“I’venever been captain. You basically were at your last house, and you know it,” Harrison said. “Dad noticed, and it’s all I heard about every time I saw him. And you heard what he said when he promoted you. You tested higher than I did. You’re one of the best firefighters he’s ever seen. And he’s not wrong.”
Emerson eyed Harrison. “He talked about me with you?”
“He can’t shut up about how amazing you are whenever I see him. Of course, there’s the whole, ‘I wish he’d get his shit together outside of work’, but otherwise,you’rethe favorite.”
Emerson’s eyes widened. “All he does is talk about you when I’m with him.Ad nauseum.I assumedyouwere the favorite.”
Harrison barked with laughter, grinning wide. “No wonder you’ve been so snarky over the last few years. Dad’s been either pitting us against one anotherorunconsciously irritating the both of us.”
“Knowing him, it’s probably the second one,” Emerson muttered.
Harrison smiled softly. “Yeah, my guess, too.”
They sat in a silence that was a little more comfortable than it had been in a while.
“Finally selling Uncle Lenny’s boat, hmm?”
“It’smyboat,” Emerson corrected, the comfort he’d felt lost.
Harrison chuckled. “I know, but it’s always his boat in my mind.” His twin took a long sip of coffee. “Honestly, it surprises me you haven’t sold it before now. You hated Lenny.”
“And he hated me,” Emerson added before finally taking his first sip of the coffee. It was lukewarm by then, and he barely tasted anything.
“Yet he willed you his sole possession when he died. I’ve always wondered what that was about.”
“A belated apology,” Emerson muttered.
Harrison frowned.
Emerson pointed to the hull. “I think I was standing just about there when he choked the life out of me. We were, what…thirteen?”
“I’d almost forgotten about that,” Harrison said. “I think we were a little older. At least fourteen or fifteen.”
Emerson wasn’t sure why he’d even asked. The memory was etched in his mind. They’d been just barely thirteen and he’d seen a rage in the man’s eyes that he’d never witnessed before, or since. There was no doubt that his uncle would’ve killed him given half the chance.
Had he seen himself in me? Did he know what I was?
Harry snorted. “Youdidegg him on.”
“Are you suggesting an adult alpha had the right to choke a teenager?”
“No,but you know as well as I do that your mouth has gotten you into trouble over the years. Never stopped you, of course.”
“I only speak the truth. Not my problem if he couldn’t take it.”
Harrison took another drink, silent for a few seconds. “I miss Uncle Lenny. Not the Lenny who died, but the Lenny from before his accident. Man, do you remember those fishing trips with him, Dad, and Fitz? I don’t think Luke was old enough before Lenny got hurt.”
“I sometimes wonder if they were so different. The two Lennies,” Emerson said. “We were too young to really remember how he was before he got hurt. Some memories have a way of hiding the bad parts, I think.”
“It wasn’t just the accident, though. Dad said an omega broke his heart. Not sure when that happened, but I remember thinking I never wanted an omega if I’d end up like him. I think that’s why I held on to Cass so tight. I didn’twantan omega.”
“And now you have two.”
Emerson sipped his lukewarm coffee, not willing to offer up the news that their uncle might have been alpha-attracted and that omega probably didn’t exist. Maybe he did but it had been an alpha who’d broken Lenny instead.
His mind drifted to Dashiell Keller, his chest aching. He had his own alpha slowly torturing him and was in danger of turning into the very broken man he’d hated. There he was, a lonely alpha living on a boat, mourning the man who might’ve been.
Harrison turned to stare at Emerson. “You often give tours of your boat shirtless?”
