Chapter 28

Ifolded my hands together and leaned against the table, never breaking eye contact with Lucas. His wide-eyed dumbass kept on staring. Those fucking brows of his were halfway up his fucking forehead as he tried to force it.

“What the fuck are y’all doin’?” Alice demanded when she dropped into a seat nearby.

“Staring contest,” Lucas told her.

“Why?”

“Why not?”

“You know, why is a good fucking question here,” I commented but refused to blink. I planned to win. Though, I had no clue how the fuck this shit started.

“Y’all are fuckin’ weird,” Cole muttered and took a long swing of beer.

Before anyone could say anything, Declan reached out and snapped his fingers in front of Lucas’s face, making him blink in reaction.

“Motherfucker!” Lucas exclaimed while we laughed. “I had him!”

“Kid, your eyebrows were about to run away,” Sam said. He was stretched out next to me with a water in hand. We were back at it, hanging out at the Iron Wolf Pub, but this time it was shut down to the public—rented out for a private party. How many jokes had been made about a privates party at this point? Too many? Not enough? I didn’t have a fucking clue. I laughed every fucking time. I was like a fucking teenage boy at times.

Most of the Ironwood pack milled around the bar, drinking, laughing, and fucking around while they waited for the competition to begin. Meanwhile, the pack leaders were crammed around a table. Why Maverick wouldn’t give us a bigger fucking table was beyond me. I think he liked us uncomfortable.

My brothers and I sat with the Stones, shooting the shit and just talking fucking nonsense. Isla was crammed between Nolan and Finn, but that woman didn’t give two shits about what Finn said to her. She had fucking stars in her eyes talking to Nolan about books and bullshit. Cade was crammed next to Declan while Raven sat on his knee—Cade’s knee—and held Declan’s hand. Yeah, the whole thing was still fucking weird to me. Though, I seemed to be the only one bothered by it. The three of them were happy as they chatted with the Stones.

The Ironwoods didn’t join us right away. They were too busy helping Brady get a handle on the bar. Brady Ironwood came back from vacation just for the games in Iron Falls, but the man didn’t look like he left vacation. Towering over everyone at six-seven with a body like a tank, the old man was wearing a fucking Hawaiian shirt with khaki shorts and a goddamn lei around his neck. I didn’t know what to do with this version of Brady. I was used to torn t-shirts, jeans, and a leather vest on the man. And he was fucking smiling. The serious as fuck, graying old man was beaming ear-to-ear as he laughed with his sons.

“You figured out what you’re singing yet?” I asked Sam. Besides Nolan and his stage fright, Sam fucking hated singing in front of people. He had a damn good voice, but he just hated having all eyes on him.

“Yeah.” He chuckled. “It’s stupid as fuck, but I don’t give a shit.”

“I’m going with Taylor Swift,” Finn chimed in. “I’ve been practicing in the shower.”

“Yeah, Mom told us,” Sam replied.

“Oh, fucking hell.” I grinned. “What the fuck are you even singing?”

“Shake It Off,” Finn said. I groaned. Fuck, I hated that song. Roan was fucking obsessed with it. How often had I been stuck getting his drunk ass home while he belted that fucking song at two in the goddamn morning?

“Saddle up, boys!” Brady’s voice boomed off the walls. The man was the definition of loud when he wanted to be. “Trouble just walked into the fucking bar. Behave and she might not kick your ass.”

I glanced over my shoulder just in time to catch the way Mom rolled her eyes. She and Brady had hands-down the weirdest friendship ever. Granted, both were single parents raising rowdy fucking boys. I was pretty sure they’d spent years relying on each other to get through raising the lot of us.

Maeve Byrne was single-handedly the best fucking person in the world, and I’d kill anyone who said otherwise. Not that anyone would. She may have been our mom, but she was everyone’s mom. Anyone who needed a hug, a shoulder to cry on, a warm meal, Mom was there. There was no one better than her in this fucking world. Her deep chestnut hair was perfectly arranged, and her clothes were neat—everything about Mom was neat and orderly. She was always careful and controlled about her personal space and her appearance, but it never extended into ours. She let us be as exactly as we wanted to be while we grew up. I’d always admired that about her. As someone with my own set of control issues, I could only imagine how hard it had to have been on her.

Chairs scraped on the floor and a fucking line formed to hug Mom as she headed our direction. I stayed where I was, chuckling as I listened to the small talk. Mom was a bonafide commodity. Warm hugs and kindness. Who didn’t want a piece of that?

“Cole Stone!” she exclaimed as Cole approached her first. “Are you married yet, young man?”

I snorted. Pushing fifty, Cole wasn’t that much younger than Mom.

“Not yet.” Cole laughed. “Haven’t found one crazy enough yet to fuckin’ marry me.”

