It had been almost the entire promised twenty-four hours that Levi had agreed, and I had yet to hear anything from him. I had been fighting with myself ever since he’d ended the call, trying not to message him repeatedly or call him when he was obviously dealing with something that had his hands full. That hadn’t kept me from jumping at my phone every time it made anoise, and I was irritated whenever I thought I felt it vibrate in my pocket, only to find out nothing had happened.
With a grunt, I stepped out of the room I had ‘borrowed’ to take a moment so no one could see me starting to unravel. I went in search of a broom. Moira had given some of us siblings a universal key that let us get into any part of the hotel whenever we were around to help. We were supposed to give them back when we were done, but that didn’t mean we did.
I was technically here to help with the hotel and had come upstairs to a guest who was having issues with their HVAC and wanted someone to handle it while they were out.
I needed to cool down for a minute or two...or ten. I was obviously on edge, and I didn’t want to risk losing my temper on someone who didn’t deserve it.
I snagged what I needed off a housekeeping cart and went back to the room I was also supposed to be inspecting so it could be used by a guest later. The act of cleaning up after myself wasn’t nearly as calming as people made it out to be. The only time I ever really felt completely calm was when I was in the ring or in someone else. Considering I couldn’t do the first and the second had definitely lost its appeal, I was stuck trying to be normal, and that clearly wasn’t working.
But I was a good boy, and I made sure to sweep all the shards out of the bathroom where the lion statue had been. The black mood that had settled into my bones almost said ‘fuck it’, but I made sure that everything in there was spic and span before leaving the room.
With a huff, I stopped off at Moira’s office. She was sitting behind the desk, Mason peering over her shoulder, and across from her was Micah. None of them looked thrilled, though Mason seemed vaguely amused. Which meant there was some bullshit going on that the asshole was probably enjoying. I mean, I probably would have enjoyed it too if it wasn’t for the fact thatthe only thing enjoyable sounding at the moment was a good old-fashioned, knockout, drag-out fight.
“Just leave me alone,” Micah muttered as he tapped at his screen.
“Oh God,” I grunted. “What now?”
“I got a call about someone’s behavior today. More specifically, his smart,disrespectfulmouth,” she said, arching a brow. “Apparently, he decided to tell his teacher that if she couldn’t manage her time properly, then it wasn’t his problem. Never mind that he knows better than to act like he’s the only person in the universe.”
“Why? Mason does shit like that all the time,” Micah said without looking up from his phone, and I felt a flash of anger. I had literally just tried to have a decent conversation with the kid about how he had been acting lately, and it seemed like nothing I’d said, or anyone else had said, for that matter, was getting through that stubborn skull of his. “And he’s even more disrespectful than me. I’m not even that bad. It’s not like I’ve called you?—”
“Micah!” Moira barked and then looked up at Mason when he squeezed her shoulder and gave a meaningful look. “We’re not in a competition here. And if there’s one competition you don’t want, it’s how you can be worse than other people, understand me? This isn’t the first time, or the first teacher, that has told me you’ve been difficult.”
“So don’t do anything, I’m sick and tired of everyone being on my ass about things that are too stupid to be mad about,” Micah said, and Moira’s mouth opened again.
But I’d had enough.
I snatched the phone out of his hand and shoved him back down into the seat when he stood up to grab it, with an outraged cry: “No, sir, you’re going to sit right there. You’re going to shut your mouth, and you’re going to listen.”
He looked shocked, his chin wobbling slightly as he turned it up to me in what was supposed to be defiance, but just made him look bratty. “Or what?”
“You seem really attached to this thing,” I said, wiggling the phone. “A shame if your smart mouth and absolute lack of respect for the people who have been trying to help your bratty ass for months now earned it a nice trip into the trash.”
“You wouldn’t,” he said with absolute confidence. “Mom pays for that, so you wouldn’t dare.”
“That was a mistake,” Mason muttered as I dropped the phone to the ground and brought my heel down on it with a splintery crunch. Micah howled in outrage, and I ground my heel down even further, sending splinters into the carpet. As his eyes locked onto the shattered remains of the phone, I gave it a swift kick, sending it smacking into the side of a metal filing cabinet with a harsh noise, leaving it still and silent.
“You f…” Micah began, and then squawked when I shoved him back down into the seat.
“First real lesson, bucko,” I said, getting down so we were eye to eye. “Never, and I mean never, tell someone they wouldn’t dare to do something unless you want to see whether or not they’ll dare to do it, got me? Secondly, this bratty teenager, oh, you’re so awful to me, act has gotta stop. Everyone has tried the nice way, everyone has tried the gentle way, and you want to act like you’re being actively harassed. You have anamazingfamily, do you get that?”
He stared at me, and I could see several answers forming behind his eyes, but nothing was coming from his mouth. It might have taken shock and fear, but I finally had his complete and undivided attention.
“How many kids at your school would kill to have both parents in their lives? How many of them would kill to have a family with all these uncles willing to do whatever it takes to bethere for you? Or grandparents like Matilda and Marcus? Fuck, I would have given anything to have my parents come back after they died. Your mom and Mason both lost their dad when they were young. Eli lost his mom when he was young. And don’t even get me started on Arlo’s parents.” I snarled at him, putting my hands on the arms of the chair. “It’s the fact that you have so many loving people around you that you’ve even been allowed to be such a goddamn dickhead, but you know what? I’m not fucking dealing with it anymore. I’m sick of you making everyone around you miserable. Like I told you in that diner, you are my nephew, and I’ll do whatever it takes to be there for you, but I’m done letting you walk all over your mother, you got me?”
He continued to stare at me, the anger replaced by something like horror and confusion.
“So what you’re going to do is go get all your shit, laptop, tablet, your spare phone, and bring it down here. Give it to your mom to lock up. Then you’re going to spend the rest of this weekend working first and second shift in this place. You’re going to see what it’s like to have to work for a living, and you’re going to be nice about it, or I’ll start smashing more things,” I said, and when his mouth dropped, I pointed and made sure to add extra bass to my voice. “Now!”
His expression screwed up, and I thought he might burst into tears, but with a huff, he got up and left. I watched him march off, wondering just what sort of trick he was going to pull. The kid was related to Mason after all, and smarter than all of us; he was bound to pull something. That was fine, though; he was at least pretending to obey, and that was a start.
“Hmm,” Mason hummed thoughtfully. “It’s been...quite a while since I witnessed a Dominic meltdown.”
“Shut the fuck up, Mason,” I grumbled, reaching into my pocket, pulling out one of my cards, and slapping it on the desk.“Here, use this to cover the phone I broke. Get him another one if you want, but that’s up to you.”
Moira leaned back in her seat, thoughtful, making it impossible to read her. “You seem to have a handle on things. Why don’t you decide if he should get another one?”
I was torn between being pissed off at her for being a smartass, but...the other side, the one that knew I had crossed a line, won out.
