“Rowan-”
I groan. “Dad, I know, all right? Fuck,” I swear, dipping my face into my hands. “Do me a favor and spare me the sermon for the moment.”
My dad sits on the couch next to me, his hand resting on my shoulder. “Actually I was going to tell you I love you.”
I smile wryly as I turn to look at him. “Thanks for saving my ass.”
He nods.
“What happened?”
My mom’s brow furrows in worry. “Oh, God, is your memory-?”
“No, no, Mom,” I shake my head. “I mean where the hell did Leonard get a gun?”
“That I don’t know,” my dad growls, his hand tightening on my shoulder.
“Your friend Fiona showed up at the dinner,” Sierra says quietly.
Fuck.
“Yeah…” she trails off, wrinkling her face at the look on mine.
“So now what?”
“Now we make sure you’re okay,” Mom says, moving to sit on my other side and wrapping her arms around me.
“No, I mean with the Center.”
Dad shakes his head. “The Center will be fine. I had Leonard up because I thought it’d be good for him to get out of his own little parish once in a while. I didn’t need him on the project. It’ll be done without him.” He frowns. “The important thing is-”
“I’m fine.” I look at the floor, only seeing Eva’s face flash in front of my eyes.
“I’m sorry, son,” Dad says quietly. “About Eva.”
I nod, looking at the ground.
Eva.
Angel.
And I let her get away.
Yeah, there was a gun, and a fucking psychopathic preacher, but there are things I could have said — then, or even before that.
Things I should have told her.
My sin wasn’t what we did together. It wasn’t the sex, it wasn’t defying the will of her father.
My sin wasn’t even the fact that I fell in love with her.
It was never telling her that.
The second the thought passes through my head, I realize how true it is. There’s never been a single instance in my life where I thought that way about someone. Not one.
I love her, and she’s about to get on a plane and fly right out of my life.
“That Mustang’s running real pretty these days.”
I nod absently. “Great, Dad.”
He sighs. “I said, it’s running real pretty these days.”
I frown. “I heard you, I just…”
I shut my mouth as he presses a set of keys into my hands. I look up, and he winks.
“It’s a fast little thing.”
I sit up, the pain in my head gone. My eyes go wide as I look around at my family.
“The hell am I doing here?”
Sierra grins. “Wasting time?”
I lurch to my feet.
“I’m driving you.”
I shake my head at Silas. “No wa-”
“He’s driving you,” Dad says with a stern look. “Row, you’ve got a gash in your head.”
“And probably a concussion,” Stella adds.
“Fuck it, here.” I pass him the keys. “No guardrails, all right?
He rolls his eyes at me as we head for the front door. “That’s never actually going to be a funny joke, you know that, right?”
“It needs polishing.”
We’re yanking open the garage door, when I hear the voice behind me.
“Hang on, Row.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I groan as I turn towards Big Gus. “Dude, now? Can this wait?”
Silas scowls as he steps forward, his fists balled, but Gus shoots him a look and shakes his head.
“Hold on.” He levels his eyes at me. “Just came by to let you know there’s been a change in management.”
I frown. “Which means?”
“A change in management,” Gus says evenly, enunciating each word before smiling.
“Oh.” My mouth snaps shut. “Shit.”
“Nah, I think you'll like them, actually.” He crosses his meaty arms over his broad chest. “I don’t want to own your bar, Row.”
“You don’t?”
Gus shakes his head. “No. I like drinking there too much. It’s what we’d call a conflict of interest in the business world.”
I eye him. “Really.”
“Yeah, really.” Gus grins. “So, how about a buy-out.”
I groan. “How much?”
He shrugs. “Thirty-thousand?”
I swear. “Yeah, dude, let me go cash in my fucking stock options and see what I can-”
Silas shoves me aside. “Done, he'll take it.”
Gus smiles. “Aww that’s great, Row!”
I whirl on my friend. “Thirt-”
“Shut the fuck up,” he hisses before turning back to Gus. “We got a deal?”