Page 82 of Movers and Shakers

“I have it.”

“Really? Didn’t you come here to have fun?”

“Maybe listeningisfun to me. You were so kind to me last time I was here, so why wouldn’t I repay that?”

It was a good reason. I took a shaky breath and said the words that had been bothering me all day. “I just found out that my father isn’t who I thought he was.”

“Wow,” she said, eyebrows raised. “That must have been hard.”

“It was. Itis.But this is in line with what my family does. We hurt each other, but considering I left them long ago, I thought I was free of it. Looks like I never will be.”

“Everyone in your family hurts each other?”

Yesshould have been my answer, but it was no longer completely true. “My brother and sister aretryingnot to. But my mom and my dad . . . I mean, the guy who raised me.Fuck,I don’t even know if I should call him my dad anymore.”

“What’s his name?”

“Todd. Todd Murray.”

My eyes went to the building that I’d built this bar in the shadow of. The “and Sons” was no longer lit ever since Tom decided to rebrand. That was no longer Todd Murray’s tower, yet I hated it all the same.

Murray.Was that even my last name anymore? I truly didn’t belong to that family. I never had.

“What is he like?”

“Acomplete asshole.He ruined my brother and tried to break my sister.”

“Then it’s a good thing you’re not related to him, right?”

“Of course, but my siblings are. And now they’re not all that related to me, just when—‍” I stopped myself. These were words I hadn’t even admitted to myself yet, but as they rose in my throat, they got stuck.

Just when I thought we were a family.

“You still are, through your mom.”

“But I’m the odd one out. Just like always. And I thought that was what I wanted, but . . . I don’t know anymore.”

“What do you want?”

Lila. To get to know Max. To see Ruth smile more.

“For everything wrong in my life to right itself.” I paused. “You know what’s the most fucked up about all of this?”

“What?”

“That I might not be my father’s son, but he still sunk his claws into me somehow. I have friends, but I keep them at arm’s length.”

I looked over at her, wishing to see black hair and red lips.

And then I felt even more like Todd Murray’s son.

How did evil do this? How did it invade me when all I wanted to be was free and different?

A warm hand touched my shoulder. “I don’t think you’re your father’s son. If you were, you wouldn’t have stepped in to make sure I was okay.”

Reality came crashing back in at Rose’s reminder. “And my dad certainly wouldn’t own a bar. I mean, Todd. God, what do I call him?”

Her hand squeezed. “Anything you want. Asshole works.”

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