Page 99 of The Penalty

“Do you need an anxiety pill?” Colin presents a pill container.

Owen holds out his hand and Colin pops a pill into it.

“What do you want us to do?” I ask.

Colin holds up a hand. “Give him a minute.”

We all wait in silence.

Owen finally speaks. “Oliver will notice we all left. Next time, we need to take shifts.” He tented his fingers. “But right now, you two should leave first. It will be better for you. Say one of you popped a button, and you went to the bathroom to sew it back on.”

“Who brings a sewing kit with them?” I ask, sure this won’t work.

“I have one…” Teddy pulls one out of his pocket.

“Me too.” Owen takes his out of an inside pocket.

“Who hasn’t lost a button before an important event?” Colin lifts his into the air.

“Or hasn’t had to sew themselves back into their costume for Halloween,” Owen says, side-eyeing Colin.

“At least I learned I need a sewing kit,” Colin throws back. “And you saved the day so my dick wasn’t out!”

“So we’re going to go back out there.” And leave them to whatever that is about. I finish in my head as I grab the back of Teddy’s coat, dragging him with me.

We barely exit the hall with the individual bathrooms when we walk right into Oliver. He’s wearing a scowl, but I can’t tell if it’s his normal one or a mad one.

“Good evening. Lovely event,” I say, not really sure what the small talk protocol is for an event like this. Owen was right. I am at a disadvantage not having grown up with this. Why do I feel like I’m always behind? I’m not sure who to be more mad at, my father for keeping me from this world and then forcing me into it, or my mother for helping him and not telling me anything either before or after his death.

“Which is why you spent the last twenty-five some odd minutes in the bathroom?” Oliver says without a single flicker of emotion showing on his face.

“We had a button emergency,” Teddy says, smooth as butter. How is this the one assignment he understands?! “My trouser snake tried to bust out and without Rhys here doing me a service and getting on his knees, we could have had a real problem.” Teddy keeps going, getting an almost philosophical look and Oliver and I stare like we’re watching a train crash. “He really took one for the team here.”

“I honestly can’t tell if he’s being serious or he’s talking about sex?”

“I can’t tell either…” I admit and lose it to laughing. His serious face combined with the not making sense elevates his hotness somehow. “I’m sorry. Just the way you worded that.” I smile at Oliver, hoping this makes him lay off us.

“This is a real serious matter!” Teddy says with a straight face. I don’t know how.

Oliver blinks and then narrows his eyes turning on me. “You really took one for the team, Rhys? While I took one for the family out here?”

“You heard him. His trouser snake was out. I couldn’t leave him like that.” I barely keep a straight face this time.

“For a brief moment when you two showed up, I thought you accepted what this life is. I’ve come to realize none of this is important to you, but it should be. You should understand this is bigger than you and affects you more than you know.” Oliver’s tone isn’t quite condescending, more scolding, like I’m a petulant child he needs to put in his place. “If those we do business with don’t respect us, all of this goes away. All of our lives. All of your newfound security. The money you give your mother every month so she can keep her apartment. The car you take to see Teddy. Every last bit of it could be gone in an instant. I’m trying to hold it all together, but it’s fragile especially after our father’s indiscretions came to light. I’m not trying to take it out on you, because Owen has convinced me it’s not your fault who your father is, but your nonplused attitude is making it difficult to have any faith you’ll figure our life out.”

“Do you ever let up? Just lay off? Owen isn’t acting any better than I am,” I say through my teeth, stepping up to him.

“When I’m the only one holding things together after the death of our father? How simple-minded and shortsighted of you to suggest such a thing.” Oliver doesn’t so much as flinch. In fact, he looks down his nose at me. “Owen stands in when he needs to, and he knows the line. He’s worked hard to learn it so he can do what he wants. He also defers to me, which you don’t seem to want to do.”

“Because I don’t know you. I’ve been left out of this my entire life.” I keep my voice low, but it’s hard. I want to yell at him. Hell, I want to fucking fight him in the parking lot like I would on the ice, but I shove my hands into my pockets and keep them to myself.

“I understand you’re a child and an ignorant one at that, but if you’re going to demand to be a part of this, you have to actually do it. You can’t pick and choose the parts you want. This life is all or nothing. These people won’t respect you if you don’t dothe things, and they will eat you alive if you show a moment of weakness, and I’m not going to keep standing in the way. So decide what you want. I’m trying to help you and when you stop seeing me as the enemy, maybe you’ll be able to see I only want the best for our family.”

“It’s real easy to see you as the enemy when you told me the first day I met you I wasn’t a part of your family.”

“Mistakes were made. None of us are infallible. I’ve corrected them. It’s your turn.” Oliver turns and walks off not even giving me a chance to get a word in.

“How did it go?” Owen says over my shoulder.

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