurt her feelings, Dad. It really upsets River when you do that,” Patrick added.
Now they were getting somewhere. He gritted his teeth, pissed off that his sons knew how upset he’d made Rowan. He picked up his shot of Slane and took a healthy pull, hiding a slight grimace. He didn’t really care for Slane. He kept his expression blank, continuing to wait for his sons to completely break.
The truth. His sons were strong-willed and intelligent. They wouldn’t tell him if they truly didn’t want him to know. Hugh could tell they were angry about last night. They didn’t like their wives, or Rowan upset, or that their father was to blame.
Bran sighed, rubbing his eyes before looking at his father again. “Dad…Jesus, I know you hate talking about your personal life, but you’ve got to change, or you’re going to lose Rowan. Thesisters’ happiness is tied together. You can surely understand why Pat and I have a stake in you being a dick.”
“Speaking of dicks, let’s talk about yours. Spoiler alert, we know you have a dick. We know you use your dick—with Row. I’ve personally caught you mid-using your dick—again, with Row.”
Bran butted in, “Say what now? You caught Dad?—”
“Shut it, Pat,” Hugh demanded. He had to keep repeating Endure, Endure, Endure, over and over and over again. He needed information about Rowan, but unfortunately, this travesty was the means.
“Later,” Patrick told his brother.
“Anyway,” Patrick began again. “We know you love our sister-in-law. Like, seriously, Dad, would it kill you to show her affection in front of us?” Patrick asked, clearly as fed up with him as he was with himself.
“Where are they?”
Bran met his gaze straight on. Looked like the preliminaries were finally over.
“Boyle,” Bran admitted.
“They only told us that Rowan needed them and that they would call us later. I texted Devlen because I knew better than to question Nan. He said Rowan got a ride with them this morning. That’s all I know,” Patrick shared.
As if they were in a choreographed dance, the three of them pulled their phones out and began texting.
She left town because of him. He was having a hard time taking a full breath.
Please come home.
I’m not ready.
Forgive me. I love you.
It isn’t enough this time. You really hurt my feelings last night. Like…really hurt me. You didn’t just treatme like a friend—you treated me like I didn’t mean anything to you.
