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He’d turned to watch her go. “No idea.”
I shoved him in the side. “‘Fess up.”
“No, seriously. I’ve no idea.”
“Michael’s back in the hospital,” I told him when I saw he wasn't bullshitting me. “You know how close she gets to her guards. Maybe it's that?”
Though she hadn't been weird with me...
Still, Ma was used to me being her problem solver, but I had troubles of my own to shoot today.
Con finally looked away and turned to face me. “Da’s been weird as well so I don’t think it’s that.”
“Da’s always fucking weird.”
“Weirder than usual,” he corrected thoughtfully, his brow puckered with a mixture of surprise, concern, and confusion.
I didn’t blame him—he was Boy Wonder.
Boy Wonder was never toppled from his perch.
If he fucked up, he didn’t pay for it with a busted fist or a beating, not like me. He just got fined. Heavily fined, his pay docked enough that it’d piss anyone off, but that was it.
Me? I had a fucked-up wrist because Da broke it every time I 'displeased' him. Not anymore. That had long since goddamn stopped, but it didn’t take away from the fact I had a wrist that could scout out a storm better than The Weather Channel.
“Well, he ain’t fined you so whatever it is you’ve done, it can’t be that bad.”
Conor’s nod was slow. “True.”
As far as I could remember, he’d only been beaten twice in his life.
Twice.
I was jealous.
Da celebrated Conor’s quirks; he didn’t punish them.
“When was the last time he gave you a beating?”
Kid admitted, “A long time ago. Remember when Mary Ellen told me I’d knocked her up?”
I clicked my fingers. “Yeah, I remember that now. She was lying, right?”
“Well, you don’t see anyone calling me ‘Dad,’ do you?” he retorted.
“Got a point. Or ‘husband’ for that matter,” I tacked on. “What was the second beating for?”
“You keeping count?”
“One and two ain’t calculus.”
His lips twitched. “Second time was bad.”
“ThatI remember. You had bruises for weeks. I don’t remember what you did though.”
“Reappropriated funds Da sent to the IRA.”
I whistled under my breath. “Jesus, I remember now. When was that? Ninety-nine?”
