Dom
I frowned when Mason returned, and scowled when he winked at me.
He shot a curious glance toward Micah and Moira, who were clearly arguing.
The night had been pretty good for the most part, so I didn’t know what the problem was, but it was showing signs of going from a contained argument to one that spilled out.
“What were you doing?” I asked Mason because, for a minute, I didn’t believe his bullshit about going to check on Levi.
“What’s that?” Mason asked, glancing toward Moira and Micah again. “What’s going on there?”
“Teenage angst and motherly smothering,” I said. “What were you actually doing with Levi?”
“Oh, making out sloppy style,” he said. “I can see why you gave up on pussy to be with him, the things he can do with his tongue.”
“Jace,” I called out. “Your boyfriend is talking about how great it was to make out with my boyfriend.”
“What?” Jace barked. “Mason, stop being a fucking idiot and get over here. Christ, can’t anyone leave you alone for five goddamn minutes without you causing bullshit?”
“Snitch,” Mason said with a laugh, but obediently did as he was told. Of course, he was probably going to find a way to get under Jace’s skin, but that was pretty standard.
Levi came back a few minutes later, smelling strongly of smoke and giving me a wide-eyed look when he saw me waiting. “What?”
“Have fun with your make-out session?”
“I...beg your pardon?”
I rolled my eyes. “I know Mason wasn’t just going to chat with you. When I asked him, he told me he was making out with you.”
“Like hell,” Levi said, looking at Mason, who was still grinning as he earned a quiet chewing out from a grumpy-looking Jace.
“Oh, I know that wasn’t happening, but he was obviously trying not to tell me what was really going on out there,” I said with a scowl. “So I was kind of hoping you’d be honest with me.”
“One of these days, you’re going to have to explain why your family is the way they are,” he said with a shake of his head.
“Now you’re going to avoid telling me? Really?”
“We...talked, okay? He had something he had to tell me, and he did.”
“Thanks, Mr. Vague.”
“Dom, I—”
Micah’s voice rose. “Fine, whatever! Jesus, Mom!”
“Micah, where do you think you’re going now?” Moira asked as the teenager yanked out of her hold and stomped toward the doorway.
“For a walk!” Micah shot back over his shoulder, and I watched conflicting feelings wash over Moira’s face.
On the one hand, doing something physical, like a walk, was precisely the sort of thing we had been encouraging him to do when he got overwhelmed.
On the other hand, if he left the hotel, it was nighttime, and he was still thirteen.
Levi gave me a look and jerked his head toward Micah.
Realizing what he meant, I nodded. Catching Moira’s attention, I gestured to Levi and myself before pointing at Micah and making a walking gesture.
She frowned, her nose wrinkling until Kayden leaned in and said something I couldn’t catch.
She heaved a big sigh before gesturing for me to go, looking unhappy but accepting.
We followed him, and the moody kid was so wrapped up in his own thoughts he didn’t notice until he was almost through the lobby doors. When he was outside, he stopped and turned around, his face twisted in frustration.
“What are you doing?” he demanded.
“It’s kind of late to be wandering around on your own,” I told him with a shrug.
“I’m not a kid, goddammit,” he ground out.
“If you want to walk without talking to us, we’ll just follow and leave you alone.
We’re just here to keep an eye out for danger,” Levi interrupted quickly and quietly.
“I know when I’m thinking about something pretty hard, I’m not paying attention to much around me.
I was pretty bad about it when I was only a little older than you, and I’m not exactly better now. ”
That took the edge off Micah’s anger, but I could tell he was still pissed about the idea. “Fine, whatever. Just...leave me alone.”
“Deal,” I said instantly. I didn’t care if the kid wanted to walk around and cool off in his own way, but I didn’t need him accidentally wandering into some asshole who was going to see the scrawny thirteen-year-old as an easy target.
“Quick thinking,” I muttered to Levi after Micah had stomped down the sidewalk to put distance between us.
Of course, we weren’t going to let him get too far, but I didn’t blame him.
If this was what it was going to take for him to calm down, then I’d let him have his illusion.
“Very nice. When did you get skilled with teenagers?”
“Mm, I think it comes from remembering what it was like to be a teenager. Plus, far too many people see teenagers as either children or as adults who need to be trained.”
“I mean...kinda.”
