“Parents?”
“Both dead.”
It had happened a few years ago now, but his voice still held that edge when he talked about it. Which always surprised him, as they hadn’t been all that close as a family.
Tim did reach out then, taking Seb’s hands in his. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to drag up bad memories.”
Seb shook his head. “No, it’s fine. I don’t mind.” He squeezed Tim’s fingers to let him know he meant it and then sat back. “It happened about four years ago. Car accident. We weren’t… I mean, it was awful, don’t get me wrong, but we weren’t what you’d call a particularly loving family. Not like Jared and his parents.” He shrugged as though it was no big deal.
“Oh.”
Tim looked… well, horror-struck was the phrase that came to Seb’s mind, and for some reason that struck him as funny. “With everything that’s happened over the past week or so,thisis the thing that shocks you the most?”
“It’s just… the pack is my family. There’s arguments, yes.” He laughed. “Fights too. But we’re all close, the individual units even more so. Everyone has each other’s backs.”
“I didn’t say that they wouldn’t have been there for me if I’d needed them.” Seb stopped, not sure if that was strictly true but not really wanting to examine it further. It didn’t make any difference now. “What about Nathan and Alec? They don’t seem all thatclose.”
Tim hesitated. “They have their differences, true.”
Seb laughed. “Mm-hm. Differences, okay. Are you telling me Alec would have Nathan’s back in a fight?”
“Absolutely.”
No hesitation that time. Another few seconds passed, with neither of them speaking. The tension in the room was weird, unsurprisingly. Not bad, exactly, but not entirely comfortable either. Talking about family never ended well in Seb’s experience. Unless you were Jared.
“So,” Tim asked finally, “you have a sister?”
“I do.”
“Older or younger?”
Seb smiled, thinking about her surly attitude at times—exactly the same as him. “Older. By six minutes. She’s my twin.”
“Do you keep in touch?” Tim glanced down at Seb’s cast, then back up.
“Yes, we keep in touch. And no, I haven’t told her about this.” Seb could see the questions forming on Tim’s face, and he sighed. “She’s on holiday with her friends, so there’s really nothing she can do and I didn’t want her to worry. After everything that happened with Jared that time….” He didn’t want to explain further.
Thankfully, Tim nodded in understanding. “You want to keep her out of this?”
“As much as I can, yes. She still lives in London. I try and visit her more than she comes here, and I don’t want her anywhere near me until this fucking mess is resolved.”Christ, that’d better be soon.
Kelly was as headstrong and stubborn as he was. If she had an idea of what was going on, she’d probably offer to move in with him or something stupid like that. No way was he putting her in danger.
“I understand. And I agree. Her scent is nowhere around here, and you should keep it that way.”
Seb wrinkled his nose. “Please don’t talk about my sister and her scent. It’s just wrong.”
“Sorry.”
Eager to change the subject, Seb stood and hobbled to the sink with his empty bowl. “Any idea how long they’ll be with that?” He pointed in the direction of the stairs.
Tim paused, listening. “Luke says about another hour or so.”
“Good, because I want to go out later.”
He waited for Tim to protest, tell him it wasn’t safe, but he said nothing.
Seb turned and leaned against the worktop. “Still nothing to say about that?”
