I glared at him. “You’re sixteen. You aren’t old enough to have sex either, so don’t think because you’re a guy, you won’t get into shit with your parents. You and Georgie are in the same boat here.”
Jax swallowed. “Trust me ... I know.”
He knows?
I raised a brow. “What happened?”
“Earlier today ... me ma and da walked in on .... y’know what? Never mind. I’m sure me da will tell ye’ all about it.”
I was sure he would, and from how Jax’s face was burning red, I knew it was going to be a hell of a story.
“Speakin’ of me parents,” Jax continued. “I was only supposed to come over ‘ere to talk to Georgie. I’m grounded.”
“Does being grounded have anything to do with what your mom and dad walked in on?”
Jax nodded, and I thought back to my conversation on the phone with him earlier in the day. When I called him, I heard him hush a giggling girl, and I put two and two together.
“You were with a girl earlier when I called you ... is that what you parents walked in on?”
Axel came down the stairs at that moment and grabbed Jax’s hand.
“Mammy says I can go to your house to play with Eli if you’ll bring me.”
Jax smiled down at his cousin, “‘Course I’ll bring ye’, cousin.”
When he looked back at me, his smile faded.
“I have to go home but tell Georgie that’s where I’ll be if she’s lookin’ for me. Later, unc.”
Before I could reply, he was out the door with my son without a backwards glance. I knew whatever Kane was going to tell me about what he walked in on was going to be a story that was as rough for him as this situation with Georgie was for me.
“Fucking teenagers, man.”
I walked into the living room and fell into my armchair with a deep sigh. I leaned my head back and wondered if I was ever as nightmare inducing as this generation of Slater kids were, then I laughed to myself because me and my brothers were definitely worse when we were kids. We didn’t live in cosy homes with normal, loving families. No, we lived in a compound where disloyalty or hesitation would get a man killed. Our road to adulthood, and to reach the point we were all at now, was a rough one, and to be honest, I was surprised that the five of us survived it.
God knows there were times were each of us didn’t want to.
CHAPTER THREE
Ten years old ...
“Dominic!”
I jumped about a foot in the air the second my name was bellowed. I scrambled out of bed, stood straight, and waited.
“Yeah?”
My dad flung my bedroom door open, and it cracked against the wall with a thud. My heart pounded against my chest, and muscles all over my body tensed with apprehension. I swallowed as my dad, who physically reminded me so much of my older brother Ryder, glared at me with cool grey eyes. Eyes that my brothers and I inherited from him.
“What did I tell you about attending your lessons?”
I jerked my gaze to the black on the clock and winced. I was two hours late for math class. It was Tuesday, and on Tuesdays, we had a day-long math class to get us up to par so when we started working for Dad and his business partner, Marco, we’d have a foot in the door of understanding how they did business. Numbers meant everything to Dad and Marco, so it was vital to them that my brothers and I were smart and knew all there was to know about them.
I looked back at my dad and felt myself shrink.
“I’m sorry, Dad.” I tensed. “I forgot to set my alarm.”
When he crossed the space between us and backhanded me, my eyes stung with tears, but I refused to let them fall. I stumbled back a few steps but quickly stood upright and tried my best to appear I was okay when all I wanted to do was get back into bed, hide under my covers, and never come out again.
“Get showered, dressed, and get your worthless ass to your lessons. Now.”
I bobbed my head.
“Answer me with your words, boy.”
“Yes,” I squeaked. “I understand you. I’ll get to class right away.”
He was going to hit me again, I knew he was, so I tensed my body to prepare for it.
“Dad,” Ryder’s voice suddenly spoke. “I’ll deal with him.”
Dad, who was in the middle of raising his hand, paused.
“You said that the last time, and here he is, flaking on lessons.”
Ryder spoke softly as he stepped into view and walked up behind our father. “He is ten.”
“I don’t give a fuck if he’s five!” Dad bellowed when my brother stopped at his side. He shoved Ryder whose entire body was now rigid. “When I tell him to do something, I expect him to do it. If he slacks on attending lessons, he’ll slack when he’s on a job when he’s older, and that is unacceptable.”