If I’d known that a few weeks ago, I might have been more interested, but I hadn’t thought about sex with anyone other than Vail since I’d met him. How fucked-up was that? I was curious, though, because while Shay easily forgave the Killough Company men for their torture and killing proclivities, he was stricter when it came to being gay or enjoying a tumble with a man. He always let us know how much that was sinning even though there was nothing in the Bible about it.
“Tell me more,” I said.
Fallon shook his head. “This isn’t about Father Shay. This is about our little Rowen here.” He shook his finger at him. “And you’re an open book. See, here’s the thing, Vail, Rowen has middle-child syndrome.”
I grunted out a laugh, and Rowen’s gaze turned heated, switching between Fallon and me like he wanted us both to explode.
Vail cocked his head adorably. “What’s that?”
Fallon grinned and nearly bloody bounced in his seat. “Well, it’s when they aren’t loved enough and they do everything in their power to have their parents look at them. I can’t say what happened there, but Rowen sends money home to the family. He’s the type of guy who’s all about family.”
I grunted because it was true. He spoke to Ma on the phone at least once every two weeks, while I hadn’t talked to her or Da since we’d left.
“What’s so bad about that?” Rowen asked.
“Nothing,” Vail said, rubbing his hand down Rowen’s upper arm with a gentle smile. “I think it’s very admirable of you, Ro. My mother wants me to call, but I never remember, and she uses it to justify all sorts of ridiculous....” He shook his head.
It was the first time I’d heard him call Rowen by a nickname, and by the dopey look on Rowen’s face, it was for him, too.
“Anyway....” Fallon dragged out the word and continued, “Rowen’s like the fucking mother figure, cooking, cleaning, taking care of people. Though he stopped cooking us good meals a while ago.”
Rowen shot him a nasty look. “Maybe ye and them”—he nodded in the direction of Aspen and me—“should learn how to say thank ye. A wee bit of appreciation will get ye everywhere, lad.”
Fallon shrugged. “Ain’t nothing I can’t buy.” He swirled some spaghetti around his fork and stuffed it in his mouth, moaning as if proving a point. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he continued, “Anyway, that’s about all there is to you. Religion and taking care of people.”
“Bullshite. There’s more to me than that, ye just don’t take the time to get to know me,” Rowen said.
I laughed. “I can tell ye some interesting stories of him as a child.”
He pointed at me. “Don’t ye dare, Cillian. Just know I have the same sort of stories as ye do. Don’t even make me mention the time ye got yer dick stuck in a vacuum cleaner.”
The smile slid off my face and I straightened, ignoring the outrageous laughter coming from Fallon. Vail tried to hide it behind his hand, but I didn’t miss his amused smile.
“I didn’t get it stuck in there.”
Rowen held up his palms, smirking, which didn’t suit him. “Oh, I’m sorry. Ma caught ye with yer pants down and yer dick in the vacuum when ye were about fifteen.”
“Shut the feck up,” I snapped, and Fallon laughed harder.
Aspen raised his eyebrows at me, and I shook my head, and Vail patted me on the arm this time.
“It’s okay, we all did it,” he said. “There wasn’t anything in my entire house I probably didn’t touch with my hard-on when I was that age, just to see what it felt like.”
As much as I appreciated the comfort, we didn’t all get caught by our ma. She’d told my da, who’d told my brothers, and the rest was history. I’d never live it down for the rest of my life.
“Once, my dad found my stash of socks,” Vail whispered to me, mouth curving delicately and cheeks blooming red. “He was so mad at me for leaving piles of dirty socks in my room, but when he realized what they were....” His shoulders slumped and he leaned against me, and I curled my arm around him and kissed his temple. “Dad was mortified.” He laughed, and it was damned adorable the way he stared over Fallon’s shoulder at nothing in particular, gaze cloudy as he remembered his father. “I can still see the look on his face.”
We all chuckled because we’d been there. He was right, having an embarrassing moment with your parents was part of being a teen.
Vail snapped out of his thoughts and glanced at me. “What about you? What made you move to Dublin? I know I asked this before... or maybe I asked Rowen... but why? If I’m not wrong, one of you told me you two are from Dundalk. But I thinkyoutold me the last city you lived in was Dublin.”
I stared down at my half-eaten risotto and ran my fork through it. Sighing, I shook my head. “Ye want to know the truth?”
Rowen’s gaze shot up to me, and Vail chewed on his bottom lip.
“Fine. I came out to me father as bisexual. Thought he’d accept me. I was wrong.”
“What does that mean?” Rowen asked, and everyone’s eyes were on us, watching.
