We did that to protect each other.
Wolf was my boy, and we often kept each other from going down some really dark paths. That came with the territory of us all being brothers. We watched each other’s backs and would even go to the ends of the earth for each other if need be.
I agreed Noa Sloane needed to be handled, but I wasn’t sure how at the present. I needed to act.
I just didn’t know how.
“She needs to sweat,” I found myself saying. “We do nothing for now. The anticipation alone will drive her mad.”
I believed this to be true, but it did surprise me to hear the words.
As well as my buddies.
They gazed at me as if I’d lost my mind, but by then, our dads and LJ were making their way back.
“Phones.” Wells’s dad, Jaxen, had his hand out, grinning. “And don’t worry, I’ll keep good care of them.”
Groaning, we all handed them off to Jax one by one, sitting back when our fathers and LJ tucked themselves tight between us again. I didn’t face my buddies as the room darkened and the show began again, but I didn’t have to. I could feel their eyes.
I could feel Wolf’s the most.
It was that continued look that made me not look at my friend for the rest of the show. The thing about Wolf was, he was my closest friend. He could read me like no one else. He knew me like no one else, and because of that, he liked to psychoanalyze shit, and he wasn’t my fucking head doctor. I didn’t need him in my head, so I purposely kept him out of it.
The show couldn’t have ended quickly enough.
It did eventually, the fathers and LJ taking us boys outside and the telltale lectures beginning after. Us guys all got the same song and dance, how it was important to respect women and treat them well. The adults used no names, of course, or called anyone out, but everyone knew I was the party at fault here. The fathers and LJ all made sure to make their points directly to me when they spoke.
It all just shoved the metaphorical dagger in that much deeper, and Dad even bowed him and me out of the after-show dinner with the rest of the guys. The adults normally all took us to Jax’s Burgers after.
“I need some time with my son,” Dad said to his friends, giving them all hugs and shakes. He did the same with Thatcher, Wells, and Wolf. Dad saved Wolf for last, whispering something to him. No doubt he was asking Wolf to talk some sense into me, knowing Wolf and I were the closest.
I was sure Wolf would talk to me after he so obviously disagreed with my stance on how to handle Noa Sloane. My friend studied me good and hard before we all left each other, and I got into the car with my dad gratefully.
“So, you gonna level with me now?” Dad asked the question behind the wheel, swinging his gaze over to me. We probably had about fifteen minutes between the theater and home, but that was enough. His eyes narrowed. “What happened?”
I’d explained to him what had happened, told him and Mom what had happened. I shrugged. “I told you. Some bitch was trying to get back at me at school.” Though, I hadn’t told them the why or the circumstances surrounding it.
Dad sighed, heavily. He shook his head. “And that’s why we all took—and continue to take—you to these things, the ballet?” He frowned. “You think we enjoy it any more than you boys?”
Doubted it. My dad wasn’t a ballet guy.
His jaw worked. “You kids could do with a reality check. You don’t treat women right. Women aren’t bitches. They’re women.”
“I told you. She—”
“What I heard, son.” His eyes flared in my direction, my lips snapping closed. His frown deepened. “Is that you wronged someone so much that they decided to do such a thing against you. And getting your mother involved?” He fingered roughly through his hair. “You obviously did something to this girl. Something she felt warranted such cruel behavior.”
His words were heated, his cheeks flared. He was obviously placing the blame of what happened to Mom on me.
In fact, it was probably taking all he could to not do anything about it. This was Mom and so came my dad’s heavy control. He was clearly trying not to fly off the handle right now.
“We worked so goddamn hard so you boys aren’t like us,” he gritted, his knuckles white on the wheel. “So that you don’t make the same mistakes and aren’t such little shits like we were when we were kids.”
I shook my head. “You guys all turned out okay.”
He and my god dads all had happy marriages, had built great lives for themselves, and the love they had for our mothers, well, anyone could see that. The devotion.
My dad loved my mother with a love I couldn’t even fathom. He loved her like she was enough and would always be, and she did the same. She loved him at his core, saw him worthy of her love. He was worth her love.