“What do you need to keep me safe from, Tadhg?” I ask softly.
He blinks, his face twitching like the question threw him off. But before he can answer, a voice interrupts us from a few feet away.
“Are you alright, Micah?”
I glance to my right, and see that Scott is now fully dressed and looking at me and Tadhg with the wary incredulity we deserve.
Tadhg, of course, tenses at the interruption. He turns to face Scott, eyeing him up and down and instinctively putting my body a little behind his. It’s clear that he doesn’t like whatever he sees, because he practically bristles with hostility toward Scott. He brings one hand to loosely cover his naked, now-flaccid dick, but still puffs out his chest and stands tall, like Scott needs to go through him to get to me.
“He’s fine. You can go. Your services have been fulfilled, clearly.”
Scott’s eyes nearly pop out of his head, and I don’t blame him. I slap Tadhg on the arm and shove him out of my way.
“Jesus, Tadhg, don’t be fucking rude. Scott’s my friend. You’re the one making a scene. For the love of god, will you go put some pants on.”
Scott is still staring between us, bug-eyed, but Tadhg only stiffens, standing there like he’s some kind of fucking sentry.
Looking up at his stony face, I try very hard not to raise my voice but fail a little.
“Pants! Now!”
With a slow exhale, he finally turns and disappears back into the room, but not without casting one more unnecessarily aggressive glare at Scott.
Scott, bless him, who looks at me and mouthswhat the fuck?in silence. I know his family is pretty normal; this is probably a lot for him.
“Sorry, he’s having a bad week.” Understatement, but it’s not like I can give him details. Scott points at his own abdomen where Tadhg’s gunshot wound is, because he just saw the whole thing and it’s pretty obvious what it is to anyone who’s seen one before. His eyebrows are raised, but I just shake my head. I need him to take the hint and not ask more questions about this.
“Look, I need to deal with him, can I call you later?”
He looks between me and the wall that Tadhg is standing behind one more time.
“Dude, are you sure you’re going to be okay alone?”
I huff. We’re going around in circles, and I also really fucking hate being treated like I can’t take care of myself. “I told you, it’s fine. He’s my brother. Stepbrother. Whatever, the point is, I’ve got it. I will text you later.”
Scott holds my gaze for a few more beats, but then he finally breaks it. He moves toward me to say goodbye, but of course that’s when Tadhg reappears from the bedroom. He’s in low-slung jeans that make him look even more ripped than he did naked, and of course no shirt, and he immediately places himself between me and Scott with a growl.
A literal growl. I’m surprised he doesn’t snap his teeth at the man.
This is exhausting.
I mime texting and mouthlater, before waving Scott away without saying anything. Reluctantly, he turns, but it’s clear he thinks there’s a good chance Tadhg is going to murder me in my sleep or something.
People from normal, happy families will never understand.
As soon as the door clicks behind him, I slap Tadhg on the arm again, making him turn to face me.
“Why are you acting fucking feral?”
“Why are you acting like a little bitch?” he hisses back.
Lord, give me patience.
I reach deep into the wellspring of tolerance that I normally save for patients who are acting out because they’re detoxing or in incredible amounts of pain, and don’t let this escalate into a childish pissing match.
“Just come fucking sit down with me, okay?”
He sulks, still like a teenager, but follows along with heavy movements as I grab him by the arm and drag him to the couch. On the way, I snag my sweater from where I tossed it on the living room floor when I came in—still ignoring that it’s a disaster from Tadhg obviously having a hissy fit at some point, because he’s such an adult—and pull it over my head, because it’s getting cold in nothing but my underwear. I sit at one end, practically throwing him on the other, where he falls like a sack of potatoes. His face looks drawn, but there’s a nervousness to him underneath all the over-the-top give-a-fuck attitude.
