In Too Deep

“Yeah.”

“What’s going on down the street?”

“Truth or Dare.” He wished he’d grabbed another beer so he could remove the taste of Chloe from his mouth.

Killian descended the stairs and leaned against the rail. “Why are you here?”

Every time one of his siblings questioned him, it always felt like an accusation. “You know why.” To make sure Brendan didn’t try to pull anything.

Killian nodded. So they wouldn’t discuss it tonight, wouldn’t fight about it. They’d save that for tomorrow.

“How are you?” Killian asked.

“Fine.”

“Don’t fucking lie to me. I know the date.”

“Yeah? So?”

His brother sighed and crossed his arms. “You’re not the only one who misses him. We all lost him that day.”

“I’m well aware.”

“Are you? Because you show up here acting like you’re the only one he left.”

“He didn’t just leave.” He sucked in a deep breath, readying for the argument he’d often had with his family.

His siblings, led by Brendan, had wanted their mom to have Dad declared dead years ago. Ronan was the only one to side with Mom against doing that. They didn’t know where Michael Doyle was or what had happened to him. The one thing Ronan believed to the core was that his father wouldn’t have left them. The others were younger. They hadn’t had the relationship with their dad that he and Brendan had had.

Instead of arguing, Killian said, “It doesn’t matter now, does it? But it might help if he had a place at the cemetery where we could let go of him.”

They were all grown. Time to let go of hope.

Fuck. This again? “Did Brendan send you to talk to me?”

“It’s been twenty years.”

Ronan had known his siblings would make this play. On the anniversary, pull the strings to press for the declaration that he’d fought for years. But there was something different about this year. Twenty years. Time to move on. But he needed answers. He was only surprised Brendan wasn’t here doing the dirty work himself.

“Mom needs to let him go,” Killian added.

He also heard the unspoken words. He had to let his father go.

“She’ll never let him go. He was the love of her life.” He couldn’t imagine ever having that. A person who fit so perfectly that without them, a piece of him would be gone. But that was who his parents had been for each other.

“She might be better if she said goodbye and accepted that he’s gone for good. He’s not coming back.”

Ronan knew that. He was also aware that Killian could just as easily have said the same about him. If their father had been able to come back to them, he would have. So, yeah, he was probably dead. But without proof, knowledge of what happened to him, Ronan couldn’t bury him. He couldn’t let him go without answers. Why couldn’t his brothers understand that?

Chloe lookeddown the block to where Ronan had disappeared. She didn’t know what she’d hoped for after the body shot. That he would grab her and kiss her properly? In her dreams. As it was, that non-kiss was the hottest thing she’d experienced in a long time. She’d give almost anything for more.

She hadn’t seen Ronan in years. And after he’d rescued her from her own stupidity, Ronan became the subject of many, many teenage dreams. There was something about his quiet broodiness that drew her to him. Always the bad boys. He’d been a hulking brute as a teenager and he’d only filled out with solid, defined muscles as a man.

As she neared her parent’s house, she saw her mom standing on the porch.

“What do you need, Mom?”

“It’s late. What are you doing down there?”

Chloe clenched her jaw before answering. “We’re catching up, playing games. You can go to bed.” She didn’t bother mentioning how much alcohol was being consumed.

“You need to make sure our chairs are brought in and put in the garage.”

“I’ll do it soon. I promise.” The downside to being back in the neighborhood with the people she grew up with was that her mother still made her feel like a kid.

She looked across the street to the Doyle house. Someone joined Ronan on the front steps. Probably one of his brothers. She went to the keg and poured three beers. Offering a drink was the neighborly thing to do, and she was nothing if not polite. The fact that delivering beer down the block would put her back in Ronan’s orbit was a pleasant side effect.

As she neared the men, the glow from the streetlight hit them. Chloe recognized the second man as Ronan’s brother Killian—or his twin Kieran—which to guess?

“Is that you, Kieran?” she called from the sidewalk in front of the neighbor’s house.

When he turned, she immediately knew she’d guessed wrong. Although the twins were identical, Killian was the serious brother, while Kieran was quick with a wink and a smile. With seven kids, the Doyles were one of those families where you could run through a list of names before landing on the one you needed. But she and the twins had been in the same grade, so she knew them better than the younger siblings. She’d watched as they always tried to prank teachers. It made her home in on their differences.