Page 100 of Rules to Love By

His father snickered, but the mirth was short-lived. “I didn’t want you being judged for what you couldn’t do, but on what you could. We have a hard enough time getting a fair deal without your other troubles.”

“You cheated.”

“I helped. A man wants the best for his kids,” his dad said into his drink.

“Every father has to let their kids figure their own shit out,” Ezra muttered. “No use in propping them up forever. At some point, they gotta do for themselves.”

“By dropping out of school instead of seeking help?” Tyrone asked, flinging an accusing glare at his brother.

“By lettin’ ’em try, Ty.” Ezra downed his whiskey and held the glass out for another. “Lettin’ ’em fail. It’s part of life, brother. Didn’t our daddy teach us that from the jump?”

Tyrone tipped the bottle, and liquid gurgled from it to splash in the glass. “You want me to be a daddy like the one we had?”

“Well, hell no. You know better. You are better. But some lessons still gotta get learned. Some things you can’t do for them.”

“But you could have done—”

“Oh no.” Ezra wagged a finger at his younger brother. “This ain’t about my kids. It’s about yours. Mine do just fine.”

“Now.”

Ezra nodded, a slow, sage inclination of his head. “We have different methods, that’s for sure. We also have different kids. You think I let mine go too young, get in too much trouble. They came through all right. Knew what side was up from the get-go.”

“So, what?” Tyrone swallowed half his drink. “You think I coddled him?”

“I know you meant well, Papa,” Eli broke into the old argument. Ezra was right. They weren’t here about his cousins. “And I’m so sorry I never told you about leaving school sooner. I didn’t want to disappoint you.”

“You don’t think keeping this secret disappoints me?” But he didn’t sound angry, exactly.

“I know it does. But the longer it went, the harder it was.”

Ezra snorted. “Ain’t that the truth.”

“What changed?” Eli’s father waved a hand to shush his brother. “Why tell me now?”

“At some point you were going to start wondering about a graduation ceremony.”

Ezra chortled.

Tyrone did not. His gaze held steady on Eli, waiting for the real reasons.

“Guess that brings me to last night,” Eli said, downing what remained in his glass and holding it out for more.

“And the cops traipsing around town?” Ezra asked as he poured.

“Not for me,” Eli assured them. “They were here about Marcus’s diner. It’s been vandalized, and someone told them he’d done it.”

“Accuse the not-quite-white kid,” Ezra muttered.

“He’s not a kid,” Eli was quick to point out. “And yeah, something like that. Granted, that was all the information they had to go on at the time. But still. Anyway, it’s a mess. Marcus is a bit of a mess over it. And I realized if I was going to be any help to him, I had to be sorted myself. Adding a layer of ‘please don’t tell my father who thinks you’re perfect for me that I’m a fuck-up’ on top of the other shit he’s got going on wasn’t fair.” He sat back, drained his glass and set it aside. “So here we are.”

“Here we are,” his father agreed.

“You wanted university for me so bad—”

“Letting something you can’t help about yourself take precedence over the brains you have in that head? The knowledge you’ve accumulated? Just because you can’t write it down? No. I wasn’t having that.”

“Dad—”

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