Luke shook his head as if he was trying to clear water from his ears. “Yeah. Absolutely. I can’t thank you enough for that. It will take a big load off my shoulders. It’s a bigger load off Dana’s shoulders. She’s my partner. I was hoping you would have a chance to meet her.” He frowned.
“I wish I could.” Liam surprised himself by meaning it. He wished he could know something about Luke’s life, but this wasn’t his world. Not anymore.
“Yeah.” Luke scratched his head again. “So, how’d you end up so freakishly tall?”
That felt like a safer topic. “Imshee genetic engineering. They were trying to suck up to Ondry, possibly because Ondry was so angry with them that he was contemplating ripping off random legs.”
“Oh. That sounds...”
“Violent?” Liam said, filling in the silence.
Luke shrugged. “Maybe a little. I was actually thinking overprotective. Spooner said the Rownt were pretty overprotective with you.”
“Spooner? You know Spooner?”
Luke headed for the tall couches scattered around the area, and Liam followed.
They chose seats several feet apart on the same sofa, and Liam studied the herringbone pattern on the fabric.
“I don’t know him, know him,” Luke said. “He asked for information on you.”
Liam groaned. “For the book.” He hated that damn book. There was nothing like having the worst mistakes of his life published with full-color inserts. Mort had still retained his roguish good looks, even in that last mug shot. Liam’s stomach dropped so fast that he had to sit. “You’ve read the book.” He stared at Luke in horror. No. No no no no no. No, this was not happening.
Luke turned pink. “I hate that you lived through that.”
When Liam’s cheeks got hot, he knew he had a matching blush. Liam rubbed the back of his neck. “It happened. I moved on.”
Luke winced. “Mom never forgot you. You were always her golden first-born.”
Since he had no idea what to say, Liam didn’t say anything. He had adored his mother and been angry with her in equal parts. When he’d received the official notification of death, he’d begged a bottle of booze off Gina and gotten himself good and drunk. It wasn’t a good memory.
“Did you get any of our letters?”
“Um... sure, when I was at Landing,” Liam said. “I didn’t know what to write back.” During the first part of his stay, Liam could have explained how great life was if you spread your legs for the sergeant in charge of assignments. Then later, he could have explained how to get tactical gear off a dead body, which sometimes required using a laser to cut off body parts. Liam had never wanted his family to know any of that, but Spooner had taken away Liam’s ability to keep the details to himself.
Luke chewed on his lower lip and nodded. He was probably thinking about the same damn horrifying stories. “Did you get any while you were on Prarownt?”
“No. I assumed that since I didn’t write back, you stopped.” Liam sighed when he saw the pained expression on Luke’s face. “I see my assumption was wrong.”
“Mom and I both kept writing.” Luke grimaced before adding, “I’m not proud of some of the things I said in the later letters. I guess I wanted to apologize for being a little shit.”
“I never got the letters, so no harm, no foul.”
“Oh no.” Luke finally looked at Liam. “I still need to apologize. I made assumptions, and I had no right. You were always a good person, a good big brother, so I shouldn’t have assumed that you would abandon us.”
“I ran off and went surfing,” Liam reminded him. He’d run off for other reasons related to Mort, but Liam had no intention of opening that wound.
Luke laughed. “Exactly. You were a big brother.” He reached over and caught Liam’s hand in his. “There are these things called socnets. They blast messages through subspace so you can keep up with people on other planets. I hear they work pretty well.” Despite the sarcasm, Luke’s voice was soft and hopeful.
“I should try that.” Luke smiled, the edges of his eyes crinkling. “I will definitely try that.”
He squeezed his brother’s hand carefully. After all, Luke was so much smaller and more fragile. Liam never wanted to hurt his brother. Not again.
