He met my eyes and began to speak.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Ronan
Strangely enough, it didn’t take me long to tell my sad story. I left out what life was like in prison because Erica didn’t need to hear the ugly details. Bad enough she had to discover her son was with a guy who was too stupid to live.
“So that’s it. In a nutshell, I decided to fall on the sword for my sister and her husband, thinking they’d keep their word, when all along they never planned on being there for me. She doesn’t even talk about it, wanting to forget it ever happened. But how can I just brush it under the rug? It was six years of my life. Meanwhile, Marty takes no responsibility and thinks I should ‘get over it.’ I’ve tried, believe me, because she’s my only family. And Cassie not only got over it, she’s moved on at warp speed and seems to think I’m going to continue to bail her and Marty out from the financial scrapes they get into.”
Erica frowned. “Which is ridiculous. You’re not their personal ATM.”
“I know. But like I’ve said before, I can’t let her take all the blame. I created the monster by giving her everything she wanted. I still remember my parents telling me to always look out for her. I was her big brother.” I hung my head and studied the floor. “That’s what I was supposed to do. But it feels like a knife in my back. I should walk away, but I don’t want to disappoint my parents. Plus, I have a nephew and two nieces I want to meet.”
With tears in her eyes, Erica sprang up from her chair and rushed to my side to give me a hug. “I can’t stand to see you hurting like this. You gave up part of your life for her. You’ve gone way beyond what any parent would expect of a sibling. Don’t you dare feel guilty.”
If I closed my eyes, I could pretend it was my mother holding me. Erica possessed that same warmth, goodness, and incredible strength I remembered.
“It’s hard not to. But Gabriel’s helped me.”
Erica let me go and wiped at her eyes. “That’s what you do when you love someone. You’re there for the good times as well as the hard ones. You don’t run away from problems; you work them out. The same goes for friendship and siblings. I can’t begin to understand the hurt you’re feeling. The first instinct is to say to hell with it, walk away and not deal with it.”
“That’s what I’ve done, but it hasn’t brought me any peace. But forgiving and forgetting won’t either.” Frustrated, I threw my hands up in the air. “I try to convince myself it’s all in the past, that we should move on, but then I hear the whispers or get nasty messages on social media, and I know it’s never going to go away. I’llalwaysbe that guy who stole from the elderly and children.”
“Well…unless you’re willing to go to the news with evidence, nothing will change about that. And if you do, your sister and brother-in-law will be arrested. Horrible as it might sound, that might be even worse, since they’d ultimately go to prison anyway, exactly what you tried to prevent from happening for the sake of the children.Plus,you already spent six years paying for their crimes.” She returned to sit next to Ira, who frowned.
“If you don’t mind me saying something?” He arched a brow, and when I shook my head, he continued. “Like Erica said, in the public eye, little will change, but judging from what I’ve heard about you from Gabriel and Erica, plus my own observations, you’re a very self-sufficient man who doesn’t need the praise of strangers to make himself feel good. So forget about that, and instead ask yourself: What do you want now?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know what the hell I want.” Unable to sit still any longer, I paced the room, with three sets of eyes tracking me.
“Yes, you do.” Gabriel folded his arms. “You know, I hated going to the zoo when I was young because it bothered me to see the miserable lions and tigers pacing in their cages. Now I have you wearing a groove in the floor. Sit.”
I flung myself onto the couch. “What do you want me to say?”
“Babe. You’re tearing yourself apart over the rift with your sister.”
It was useless to deny it. “So? Every time we talk, we fight, and one of us ends up hanging up on the other. Nothing’s going to change that.”
“Are you so sure?” His smile was sweet. “I have a plan.”
***
A week later, we walked out of the airport in Fort Lauderdale, and the heat and humidity slapped me in the face. “Ugh. This is no better than New York in the summer.”
“Sure it is. There are palm trees.” Gabriel put on a Mets cap and grinned, and I couldn’t help smiling in return. In his green T-shirt and running shorts, he did something dangerous to my insides, and I wasn’t thinking about the reason for this trip anymore. All I wanted was to get to our hotel room and tear his clothes off. Lucky for me, we’d only brought carry-ons, so we didn’t have to wait for bags.
“Thanks for pushing it with Terrance to get me permission to travel.”
“It wasn’t that hard. He’s happy with your progress. And the fact that I’m a retired cop and I’m going with you helped.”
“Does he know about us?” I watched as a black car pulled up. “This must be our car.”
“None of his business what I’ve got going on in the bedroom.” Gabriel opened the door and climbed inside.
Once inside our ice-cold car, I slid my hand between his thighs.
“Easy, tiger,” Gabriel murmured. “Keep it in your pants.”
“Not my pants I’m concerned with.” I smirked.
