He pulled away before self-pity made him lose focus.
“Did he hurt you?” he asked her, sounding outwardly calm, despite his inner turmoil.
“No,” she said, shaking her head and nervously wringing her hands. Lance sighed in relief and turned to give Parker a comforting hug.
“Is he going to come back?” Parker asked fearfully.
“Probably one day. Not for a long time though. He’ll—fuck off to lick his wounds for now, and then—in a couple of years, when he’s drunk and broke, he’ll be back,” Lance said with a shrug. Certain things couldn’t be helped. Short of his father dying, he’d probably always be a source of trouble for them.
“I shouldn’t have given him our address.”
Lance cut his brother off before the tears could start again.
“There are lots of shouldn’ts to go around. You didn’t know. I didn’twantyou to know. Neither of you. It’s my fault. Or—no. You know what, it’s no one’s fault. It’s his fucking fault for being a piece of shit,” Lance growled angrily, feeling a resurgence of his temper. Taking a deep, cleansing breath, he told himself that the storm had passed and now he had other shit to do.
Tanner. Tanner, with a broken leg, still sitting on his mother’s couch. He needed to wrap up family time and get Tanner to the ER.
He reached for Jeremy, who hugged him back harder than he ever had before, fingers digging into Lance’s back.
“Thank you for coming,” Jeremy said, voice shaky.
“Always.”
“After what happened you could have—” Jeremy fell silent and hugged Lance even harder. There was a time and a place for that conversation. Things that needed to be discussed, but not tonight.
“I’ll always come,” he vowed and kissed Jeremy’s forehead.
Jeremy smiled with love and gratitude.
Lance stepped back. Step 1, done. Keep moving. Keepmoving.
“Call me if anything else happens,” he said, and headed for the door.
“You’re leaving?” his mother asked with a barely restrained sob.
Lance nodded. “I have to go to the ER—”
“Did he hurt you?”
Lance shook his head. “It’s not me who got hurt tonight. It’s Tanner. He broke his leg.”
“What the fuck?” Parker exclaimed in shock. “How?”
“It’s his bad leg. The one that was injured before. It happened when Dad—when he tried to take me down—” he said, unable to finish. Besides, there was no time to explain. He had to go take care of Tanner.
“He protected you?” his mother asked, her voice so full of wonder and surprise that Lance paused to look at her again. They shared—somethingfor a moment. Lance was too shocked to process it but thought that perhaps it was an understanding of sorts.
“Yes, Mom, he did.” And wasn’t that just bananas. Lance couldn’t recall anyone protecting him before.
His mother gave a sharp nod, and firm resolve settled over her features as she shook off her residual fear and shakiness. The frail and frightened woman disappeared as the cool, rational woman emerged to take control.
“You should go. We need to get you on the road to the ER right away. Do you need us to help? Maybe Parker can help you carry him to the car,” she suggested, her voice filled with purpose. It was—surprising to see her so willing to help. Especially after her initial display of disgust and outrage over Lance’s choice of partners.
“Thanks, but we’ll be fine.” He was pleased but nevertheless stunned by his mother’s sudden efforts to support him and Tanner.
She nodded and urged him to hurry, so he took off at a run for the living room.
When he got there, Tanner was still clutching his leg with both hands, staring blankly at the floor. Lance sat next to him and wrapped his arm around him, kissing him gently on the cheek.