“But they’re not children, which people need to remember. But they’re also not adults. They’re in this shitty in-between stage where they can’t decide if they want help or to be left alone. So...give them the space to try to be adults, but always keep in mind that they’re still just kids.”
I eyed him as we walked. “I uh...did you ever consider having kids?”
His eyes widened. “What? Good God, no. Really?”
“I mean...you sound like you have a pretty good hold on how to raise them.”
“Anyone can sound like a parenting expert when they aren’t doing the parenting day in and day out,” he said with a laugh. “And I have no intention of ever bringing a child into my life. Christ, Dom, can you imagine?”
It was hard to argue with that, and if he was trying to shut me up, it was working. “Right, yeah. I should have thought about that.”
He snorted, reaching down to take my hand.
“It’s okay. You’ve had a pretty normal life, so it’s normal to think about those kinds of things more than I would.
And well...maybe it’s nice to have you ask a normal question like that and mean it.
Perhaps if my life weren’t so...well, my life, then I might consider it. ”
“You realize that’s going to make me circle back around to asking if you’ve ever considered getting out and having a normal life.”
“I have,” he answered, surprising me. “Lately it’s been on my mind.
But although I have more reason than ever to try to go back to being a normal person, the obstacles in the way are just as present now as they were.
You don’t just leave The Family. And even when you do, you don’t just leave behind all the friends and enemies you made. ”
“Yeah,” I said softly. “That’s true. Wishful thinking on my part.”
“A little bit of wishful thinking never hurt anyone,” he said with a smile, bumping playfully into me.
“And quit looking like you’re about to apologize.
Your questions don’t hurt me, Dom. I know what my life is and what its limitations are.
I’m not going to break down just because I can’t simply retire and move into a white picket fence house with you. ”
“Now there’s a weird idea,” I said with a snort.
Micah called over his shoulder. “Are you guys doing gay shit back there?”
“No more gayer than your dad and other uncles,” I called back. “But at least this is age-appropriate.”
Micah risked glancing back and sighed when he saw us holding hands. “I know what some people have said, but the worst I ever saw out of my dad and Mason was when I walked in on them making out.”
“That’s more than I’ve seen, thank God,” I said with a shudder. “No offense, kid. I’m sure that was bad enough.”
“Our family is so weird,” he said with a huff, having drifted back to us as we walked. “We know things about each other that we shouldn’t.”
“You ain’t telling me anything I don’t already know, kid.”
“No one else calls me that.”
“What?”
“Kid.”
“Oh,” I said, feeling a slight flutter of panic. “Well, it’s just what I call you, I guess. I know you’re not a kid anymore.”
“I guess I still kind of am,” he said, sounding depressed at the idea. “But you don’t treat me like one, so I don’t mind.”
“Does this mean you’ve forgiven me for breaking your phone and chewing you out?” I wondered, bringing up the incident for the first time around him.
“You scared the hell out of me,” he muttered. “You’ve never been like that with me before.”
“Mmm, to be fair, you had also never acted like that much of an asshole,” I pointed out.
“Had.”
“What?”
“You said had...like I’m not still acting like that.”
I glanced at Levi, who shrugged and gestured with his eyes toward Micah. I cleared my throat. “Do you think you are still acting like that?”
“Sometimes,” he said quietly. “Not as much as I was, you know. But I’m still kind of an asshole sometimes.”
“Buddy, have you paid attention to your family? Half of us are assholes sometimes, or daily in Mason’s case,” I said with a smirk.
That made him laugh. “Yeah, you’re right.
But I don’t know, I don’t like how mad I get sometimes, especially at Mom.
But it’s like...she doesn’t understand, and she doesn’t try to.
She wants me to stop being like I am and be more like the kid I was.
And when I try to get her to listen, she gets pushy, and then I just..
.I stop thinking right, and I get so mad. ”
“I won’t lie to you, kid, that’s going to happen a lot more often than you or your mom or any of the rest of us would like,” I said with a shrug.
“Growing pains aren’t for the weak, and that’s what these are.
You and everyone else have to learn how to deal with all the stuff that’s going to be new and different about you. ”
“So...suck it up and deal with it,” he said, sounding beyond annoyed, though it might have been from the car that passed us slowly, their headlights so bright it was like getting flash-banged.
“Goddamn, why are those things legal?” I asked as they passed. “And no...but kinda yeah.”