Niko snorted. “I guess. I mean, how many deaf people are there, really? I doubt it’s enough to justify learning a whole language.”
Derek’s jaw tensed. “Why should the percentage matter? I mean even one deaf person should be enough of a motivation.”
“Well, they have ways, right? Writing and shit?” he waved his spoon dismissively. “How do you talk to him if you don’t sign?”
“We text and I know some sign language,” Derek defended. “But I know it sucks for him, and I’d like to be able to communicate with Tony’s baby as she gets bigger.”
Niko shrugged. “I guess. They’re not going to teach her to talk though? I mean, deaf people can talk if they take therapy, can’t they? Plus, there are those implant things she could wear so she can hear like a normal person.”
Something hot and angry settled in his gut, and he felt on the verge of either panic or outright rage, and neither one of them would leave the evening on a good note. He took a breath, then set his cup down. “I just…I need to…I have a thing. I’ll see you later.” He rose and hurried off, not looking back when he heard Niko calling his name, and it was by some miracle the guy didn’t follow him to his car.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Derek’s head snapped up at the soft knock on the door frame, and when he saw his brother standing there, his eyes narrowed. “Don’t.”
“Look,” Sage said, taking a step into the small room, “he told me what happened.”
Derek shook his head, dropping his pencil next to the sheet of tracing paper he was working on for his next client. “You said if it didn’t work—if for whatever reason, he and I didn’t mesh—you’d leave me alone about it.”
“I know, and I meant it,” Sage said. He closed the door behind him and leaned up against it. “Is it because of Basil?”
Derek let out a frustrated breath, dragging both hands down his face. “Yes. And Jasmine, and anyone who has to deal with the rest of the world thinking they’re not worth some effort just because they’re not the fucking status quo.”
Sage winced, because he had to know what it meant for Derek to hear that, how short that leap was between a deaf person who used sign, and someone with PTSD who needed someone understanding and willing to do things a little differently. “He didn’t understand.”
“That’s fine,” Derek said, and he meant it. “It’s fine when someone doesn’t understand, but when their default is to shit on someone, I can’t trust them to understand what I need.”
“I just,” Sage started, then stopped and shook his head. He crossed his arms, then uncrossed them, his posture telling Derek he was approaching a possible conflict between them.
“Please don’t defend him. I’m not saying he’s a monster, I’m just saying he’s not someone I could date.”
“Do you think maybe he’d like the opportunity to learn?” Sage tried.
“And you think I’m the one who should teach him?” Derek spat. “You don’t think I have enough on my plate just getting by? Where the hell am I going to find the energy to hold his hand through all this shit, Sage?”
Sage winced, then grabbed the small chair in the corner of the room, flipped it backward, and sank down. He rested his arms on the back and leaned toward his brother. “I won’t ever understand, okay? I get that. You took the brunt of every single moment of dad’s cruelty…”
“No,” Derek said, putting his hand up. “You don’t get to belittle what you went through, Sage. That’s not what this is about.”
“I know that, and that’s not what I’m not doing,” Sage argued. “I’m not making this some sort of fucked up competition that you managed to win by sheer bad luck. I deal with plenty thanks to that old bastard, but I didn’t walk away with the same scars you did. And I would never, ever tell you that you had to be the one to guide someone through it.”
“Then what are you saying?” Derek asked, all the fight draining out of him. His limbs felt heavy, his emotions having him wrung out, and suddenly he just wanted his bed.
“I’m saying that if he tries, if he learns—on his own, maybe with one of us—you might give him another shot? He’s not a bad guy, he’s just one of the billions of ignorant morons on this planet who were fortunate enough to not know what all of this was like.”
Derek wanted to tell his brother to fuck off, to remind him he didn’t owe this blind date anything. Except he couldn’t help but recall how well the date had gone before, and how somewhere deep-down, Niko wasn’t a bad person. Sage was right—he was ignorant. It didn’t make him less than a person. In fact, he thought with some sarcasm, it almost made him more.
“I just don’t know if I can,” he finally admitted.
“That’s fair. I’m just asking you to consider it. I’m not even sure he wants to try again. He knows he fucked up when you left the way you did, and he didn’t hesitate to take all the blame for being an asshole.” Sage scratched the back of his head, then sighed and pushed up to stand. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry I put you in the position to deal with something like this. I didn’t see it coming.”
“Neither did I,” Derek told him. “Up to that point, the date was so good. We were getting along, and I…shit,” he breathed out, rubbing his hands over his face again. “It felt so nice to just forget for a little while that I’m this hot mess of a person with no hope of ever being put together in a way most people can deal with.”
“Derek, don’t—”
“It is what it is, man,” Derek told him. “It’s fine. I’m sure there’s someone interested, and I can be patient until then. At least I’m trying, right?”
Sage gave him a long look, then backed up to open the door. “Yeah. Right. If you need anything…”
