“Well, did you?”
I look at both my brothers in disbelief. They’re ganging up on me, to defend my ex-wife to my face. It was bad enough when it was Aiden hounding me, but if Logan is joining in, I don’t know how I’m going to get out of this conversation.
“Of course I did.”
Aiden’s brows scrunch together in abject confusion, before devolving into that kicked puppy look. He had the gall to be disappointed in me. He lives in a world where lying to people you love doesn’t need to happen, because he follows the family rules.
“You would have done the same,” I almost snap at him in defense.
“Neither of us would’ve gotten into that situation,” Logan snipes unhelpfully, but at least he picks up my meaning, and has the presence of mind to close the living room door again.
Aiden, unfortunately, hasn’t been paying attention, ever, I guess. “What situation?”
“She caught me coming back from my...midnight runs a couple of times. She’s a light sleeper, and, in the moment, I didn’t really have a good explanation,” I mutter. “It sucked, and it was clear I was lying to her, but that was the only option. I wasn’t going to spill family secrets.”
I would have thought this was obvious. At least these idiots could have picked a worse time and place to confront me about this. By now Elise has already gone home for the night.
It’s likely the least of the many reasons wolves keep bloodlines within long established packs, but it’s not exactly easyto keep one’s lunar transformations a secret when living with someone. My brothers probably never had to consider just how difficult it is because they’ve only ever lived at home.
I’d thought Elise understood something about me. She commiserated with me about fucked up family dynamics, how hard going no-contact was, what it meant to give up on the idea that our parents would love us the way we needed them to, when the pattern of their damage was imprinted upon us.
But it had been clear she was looking to replace her family with someone else’s, and I knew that would never happen with mine. Of course I lied to her.
“Oh,” Aiden says, looking guilty, and then mumbles, “Sorry. I didn’t think it was that. I just thought—”
“That I’d actually cheated on her? Of course,” I grumble, perturbed that my brothers would think so little of me. “You guys have anything else you want to say to me? Logan, clearly you’ve had a chip on your shoulder since I got here. Come on, out with it. Get it off your chest.”
Logan says nothing, just rolls his eyes. He looks like he’s regretting offering any kind of olive branch.
“I can only speak for MYSELF,” Aiden says, shooting a glare at Logan, “...but it sucked when you picked some stranger over us. It hurt, man.”
Logan glances at me for half a second, his eyes lifting and falling imperceptible as a single breath.
There was a point when Logan and I were best friends. We were closer in age to each other than with Aiden, who’d been the baby stumbling to follow us around. We’d only grown apart as we’d gotten older.
I chew the inside of my cheek. Not the way I thought that would go, but I don’t feel right apologizing for choosing Elise. I’ve never had it in me to regret choosing her, and this past week has only made that clearer to me.
But I am sorry for the pain that it caused.
“Yeah,” I nod slowly, “—and it hurt when you guys sided with Mom and Dad.”
Maybe they hadn’t realized that’s what they’d done. They were as young and immersed in our family’s bullshit as I had been, and they had never left home the way I did. But that was still effectively the choice they had made.
For a moment, there’s only quiet. Too much of it, filling the rifts between us.
Instead of responding, Logan downs the rest of his ale and swiftly cracks open another. I’d grab one too if it didn’t mean moving closer to him.
“I think it’s super lame that I’m the only one in our messed-up family that even tried therapy.” Aiden sighs, but I know he’s not going to make a dent with Logan.
“I don’t need therapy, I’m fine.”
“I’m also fine.”
“Good to know we’re all perfectly fine.”
And no one is going feral, either. Yeah, that checks out for this family. Just pretend nothing is a problem, it’ll go away sooner or later. I imagine that’s what happened when I left.
I wonder if Logan sees it too, watching his expression. His jaw is tight, but I watch the half-smile that flickers across hismouth. He doesn’t look at me but raises his eyebrows. “Do you guys wanna go light a soccer ball on fire?”
