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Suddenly feeling the heat of a spotlight on him, he raised an eyebrow. “Okay…”
“Have a seat, man,” Jagger said, patting the empty cushion beside him.
“I’m good. Gotta head to work. So do you JP,” he said, pinning him with his most fearsome glare. JP had promised to open the shop that morning so Keith could grab an extra hour of sleep, which meant no one was manning the place at the moment. And that meant loss of business. “Just tell me what’s up.” Why was it starting to seem like he was the guest of honor at a party he had no desire to attend?
“There weren’t any drop-offs overnight, and Benny opened for me,” JP said of the young man currently training to be a mechanic. He helped out when his schedule allowed. “We’ve got time.”
“Please, sit,” Ronnie said, imploring him with her somber gaze.
“Fine.” He dropped into the empty spot next to Jagger, giving him a full view of his brothers on the computer. “How you guys doing?”
“All good,” Ian said. He wore his uniform and Kevlar body armor, standard attire on the base in a conflict zone.
“Same,” Jimmy quipped. His bedhead stuck out all over, owing to the fact that someone got him out of bed for this conversation.
The room fell silent as his three present siblings cast each other sideways glances.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, someone say something or I’m out.”
“I wanted us to talk about this shit with you and Dad,” Ronnie blurted. The second the words were out of her mouth, she shot him an apologetic look, and her shoulders slumped.
JP snorted. “Smooth Ron. Surprised you didn’t become a psychologist.”
A psychologist. What the hell? “What the fuck is this? Some kind of intervention?”
Leaning forward with his hands on his knees, Jagger shook his head. “No, this is us being worried about our brother and wanting to talk about it.”
“Uh, that’s pretty much the definition of an intervention,” JP whisper-yelled to Jagger who sent him a death glare.
“Not helping,” Jagger said under his breath.
His gaze shifted from one sibling to another, encountering the same pitying and slightly disapproving expression on each of his siblings' faces.
Christ, he’d failed on all counts. Failed his mother’s last request by letting his father come this close to living on the streets. The one stipulation he’d made for himself in all this mess was that his brothers and sister would never find out. Not only would they be horrified to learn the number of times he’d jumped to their father’s rescue, but the amount of money he’d wasted on the man would sicken them.
But apparently, he’d fooled no one but himself.
“We know when you leave at night, you’re usually going to bail Dad out of some kind of a jam.”
“How? Did Dad say something to one of you?” He’d throttle the man if he upset Ronnie.
Ronnie met his gaze then stared down into her mug. “I followed you,” she whispered.
“What?” he sprung to his feet. “Why the fuck would you do that, Ron? Jesus!” He stalked across the room, running a hand through his hair as his brain spun. The dives he’d dragged their father out of in neighboring counties weren’t exactly the safest. “Do you know what could have happened to you?”
Never one to back down from a fight with one of her brothers, Ronnie shot up as well.
“Me? I was in the safety of my locked car. Do you know what could have happened to you? Why are you doing this? Why are you being so stupid? He doesn’t deserve a goddammed thing from you!” Ronnie was screaming now with fists clenched at her sides and face red.
“Shhh.” JP tugged on her sleeve. “Sweetie, sit.”
Keith panted through the anxiety threatening to choke him. This was exactly what he’d been trying to avoid. The last thing he wanted was Ronnie upset. They deserved to live their lives without the shadow of their father’s ugly fuckups looming over them. The walls seemed to close in on him at a rapid clip, threatening to crush him to dust.
“Okay, everyone, calm down,” Ian said from the computer. He’d always been the most serious, most reflective, probably smartest of the bunch. “You’re both running hot on emotion right now, but your goal is the same. You love each other and want to protect each other. Am I right?”
Fuck, he wasn’t in the mood for Ian’s rational dissection of their family problems. The man wasn’t even on the same side of the planet. What the fuck did he know?
“Look, Dr. Phil,” Keith started, but Ronnie’s tearful, “Yes,” had the rest of his words dying on his tongue. She sat next to JP, who’d tugged her to his side. It wasn’t often Ronnie cried, hardly ever, actually. And never in front of her brothers. She’d always complained they saw her as a dainty little girl, so she’d tried extra hard to be tough and strong. But the woman had a center as soft and gooey as melted chocolate.
