Page 14 of Psycho

It was all Dominic’s fault.

I was good at hiding my emotions, even from my brother, but everything about me had been off.

It had been off for three years since that moment at the gas station.

Mostof the time, I was good at hiding everything.

Putting on the mask I had worn for so long was starting to feel like a second skin I wasn’t sure I wanted to take off, even when I was alone.

But other times, there would be a slip-up.

A brief moment in which I thought of her around other people—around those closest to me—and I didn’t change my expression in time.

“Just making sure you have your shit together and remember that we have church today,” I said.

He scowled at me, and for a moment, his expression was almost identical to the one he had given me when he was little. A small ache formed in the center of my heart.

I didn’t wish to go back in time.

Back then, we were nothing more than defenseless little boys who couldn’t do shit against all the terrible monsters in the world.

Now, we were powerful men in our own right.

But things had been simpler back then.

And I fucking missed the way Roman had been, missed how he had clung onto me like I was a hero, and not the villain I really was.

I didn’t react when small footsteps padded across the hardwood floor, but Roman did, his expression softening and a small happy smile gracing his face.

My baby brother had a baby of his own.

“Uncle Mickey!”

I internally groaned at the terrible nickname before I turned around and looked down at my two-year-old nephew, and the real reason I was really there this morning.

Ryleigh, Roman’s wife and obsession, walked closely behind the boy in case he fell, looking over at me briefly with a soft look in her eyes.

It must be the old age catching up to me.

I didn’t usually evoke soft, relaxed looks from people.

Thirty-seven wasn’t old by any means, but that girl used to look at me like she knew I would kill her.

Now she was under the umbrella of people I protected.

Fucking Roman.

I opened my arms as the little brat ran into my arms, picking him up and holding him close to my chest.

Fuck me, but when I felt at my lowest, when I felt my humanity being stripped away from me, Ryker reminded me that I wasn’t all that far gone.

“Hey, Micah. How are you doing?” Ryleigh asked, coming up closer to me.

She held out her hand as if she was about to touch me, but changed her mind at the last minute.

I didn’t react to that.

I grunted in response.

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