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“Of course,” I agree. There’s an alternative version of events that I can’t help thinking about because we both know our uncle doesn’t particularly care about consent, but perhaps he was a different man back then? Maybe he really did love our mom? She was so excited when she found out she was having twin boys; I can’t imagine that they were conceived in anything other than love.
“And what about our little runaway?” I ask.
“I feel like putting her on a leash,” he snaps.
“Now that could be very interesting,” I chuckle and I see the hint of a smile on his face.
“She will give me a heart attack one of these days.”
“Yup. She did get the job done though.”
“She could have gotten herself killed,” he sighs.
“I know. But she didn’t. She’s safe. We’re all okay and the Wolf is gone.”
“If something had happened to her though…”
“But it didn’t, and you’ll drive yourself crazy thinking otherwise. You’ll also drive yourself crazy trying to control Jessie Ryan. She’s a law unto herself and the sooner we realize that I think the easier our lives will be.”
“What are you saying?” he frowns at me.
“I’m saying that just because she’s submissive when it comes to fucking, it doesn’t mean that goes for any other area of her life. She’s one of the most stubbornly independent people I’ve ever met. She looked after herself for ten years. She survived things most people wouldn’t.”
“I know that, but that’s why I want to protect her from anything like that again.”
“I do too, and I’m not saying we shouldn’t protect her. Of course we should, but she doesn’t need our protection and that’s the difference, Shane.”
“You’re losing me, Con,” he frowns.
“Us thinking we know best for her ended up with her sneaking out in the middle of the night and almost getting us all killed. I think you were right earlier, we should have listened to her ideas instead of shutting her down. That’s all I’m saying. If it was Liam or Mikey we would have listened, wouldn’t we? Even if we thought it was completely stupid we would have heard them out and probably gone along with it too.”
“Yeah,” Shane admits.
“So, I’m saying is that Jessie is as strong as any of us, and we can say she’s one of us, but we don’t always treat her like that, is all.”
Shane is quiet for a few moments, digesting what I’ve just said. It’s hard for me to admit too. “But if I didn’t have different rules for her, when would I get to punish her for breaking them?” he asks with a wicked grin on his face.
“Oh, I’m not saying she’s not going to get her ass spanked for last night or that we shouldn’t impose all kinds of rules for her to break,” I grin back. “But the big stuff? We need to let her have a voice so she doesn’t pull any stupid shit like she did last night.”
“You’re probably right,” he admits with a sigh. “What the fuck am I gonna say to them all, Con?”
“The truth, bro. That’s all they need.”
Chapter 36
Mikey
Ican’t stop looking at the clock as I wait for my two older brothers to get home. A part of me almost wants them to stay away a little longer, because then I can pretend that my world wasn’t just completely ripped apart. I can imagine that Paul Ryan was lying when he said that he was our father and that, even worse, Shane knew, because otherwise how can the man who I respect more than anyone in this world, the man who raised us, have kept that from us? How could he have let us go through life thinking that our own father despised us?
Jessie is curled up on the sofa with Liam watching a movie while I pace the house looking for a better distraction. She is my perfect distraction, but I can hardly bear to look at her right now. To think that the man responsible for inflicting so much pain and misery on her – the man who did all of those awful things to her – might be my father, makes me feel sick to my stomach. Will she ever look at us the same way again? I spent most of my life wishing that I wasn’t Patrick Ryan’s son. How fucking ironic that now I wish for no other father but him.
The sound of the front door opening makes us all look up as Shane and Conor walk into the room. We all stare at them as they walk over and take a seat.
“Is he definitely dead?” Jessie whispers.
“Well, his head is no longer attached to his body, Angel,” Conor replies with a wink and she nods.
Shane sucks in a deep breath as he looks around the room at the four of us. “Sit down, Mikey,” he says and as much as I feel like telling him to go to hell, I take a seat beside Jessie.
