Page 23 of Revived
“Same card, same signature. It’s him. I don’t know who you took care of, but it wasn’t the right guy.”
“That’s impossible…” He whispers in shock.
“I’m telling you it’s not. What the hell am I going to do, Mac?”
Chapter ten
Sullivan Byrne
ByrneBro’sGroupChat
Rowan: Rhett just won student of the year at school.
Mac: Of course he did. He gets all his intelligence from his Uncle Mac.
Kieran: Let’s not curse the poor kid now. Tell him his favorite Uncle is proud of him.
Declan: Oh, no worries. I already told him how proud of him I am.
Sully: Congratulations, buddy. Flynn and I will facetime him in a little bit.
Rowan: How often do you facetime him?
Flynn: That’s between us and him.
Kieran: Well, I’ll be damned, looks like the baby Byrne’s are alive and wellafter all.
Flynn: Unlike some others who have crossed paths with you guys. Muting this now. I’ll talk to Rhett this evening with Sully.
**Flynn muted the chat**
**Sully muted the chat**
I pull a face and mock a sharp inhale, “Damn, Flynn that was harsh.”
Flynn shrugs “Was I wrong though? Because I’m pretty sure I wasn’t.”
“You were right.” I’m not going to debate with him, especially because he technicallyisright. More people than I can count have come across our older brothers and not made it out alive. Some of them deserved what they got, but the ones who didn’t or were just collateral mess with me.
They did the best they could with us, and I contribute every positive attribute that Flynn and I possess to them and our parents. At the same time I find myself wondering what would have happened if Roe would have walked away from it all when he got that call. Our lives would look so different.
Moving to sit beside him on the couch, he pulls up Rhett’s number and hits the camera button. It only rings twice before our oldest nephew’s face fills the screen. When we met Rhett for the first time, he was four and small for his age. He had brown curly hair that fell in his eyes more times than not, big hazel eyes, and a permanent ‘up to no good’ grin. Rhett was born deaf and didn’t receive his cochlear implants until he was five, so all of my brothers as well as myself arefluent in ASL. Rhett often takes hearing breaks where he removes his hearing aids and puts them somewhere safe because, in his words, “The world is too loud sometimes.”
That’s not the kid I’m looking at right now, though. No, Rhett is just shy of his thirteenth birthday, so long gone is his little baby face and shaggy curls that reminded us all of a bear cub. So much so that to this day we still call him Bear. The almost teenager that’s staring back at us has a thin face with a strong jawline. He’s losing the boy features he’s had for so long, and in their place is a teenager with what I’m sure are raging hormones and a desire to sleep twenty hours a day.
“Hey, Uncle Flynn and Uncle Sully.” His voice is no longer that little baby voice that I once would slay any monsters for. Now it’s deeper, yet squeaky and awkward. Poor kid, but we all go through it.
“Hey Bear!” We say in unison.
“I heard you won student of the year today. That’s no small feat. Congratulations.” Flynn smiles at him.
“Thanks, it’s no big deal, though.” He looks a little embarrassed.
“It’s a huge deal! Who the hell told you it wasn’t?” I ask him, appalled that someone would tell him otherwise.
The look on his face says something is bothering him.
“What’s up? Why do you seem like something’s bothering you?” Okay, so admittedly I’ve never been good at being subtle.
