Page 102 of Wicked Brutal

His eyes lift to mine. “Can you?”

Fuck. Ally makes a broken sound beside me. I swallow. “Teach you what?”

“How to be a man.”

Across the room, Dad meets my eyes. He gives me one small nod. Nothing dramatic. Just the same nod he’s given me my entire life when I found the answer myself.

I look back at Tobias. “I can help.” His face brightens. “But you know who taught me?”

“Walter?”

“Yeah.” I nod toward Mom. “And your Cassandra.” His forehead wrinkles.

“But she’s a girl.”

“Very observant.” Mom rolls her eyes. I grin. “My dad taught me how to stand up. My mom taught me how to listen. Dad taught me how to keep my head when shit gets ugly. Mom taught me how to hear what somebody isn’t saying.” Tobias looks between them. “And both of them taught me that being strong doesn’t mean making somebody else small.” Ally goes very still beside me. I squeeze her hand. “You don’t need Victor to teach you how to be a man. You don’t need Roman to make you hard. You don’t need to stop crying or stop hugging your mom or stop running to your sister.”

“What do I need?”

I smile. “To keep being Tobias.”

He looks unimpressed. “I’m already Tobias.”

“Then you’re ahead of schedule.” Dad laughs.

“Good.” I pull my phone out. “Now that the serious man shit is handled—“

“Ryan,” Mom warns.

“Sorry.” I unlock the screen. “Want to see your niece or nephew?”

His mouth drops open. “I’m Uncle Tobias? But I’m six.”

“Apparently there isn’t an age requirement.”

He looks at Ally. “Really?”

She nods, already crying again. “Really.”

“Does it know?”

That breaks her. She laughs through a sob. “Not yet.”

“We should tell it.”

I unlock the pregnancy app. Ally looks over, her eyebrows pulling together. “What are you doing?”

“Showing him the baby.”

“You have the app?”

“Obviously.”

Tobias climbs halfway into my lap to see the screen. “Where is it?”

“Here.” I pull up the week and turn the phone toward him. His eyes get enormous.

“That’s the baby?”