“You don’t know that,” Thomas said.
“Of course, we do,” Noah said, like the idea of Thomas as a bad man was ludicrous.
Thomas shook his head adamantly. “You don’t. You really don’t.”
“I, for one, don’t care who you killed,” Asa said with a shrug.
“I do.”
Everyone turned to see Lucas and August coming down the stairs. It was Lucas who had spoken.
“Lucas…” Thomas started, trailing off when Lucas raised his hand to silence him.
“I don’t care about your excuses. If you killed children, you’ll be dealt with per the code.” Thomas nodded, but Lucas wasn’t done. “But none of us believe you killed children. Not by accident or on purpose. We do think you’re being uncharacteristically cowardly about this.”
“That’s super harsh, Lucas,” Felix said.
Lucas’s gaze cut to Felix. “A man with a grudge against our family handed a dead snake to my children in broad daylight. It's not harsh enough.” Once more, he turned his attention to Thomas. “You need to get your shit together.”
Thomas blinked at him. “What?”
Lucas’s lip curled, and he shook his head. “You’re Thomas fucking Mulvaney, the head of this fucked-up little family. Start fucking acting like it before something happens to my children and I have to fucking kill you myself.”
“This is stressful,” Zane muttered. “I think I’m gonna be sick.”
Felix flung an arm around his shoulders, patting his head in a gesture that contradicted his next words. “If you throw up on my fifteen-hundred dollar sneakers, I’m not speaking to you for a week,” Felix promised in his sweetest tone.
“This place looks like a museum,” Arlo said, turning in a circle, very much sounding like he was trying to appease a crowd about to turn violent.
“Yes,” Arsen said in heavily accented Russian. “That’s why we came. The others didn’t believe only one person could live in a house this big.”
Thomas ignored the boys and looked to Calliope, who cocked her hip, nodding towards Lucas. “I’m with him. We need the old Thomas back. The ‘fuck around and find out’ Thomas. I’ll smack you again if I have to.”
Thomas blinked like he was coming out of a trance, then heaved a heavy sigh, scrubbing his hands over his face. “That won’t be necessary. Just give me a few minutes to shower and I’ll explain everything.”
“Fine,” Calliope said as if she was doing him a favor. “While you’re up there, look for your big boy panties so we can figure out who threatened your grandbabies.”
“She’s mean,” Arsen whispered. “I like it.”
When Thomas turned towards the stairs, Aiden said, “I’ll go with you.”
“Oh, no, you won’t,” Calliope said, catching him by the ear.
What the fuck? Not even his mother had ever done that. Why the fuck did it hurt so bad?
“Ow,” Aiden growled.
Calliope scoffed. “You will not be distracting him with your pelvic sorcery.”
Aiden blinked at her. “My what?”
“He definitely doesn’t have TikTok,” Felix said to Zane, his stage whisper conspiratorial.
“Of course not,” Atticus sniffed. “He’s an adult.”
Adam folded his arms and sneered. “We all know your cat has a TikTok, Freckles.”
“What? He does not,” Atticus protested, his face turning as red as his hair. “And don’t call me that. Only my husband can call me that.”
