Page 74 of Hold
“Sorry.” Sam didn’t sound sorry. “So come on, more. Details.”
“There aren’t any—”
“Oh, dear, was he not very good?”
“No! He was—you know what? I’m not comfortable talking about this.”
“T! Don’t leave me hanging. Come on, I’m your sister. If you can’t tell me, who else can you tell?”
“Uh, no one? ’Cause it’s private?”
“I’m not going to tell—wait. Does Cat know? Ohshit! Does she know Gabe’s back?”
“No, of course n—”
“Does Kane know? I think I might fly back just to see the first time those two meet again.”
“You know, you are really a bloodthirsty creature.”
“Damn right. Gabe deserves a couple of cracked ribs and a knee to the groin if anyone does.”
“He says he wants back into the kids’ lives. I can’t treat him like shit—or have the family treat him like shit—in front of them. And don’t tell Cat. Not yet. She’ll tell Kane, and then Gabe’ll have to explain a black eye again.”
“Kane’ll give him more than a black eye this time. Or maybe he’ll have Ellen do it. She does boxing, doesn’t she?”
Their sister-in-law was a certified ass-kicker, but again, Thea had to point out, “It wouldn’t help. I have to try to trust him enough to let the kids get to know him again, but I’m keeping an eye on him, believe me.”
“Uh-huh,” Sam said again. “So is he keeping an eye on you? And what did this Liam say about him coming back?”
Thea winced. Liam’s face through the screen door had haunted her all night. “He’s not… in the picture.”
“A one-night stand? All right, T!”
“Not really, but… that’s how it might turn out.”
“Because Gabe’s back? Shit, T, donottell me you’re thinking of taking him back?”
“No, but—”
“I don’t want to hear that ‘but.’”
“If I let him back into the boys’ lives, Sam, then by definition, he’ll be in my life. I wouldn’t ask another guy to get used to that.”
“Sounds like this other guy is a wuss if he’ll just step aside and let that asshole take over.”
She thought of the muscles cording in Liam’s arms, the thick lines of his neck. And the look on his face when he’d seen her with Gabe. “He’s not a wuss, Sam. It’s just… it was new, and Gabe came back, and I can’t deal with someone else’s feelings when I don’t know my own.”
“So you are thinking of taking the asshole back! That’s it. I’m coming up there and kickingyourass.”
“Not taking him back,” Thea assured her. “But if he can rebuild what he took away from Jake and Benji, then we all win.”
“What about what he took away from you, T?”
She curled up in her chair, hugging a pillow to her. “I can’t get that back,” she whispered.
“Exactly. As long as you remember that.” Sam obviously didn’t hear the way her words sounded. Was Thea doomed never to regain happiness because Gabe had hurt her so many times?
“I’m going to have to touch base with you more often, obviously,” Sam went on. “Don’t you waver, kid.”