The casual chatter came to halt in the group. “What did you say?” Liam asked, glancing back and forth between Sullivan and Sloane. “Sloane, what’s your brother talking about?”
“My brother is being an idiot,” Sloane seethed. “Who doesn’t know anything about what he’s talking about.”
Lilly tried to do her magic trick, where she touched Sullivan’s arm and about fifty percent of the time he calmed down. It didn’t seem to work this time though. Sullivan was fuming.
Liam turned to Rick. “Are you and Sloane dating?”
Oh, shit. He did not want to be put on the spot like this by a man he respected. He cleared his throat and told the closest approximation to the truth. “No, sir.” Technically they were not dating.
“That’s true,” River said.
He could have kissed his sister for backing him up. He was going to buy her ice cream for the rest of the week.
“I mean, he has a lot of girlfriends but Sloane isn’t one of them.”
And… she blew it. “River,” he said, giving her a warning look.
Emily laughed, biting a carrot loudly in the awkward silence.
“What?” River asked, pulling a super innocent face.
He wasn’t buying it. She could manipulate circles around everyone in the room. She was just stirring the pot for excitement.
“Does someone want to explain to me what is going on?” Liam asked, scooping baked beans onto his plate. “Sullivan?”
“My best friend is trying to get with my sister.”
At least Sullivan thought he was still in the trying phase. “That is not true.” Because it wasn’t. He’d already got with her.
“And that’s your business, why?” Liam asked calmly. “Sloane is a grown woman.”
“Sloane is straight off a divorce.”
“And my wife left and your wife passed and neither of us want anyone to have any sort of opinion on us or what we do now. Extend the same courtesy to your sister.”
Sullivan threw his still-empty plate down and stomped off. He went down into the basement, slamming the door behind him.
“Should I go after him?” Sloane asked her father.
“Nah. Let him work it out. He’ll come around.”
“Give me that baby,” Bridget said to Sloane, reaching for Finn. “Go talk to your brother. None of you do enough talking.”
“Don’t do it,” Liam said.
This was getting awkward. “Grab a burger, River. Let’s go back outside.”
“I’m a vegetarian, remember?”
“Right. Grab your fruit and let’s go outside.”
River was studiously sorting through the fruit tray. She seemed to have an aversion to melons, which took up fifty percent of the tray. Rick sighed.
This was the downside of having impulsively—after fifteen years of wishing for it—having sex with Sloane. The O’Tooles were his second family and now he’d changed the dynamic. There was tension in the air.
His fault. He hadn’t been discreet enough when he was talking to Sloane. He’d touched her neck. And he’d talked to her too long.
He should fucking know better. He was used to being discreet. With River, it was essential. Sure, his kid sister was smart enough to put together two and two when it came to his dating, but she never saw anything first hand. He did all his dating when she was with their father or Rachel. He should have used the same rules when it came to Sloane. No leaning in to whisper in her ear. No singling her out.