“Language,” Mom chastised with a playful smack to his shoulder.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Danica was next—for a woman who hated contact of any kind, she fucking sank into that hug. The woman melted and clung to Mom. Not sure I blamed her. The Stones had no mom, their dad was a piece of fucking work, and Cole had raised his younger sisters while manhandling the pack. No words were exchanged as Mom stroked Danica’s hair.

“Mama Byrne!” Alice greeted with a smile. “Retirement is lookin’ good on you.”

I scoffed. Mom would never retire from taking care of the pack. Maybe in title alone, but she’d always take care of everyone for as long as she could. It was just her nature. Kind of like how she was mom to all the pack leaders.

“And look at you! Red and orange hair this time.” Mom touched the ends of Alice’s hair. “I like it. It looks good on you.”

“Thanks. I’ve been thinkin’ of addin’ pink to it next time Bea does it.” Seeing Alice so casually hold a feminine conversation about her hair was strange as fuck. The woman would just as readily bury a man as she would dye her hair. It made her fucking terrifying.

“Mama B,” Cade greeted with a giant ass grin, stooping to hug her. Nope, still didn’t fucking like him. And it bothered me how comfortable he and Mom were with one another. Okay, maybe I was stupidly possessive of my mom.Also, I was fully aware that it shouldn’t have been an issue because I didn’t mind with anyone else.

I just didn’t like Cade fucking Locke and how comfortable he was with my wife and my mom.

“How’s that shoulder treating you, sweetheart? I saw you doing a few extra stretches at your last game.” Mom watched his baseball games? God, she really did adopt every stray.

“It’s good,” he said. “I’m good.”

“I’m happy to hear that. Did you get my packages?” What fucking packages was she sending him?

“I did. The boys at the ball club send their thanks. They also sent me with tickets for the last few games of the season in case you and David feel up for a little extra vacation time. All expenses paid on us.”

“Well, now if that isn’t tempting, I don’t know what is,” Mom said.

Watching Mom with Raven next was adorable but didn’t surprise me. Mom was surrounded by boys. The minute we brought a girl around, Mom adopted her like a long-lost daughter. She’d been that way with Genevieve, and it was no different with Raven. Their interaction made my stomach turn with guilt. I was about to take that away from both of them. Mom loved having Genevieve around as much as Genevieve loved being around Mom. Fuck, Genevieve needed Mom.

Declan, Sam, and Lucas cycled through their hugs with ease. They spent enough time with Mom that they didn’t need to pull a ton of her attention.

“Mom!” Finn slid the distance between them and lifted her clean off the ground in a hug. “I missed you!”

“I know you did, sunshine.” She laughed. As he put her down, she said, “Having fun on this trip, are you?”

Oh, I knew a setup when I fucking saw one.

“Yes,” he replied slowly. From the look on his face, he did too. “What’d I do?”

“Sunshine, the next time you want to drunk dial Ella, give one of your brothers your phone, okay?” she told him. The color drained from Finn’s face, Sam fucking lost it, and I damn near tipped out of my chair from laughing so hard.

“Oh no…” he whispered. “What’d I say? Never mind. I don’t want to know.”

“I wouldn’t repeat it anyway, Finnegan, but good on you for being such a giver.” She patted his shoulder. The poor fucking kid looked ready to crawl into a hole and disappear.

“I’m never drinking again,” he let out softly. He would.

Mom turned to me, a soft smile turning her lips and crinkling the corners of her stormy gray eyes. She looked older, like somehow the past three years had aged her more than they should’ve. Probably the fucking worry. That part killed me. I knew she’d spent a fuck ton of time worrying about me.

“Hey, Mom,” I said as I stood.

“Now, why do you look more and more like a pirate every time I see you?” Mom demanded while wrapping me up in a big hug that I sank into happily. Best hugger ever.

“I do not!” I protested.

“A handsome pirate,” she corrected, which did nothing to stop how my brothers fucking rioted. I’d never hear the end of this shit. “I think it’s the tight pants.”

“Mom!” I rolled my eyes, but she grabbed my cheeks.

“Still coming home?” she asked softly.

“If you’ll have me,” I whispered. While I fucking hated the idea of moving back in with her, it was more the notion of it that bothered me. I was looking forward to more time with her.

“My door is always open, baby boy,” Mom reminded me. “I’m happy you’re coming home.”

“I’m glad you’re happy.” I offered a forced smile. I couldn’t lie to her. I couldn’t fucking tell her I was happy about it because I wasn’t. I was fucking crawling out of my skin at the idea of me and Genevieve in the same town again with no real inkling as to what the right thing to do was. Did I divorce her? Did I talk to her?

Did I even go home? Or was staying away the smarter option?

Fuck, I had all questions and no goddamn answers.