Fuck, why was he even here? My entire life, I’d known his usual haunts as well as I’d known my own name. Luna Sea was his go-to. Maybe the occasional stop at Cheetah’s to mix things up. I’d driven halfway to the next town because I thought I could avoid him. Of course, I wasn’t that lucky.
“You still teaching little rugrats how to ski up at that fancy resort?”
My stomach clenched with a temper that never quite cooled where he was concerned. “Snowboarding. And yes.”
The front door opened behind us.
My nose twitched with a familiar scent. I turned and spotted a face that actually made me smile.
“Angus.”
I pushed to my feet, turning to face my old friend, and Angus’s eyes went wide.
“East? Holy shit. Is that you, man?” He pulled me into a hug complete with a slap on the back. “How the hell are you?”
“Falling apart,” I said with a grin.
“That’s what I hear.”
“Did you? Well. At least they’re still talking about me.”
Angus laughed and held up a hand to signal the bartender. “Usual,” Angus told him, and the guy went to work on pouring a beer.
“Leslie told Jake she saw you earlier.”
“Jake Bradford?”
“Yep, they’re married now with three kids.”
“That’s great to hear.”
Jake had been a good guy who’d wanted nothing more than a family to raise in the Falls. I was glad Leslie had ended up with him.
“How you been?” Angus asked.
I could feel my father’s eyes on us, but I ignored him. Finally, I’d found someone I could actually call “friend” in this town.
“Great until I busted my knee.” I patted my leg.
“Damn. That’s a bummer.” His tone was light. Unconcerned. And even though I knew it was because he assumed I was already mending thanks to my wolf healing, his lack of sympathy was comforting somehow.
Like my injury didn’t define me.
In every other area of my life, it sure had.
Angus glanced over and finally noticed my dad. “Mr. Raines. How are ya?”
Angus extended a hand, his behavior more formal than it had been with me.
My dad’s lip curled, and he turned away. Angus lowered his hand.
My back stiffened.
“Dad. This is Angus, an old friend.”
“I know Angus.” He’d probably meant to sound cold, but thanks to the drink in him, he came off petulant.
I opened my mouth, ready to blast him for being an asshole. But Angus shook his head. “Not worth it, East.”
Twenty-eight years’ worth of anger boiled over, though, and I couldn’t stop it now.
“You’re being rude.” Unlike my father, my tone was clear and sober—and icy cold.
“What I am is none of your damn business.” My dad whirled to face us. Too late, I realized he’d wanted this to escalate. To run his mouth. “Angus here thinks he runs shit, but he doesn’t run me.”
Here it came.
The chatty, fun phase was over. We were on to angry.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I asked.
Angus put a hand on my arm. “Relax, East. It’s—”
“I messed up one time in your righteous presence,” my father snapped, eyes blazing at Angus. “And now I got Tobias breathing down my neck because of your meddlin’.”
A jolt of awareness speared through me as I read between the lines. Something had happened between them—something pack related. Part of me wanted to know what, but then I realized getting involved would only end badly for me. Again.
“I’m not doing this.”
I grabbed my beer, chugged it, and slammed it down. Fishing around in my pocket, I came away with a twenty and tossed it onto the bar.
“This new generation thinks it runs shit,” my father continued, oblivious or uncaring that I wanted nothing more to do with him tonight. “But I been around longer than these assholes could walk. Nobody’s dictating my life.”
Fuck me.
I knew from experience he was only getting started now.
The bartender raised an eyebrow that said he knew the same thing.
Angus shot me a look—an apology and sympathy rolled into one. I hated it.
“I’ll see you, man.” I headed for the door without a backward glance.
I made it halfway across the lot before the sound of breathing behind me made me tense. I stopped, my wolf rising dangerously close to the surface.
“Whoa.” Angus stopped short at the look on my face. “It’s just me.”
“Jesus. Don’t sneak up.”
His brow lifted. “Never got the drop on you before. You telling me that super-sniffer has lost its edge?”
I didn’t answer. My eyes darted to the bar behind him.
Angus sighed. “I’m sorry I riled him up.”
I shrugged. “He would’ve riled himself eventually. Always does.”
Angus nodded. He’d been my confidant in high school. The only one I’d ever told what went on behind the closed door of my parents’ house. Not that the town’s bartenders hadn’t seen their share, but even they didn’t see him come home at night. Arguing and throwing things and sometimes throwing us.
Angus knew.
And right now, he was looking at me like he knew too much.
“Your mom came to me,” he said without a single preamble.
That was his way. Angus liked to rip off the Band-Aid all at once.
“Came to you for what?”
Stupid question. I already knew what.
“Help.”
But even as I hoped I was wrong, that one simple word told me everything.
My shoulders sagged. My knee twitched and nearly buckled.
“She came to you?”
I couldn’t help the sting in that. She hadn’t bothered to reach out to me. Though, if she was going to go to anyone else, I was damn glad it had been Angus.
“He knocked her down the stairs, East.”
“Christ.”
My hands balled into fists. “What happened?”
“I called the cops, but she refused to press charges. The usual,” he added as I swore.
Yeah, it was nothing new. And it was also why I’d left. How did you help someone who refused to help themselves?
“When that fell apart, I went to Tobias.”
I stopped.
“And?”
“He said he’d have a talk with your pop.”
I cursed some more. “Right. I can see that went well.”
Same shit, different decade.
“I think it would help if you spoke to Tobias yourself.”
“What
