Page 134 of All The Things: The Last Thing He Needs Omnibus

“Still.” Yeah, he sounded petulant, but he didn’t care. Gavin felt a little petulant.

Tony shifted in his seat and faced him. “Look, I love you, Gav. So much that I’ve even thought I was in love with you a few times.”

Good thing the traffic was light. Gavin nearly ran off the road with Tony’s little confession.

With a laugh, Tony added, “I’m not. Don’t worry. I’m just sayin’, that’s how much I care about you, ya know?” He waited for a beat. Gavin could only nod in response. “So, when I say that Ben is what you need and he’s the one you should be with, it means something, okay?”

“He’s not perfect, Tony.”

Tony snorted another laugh. “No one is. Christ knows you’re not. But he’s perfect for you, and that’s all that matters.”

He was right, the asshole. “He needs to let me make my own choices, my own mistakes.”

“Then teach him to let you. It’s not like you don’t know he’s a take-charge kinda guy. That’s one of the things you liked about him to begin with.”

Right again. Ugh.

“Okay, enough about Ben and me. Guess who landed on our doorstep yesterday after your dick move.”

Gavin couldn’t see him, but he was sure Tony rolled his eyes. “Who?”

“Tina.”

“Tina…?” Tony was quiet for a second before he burst out with, “Your sister Tina?”

“Yup.”

“What the hell? Why?” Maybe Tony realized what he sounded like. He added, “I mean… that’s great, right? But, still weird.”

“Yeah, I mean, on both counts. Great and weird.” And a lot of other things Gavin couldn’t even sort out. “She’s pregnant.” He hated to even say the rest. “They basically kicked her out.”

“Damn.” Tony sighed around the word. Gavin figured it still surprised him how messed up his parents were. Fair enough. It still surprised Gavin. “So is she keeping it or… what? You and Ben adopting her and the baby? Abortion?”

“I have no idea. I mean, maybe she should consider an abortion, ya know? She’s just a kid. She might be too far along for that, though. I don’t know. But adoption…” His own hypocrisy hit him. All his angst over Ben trying to make decisions for him, and there he was, trying to decide what Tina should do. Gavin felt a little compassion for Ben. He also felt like a total shithead. “Whatever she decides to do is so not up to me, though. I’m just gonna help her out if I can.” The reality of it all hadn’t struck Gavin until then. For a moment it seemed like his entire body downshifted, left him numb. He had a pregnant teenager to take care of.

They pulled up in front of Tony’s apartment building, but Tony didn’t get out. “What’s Ben say?”

Gavin shook his head, trying to snap himself out of the oncoming panic attack. “Nothing yet.” Gavin added with a laugh, “I think he’s afraid to say anything after all the other crap.” He thought about it for a beat. “I don’t think he’s too happy about it, to be honest. I mean, it’s a lot to deal with—we’re still muddling through our own bullshit, and then my sister shows up outta nowhere? I think he’s scared, but I’m not sure why.”

The look on Tony’s face made Gavin feel like a moron, but he didn’t know what he’d said that was so stupid.

“Seriously, Gav? You can’t figure out why anyone in your family turning up outta the blue would scare Ben? It scares me and I’m only on the periphery.” When Gavin didn’t say anything else, Tony went on, “Like… Do you have some kind of selective amnesia or something? You were a walking disaster because of them. I happen to know that the first year you knew Ben you spent half your nights talking to him and crying on his shoulder about your parents, how they treated you, missing your brothers and sisters… This is a huge fucking deal here, and I’m not sure you get the enormity or all the shit that might come with it.”

“I…” Gavin closed his mouth again and thought for a moment. “I get the enormity of it.” Or he was beginning to get it anyway. “I just… I guess I didn’t think about the other stuff, ya know? She’s my sister. Of course I wanna help her out and be there for her. Like, what else am I supposed to do?”

“Maybe you haven’t thought about all the other stuff, but knowing Ben, he has. I bet he took one look at her and went into panic mode, already working on how to repair whatever damage this all causes you.”

Yeah, that sounded like Ben. He was really good at fixing other people’s mistakes. Terrible at fixing his own. “So what do I do?”

“Cut Ben some slack, for starters. Let him be freaked-out and then… show him there’s no reason to be.”

Good advice. “Yeah, okay.” Gavin didn’t know what else to say.

Tony looked at him with an evil smile. “I mean, I wouldn’t want to tell you what to do or anything.”

Gavin laughed and kicked him out of the car.

Chapter Thirteen

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