I looked between my boys. “Don’t worry. I’ll deal with it.”
Rex snorted before picking up the menu and studying it.
I closed my eyes, breathing through the wave of guilt sweeping through me because I knew I’d failed them. If I hadn’t been so preoccupied with my own bullshit, I might have realized sooner that they needed me. I told myself it was the chaos of opening a new club, but deep down, maybe I’d been a little afraid of how I was drifting away from them.
My boys were living their lives without me, and I hadn’t even put up a fight.
“I’ll fly home with you, speak to your mom, and we’ll take it from there. If she agrees, I’ll move you all out here, get you guys in school, and she can get treatment and counselin’.”
Rex’s eyes lifted, and my gut clenched at the cautious but hopeful expression. “Really?”
I cocked an eyebrow. “You ever known me to give you a promise and not follow through?”
He shook his head.
Roman threw me a grin. “Thanks, Dad.”
My reply was gruff with emotion. “Don’t gotta thank me, Son.”
His smile widened. “Yeah, but it’s good you’re lookin’ out for Mom.”
I dipped my chin. “Don’t know if she’ll agree to come yet. If she doesn’t and she won’t dry out, you’re still comin’ back with me. Take it from someone who knows, Rome. You can’t help someone who won’t help themselves. D’ya get me?”
His grin faded. “She’ll wanna get better, Dad. I know she will.”
I gave him a reassuring smile, but I wasn’t convinced. Experience told me that once drugs took hold, everything became complicated.
Bree deserved a chance to prove to the boys that they came first, but if she let them down, she wouldn’t get another chance. I’d help her because my boys asked me to, and she’d been a good mom, and even a good woman for me at one point, but if she made the wrong choice, there’d be no second shot.
“I’ll look into facilities,” I promised.
The relief seemed to bleed from him. His shoulders slumped, and the tension slid from his face. “Knew you’d step up,” he muttered.
“I’ll try,” I corrected him. “I’ll offer your mom the help; it’ll be up to her to do the work, though, not me.” My stare cut to Rex, who was studying me thoughtfully.
He got me; my eldest was no fool. Rex had my street smarts, whereas Roman, although not much younger, still had a boyish innocence about him that I didn’t think Rex had ever possessed. I’d told them about my childhood because they’d questioned where my parents were and why they didn’t see them, but I still shielded them from the worst of it.
“I’ll do my best,” I vowed softly.
Rex's forehead creased, but he nodded before going back to reading the menu. “What are you gonna do with Kev?”
“That dipshit won’t be around anymore,” I stated.
His eyes remained glued to the menu, but his lips twitched. My eldest had the same mean streak as his pop.
“You gonna kick his ass?” Roman asked excitedly, his ass bouncing slightly on the bench seat.
“Be cool, Rome,” Rex hissed, nudging his brother’s ribs. “You don’t gotta announce it to the entire diner.”
“I am bein’ cool,” Roman protested, while not being cool, whatso-fucking-ever.
Rex’s eyes flickered across the room, then back to his menu. “Hot chick at two o’clock.”
Rome sat back and casually looked around the diner, his eyes tracking right. “She’s fire. Bit younger than your usual type though.”
Rex shrugged. “Can’t always go for the more mature ladies. Gotta settle down with a nice girl at some point, and that brunette looks like avery nicegirl.”
Roman chuckled. “She keeps lookin’ at you and blushin’.”
