AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I snorted. "No. Da wasn’t a good person to start with, so he couldn’t be better, but he tried, Shay. With you, he tried. And isn’t that something?
"That nasty old bigot whowasmean to your dad, who didn’t understand or accept him, tried to getyouto accepthimeven though you were just a miniature version of your father.
"Your mom won’t get it, neither will your dad, but I do. You’re allowed to miss him. You’re allowed to grieve. That’s your right. They can’t take that away from you."
"It’s not like they’re trying. It’s just… They don’t talk about him. I didn’t think I’d want to, but I guess I do. Mostly they’re talking about Cameron and what’s going on with him—"
"You jealous?" I asked. "I know how it feels to get a baby brother, and I was a lot younger than you and used to having siblings."
He shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not. It’s tough when I want to talk about stuff and I can’t because Cameron needs to be nursed or something and that takes precedent, but no, mostly, it’s okay. And he’s cool, you know?"
He was.
As much as a baby could be dope, Cameron was.
"Tell you what, Shay. You ever need to talk, you come to me. I know you’re still training with Brennan; well, you can talk to him too. We’ve all got complicated relationships with our da. None of them were healthy. But Bren and I aren’t afraid to say the hard shit, and we’re not afraid to listen."
"Thanks, Uncle Con."
"Don’t have to thank me. It’s what I’m here for."
His grin was sheepish as he said, "I’ll leave you to your DDoS attack."
"That’ssokind of you. Where you going?"
"Finn’s game room. Bren got him a new arcade game as a housewarming gift."
"Sounds good. Might come in later and try to beat your score."
His eyes gleamed. "I’ll make sure you can’t."
As he darted off, my lips curved into a grin, but I wasn’t gifted with much peace as Declan returned to Finn’s new man cave, declaring, "They’re talking about us."
Rolling my eyes as I began the DDoS attack on the exchange I needed more info from, I murmured, "Yeah, because that’s all they have to talk about, Declan. Your dicks and asses.
"Not that Aela’s got a massive exhibition coming up or that she’s finished Finn’s portrait. Not that Inessa’s started school, or that Aoife’s thinking about opening three more storefronts on the island—"
Finn turned to look at me. "How the fuck did you know about that?"
I sniffed. "It’s my job."
"She only talked about that with me yesterday, Conor," Finn growled. "Goddammit, I thought you weren’t listening into our conversations anymore… Da’s dead."
There was always a hesitation when he used that label.
I got it.
I did.
He’d used it more since the man had died than in our da’s life, but it was getting easier.
Time always made shit like that easier.
"Gotta keep my eyes on you all."
"No, you don’t," Brennan rumbled.
"Aoife cut her finger, Finn," Declan said in an aside.
