Page 56 of Gray Area

“No, Declan, I want you to take it over.”

I shake my head. “No, Dad—”

“Declan, I’ve already talked to Slade and Axel about this, about when I retire. I’ve been sliding it into conversation for years now, before I was diagnosed. This is actually what they wanted, what they asked for.”

“I thought they didn’t know about…”

“They don’t know I have MS, but when I got diagnosed, I started to talk to them more about the future. And separately, they both told me they wanted you to head it all, and for them to work for you.”

“I don’t want to boss around my brothers, Dad. This is supposed to be a family thing.”

He shakes his head. “You’d all be a team,” he tells me. “They both said someone needs to be the leader—take the reins, make the decisions. And they prefer that it is you.”

“I have to think about it,” I say.

He nods.

“Did they find the guys who broke in?” I ask, knowing that was where my brothers were off to last night.

“They are tracking down some leads,” he says, “but they haven’t found anyone yet, no.”

I nod, taking a big drink of my Gatorade.

“So, Roman said you had a girl over last night,” my father says, his tone going for nonchalance.

I knew it would be Roman or Slade. Those two are ridiculous gossips. “I did.”

“Is she the reason you have an empty Absolut bottle sitting on top of your TV?”

I follow his gaze to the empty bottle in question balanced on top of my flatscreen across the room. “How the fuck did I do that?”

“That is a drunk talent, only to be replicated if you get drunk again,” my father informs me. “Now about the girl. Was it Vivian?”

“It was,” I say.

My dad’s face lights up but he works to school it. “So, are things serious between you two?”

“I thought maybe, but now I don’t think so,” I say, drinking more Gatorade, hoping the subject drops.

“Why?” Dad asks, so I give up and fill him in on what happened when I came back to my place last night.

“There is something more to her story,” my father tells me. “What are her parents like?”

“She doesn’t want to talk about it,” I tell him.

“Well, give her space,” Dad says. “She needs time to process everything that you told her, everything it means to her. But she also needs to open up to you. And if she isn’t willing to do that, it may not work out for you two.”

I nod, knowing he’s right, but it hurts to think the thing between Vivian and me could be done so soon. I feel things for her—I don’t know what to call it, but it’s strong. And the way I feel when I am with her is indescribable. It’s a feeling I want to experience more and for longer and with her.

“Alright son, well, I have places to visit, and you do too, I bet,” he says, slapping my shoulder as he leaves through the door he just fixed. He’s slow to move, I notice, but he does it.

“Thanks, Dad,” I say as he shuts the door, and the Absolut bottle comes crashing from the TV to the floor, shattering in a million pieces.

Chapter 30

VIVIAN

After I leave Declan’s and get home, I find Bailey wrapped in a blanket on the futon we had rigged to stand up again. She is surrounded by papers, and when I come in, she smiles at me, and then when she sees my face, her smile dims. “Oh, honey, what happened?” she asks.

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