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I’m about to say something else when the door to my office opens again. Graham walks in, fear in his expression. My father laughs into his cup.
“The other disappointment has arrived. How does it feel to have ruined your brother’s life, Graham?”
My head snaps up as I look at him. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
Graham looks at me, green eyes wide with fear. He starts to speak, fast.
“I didn’t mean for it to escalate so badly. I just wanted a small story about how you’re in a secret relationship with the head of a mafia group. Just to damage your reputation a little. I didn’t think they’d dig into the past and find out the truth. I swear it, Xander. I never meant for Nate to get hurt.”
My heart practically drops. And here I thought he and I were making some progress over the last couple of days.
“One son is at the center of all the trouble, another’s the catalyst that led to it. The both of you are, idiots,” my father pronounces.
His voice is really starting to grate on my nerves. I need to get out of here. I grab my jacket and my phone and start to walk towards the door.
“Where are you going, Alexander?” father questions.
“To pick up my son,” I grit out.
And hopefully figure out a way to explain all the shit that’s about to go down. Graham’s still standing by the door. He opens his mouth probably to deliver another stupid apology but I can’t even listen to him. Blood roars in my ears and before I stop to reconsider, my hand is rearing up and I’m punching him in the face.
He staggers backward, holding onto his jaw. “You’re a fucking bastard, Graham.”
I walk out of the office without looking back. It’s 2pm and Nate won’t be done with school until an hour later but I figure this is probably as good a time as any to pick him up. He’s in the middle of class when I arrive after getting to permission to let him leave early.
When he sees me, there’s a bright smile on his face and my heart falls with the knowledge of what I’m about to reveal to him. I lean down to hug him.
“Hey, sport.”
“Hi, dad. What’s wrong? Why did I have to leave early?” he questions, pulling away.
I grab his lunch box from his hand and intertwine our fingers as I lead him out of the school.
“Well I got done with work pretty early today and I thought you and I could go out and get some ice-cream.”
“Really?” he asks, green eyes gleaming. “Let’s go. I want mint-chocolate chip. And three scoops instead of two.”
“Woah, slow down, buddy. I said I’d buy you ice-cream, not give you diabetes.”
He laughs. “What’s diabetes?”
“It’s a sickness you can get if you eat too much sugar. It can get pretty serious.”
He sighs. “Okay. I guess I’ll eat two scoops then.”
“You guess?” I ask, a little amused as we arrive at the car.
I help him into the backseat, ensure that his seatbelt is on before heading for the driver’s seat.
“I’m glad you didn’t have a lot of work today, dad. It’s been a long time since you took me out to eat ice-cream,” he says making my heart clench.
Work keeps me away from him far more than I’d like. And while Nate never really complains, I know he gets sad when I’m too busy. I make myself a promise that I’ll make more of an effort to spend more time with him.
That’s if I even still have a job after all this.
We get our ice-creams, him happily chomping down his as I suggest we take a walk around the park nearby. It’s quiet and there’s not a lot of people. The perfect place to talk. We find a bench and settle down on it. I smile when I notice the drizzle of ice-cream on his shirt, pulling out a napkin to help clean it off.
“You know your mom’s favorite ice-cream is mint-chocolate chip too, right?” I ask him.
