“No.”
“That’s good. If you do need something, all you need to do is—”
“Ask. I know.” He brushed his hair back off his face as he lifted his head. “You have questions.”
Gordo startled. “That obvious, huh?”
“You’re very obvious. Always have been.”
Robbie coughed into his hand and then glared at Gordo when he smacked him upside the head. “I’m not obvious.”
Gavin rolled his eyes, and it was such a Gordo thing to do, I had to bite back the laughter that threatened to burst out of me. “Sure. Okay.”
Of course the universe would see fit to put me with this asshole. I didn’t know if I was being rewarded or punished.
Robbie stared out the window, a smile on his face. He looked relaxed, more at peace than I remembered him being before I left. It stung a little to know I’d missed him coming back to himself and how he used to be.
“Ask,” Gavin said. “Questions. Always questions with you. All of you. It’s annoying.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Gordo said dryly. Then, “Just gonna come out with it, okay? Do you hear him? Is he still in your head?”
Gavin shrugged. “Not loud. Not like it was. Close to him. Heard him all the time. It’s… quieter now.”
“Because you’re so far away from him?” Robbie asked.
“Maybe. I don’t know. Territory.” He relaxed his grip on my hand. “Territory helps. Being here. Makes it quieter. Pack helps too.”
That caught our attention. “Can you feel the pack?” Gordo asked.
“Little bit. It’s quiet. Like Dad.” He scowled. “Like Livingstone.”
“You can call him that if you want,” Gordo said.
“You don’t.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve dealt with his shit for a little while longer than you have. Let’s just say I won’t be celebrating Father’s Day any time soon.”
“Livingstone,” Gavin said again, almost stubbornly. “I call him Livingstone. Not Dad. I had….”
“You had,” I said, squeezing his hand.
He glanced at me quickly before looking back down at the table. “I had Dad. Mom too. Not real parents. But still good.”
“What happened to them?” Robbie asked quietly.
“Dead,” Gavin said in a dull voice. “Long time ago. Still human when it happened. Car accident. I didn’t know what to do. After. Then I was wolf. Then I was Omega. And now I’m here.”
All those years broken down into a few short sentences. I wondered if I would ever know all that had happened to him or if it would be locked away in his mind. Memories hurt when you let them.
“The cabin was theirs?” Gordo asked. “Yours?”
He nodded. “Thought it was best place. I knew it. It wasn’t… here. But it was close. We left Caswell. I tried to stay away. But I needed it. It wasn’t home. Carter followed me. Stupid Carter.”
“Stupid Carter,” Gordo agreed. “But you had to know that was going to happen.”
“No,” Gavi
n said. “Didn’t know. Thought he was smarter.”