“Sit,” Timothy said, going over to a coffee pot and pouring him a coffee. Then, he made it for him exactly how he liked.
As he handed it to him, Gene didn’t even flinch.
“So, the Shaman knows how I like my coffee. I’m not shocked. Ethan told me that you’re not one to be underestimated when it came to shock and awe.”
Timothy sat, and he was amused.
Yeah, that sounded like his grandson. He wouldABSOLUTELYwarn this man. That told him all he needed to know about him. Ethan wouldn’t have bothered had the man not been special to him.
The smoke was right.
“So, my son has been telling tales,” he stated, not calling him grandson for a reason.
He’d raised the boy.
And he’d made this mess.
Now, it was his to clean up. While Callen and Ethan called it meddling, he didn’t do it out of boredom.
He did it out of guilt.
Timothy had created this mess by not holding Wyler’s feet to the fire when he did stupid shit.
That was on him.
He’d let Catherine die alone, and Ethan be taken by CPS. Ethan still hated him for that. Only, those were things he couldn’t fix. One day, Ethan would have to come to grips with it and forgive him.
Or not.
This…
This he could fix.
Temporarily.
“He has,” Gene said, sipping the coffee. “Do you know where he is? I’ve come to bring him home.”
Timothy sat there, and he could feel this man’s energy. It was good, pure, and exactly what Ethan needed.
He could see the roughness in the man, but that would appeal to Ethan. It would be his opposite, and they all knew that was what made attraction happen.
“Good,” Timothy finally said. “Because being here is the last thing he needs. Ethan and the reservation are like oil and water. One wishes to cling to the other, but the other cannot hold it in place.”
It was a visual, but Gene understood it.
“He’s complicated,” Gene offered, defending the man he loved.
Timothy lifted a brow.
“Is that so?” he asked, knowing better than anyone about Ethan’s intricacies. After all, he’d created most of them with missteps and mistakes.
Gene wouldn’t explain, but he would defend him. Despite being angry with him, he loved Ethan very much.
“Yes, and I wouldn’t have him any other way. I’ve had the privilege of being your son’s partner for a while now. I love him more than he knows, clearly.”
Oh, boy.
Timothy heard that anger simmering below the surface, and it wasn’t a good thing.
