Page 161 of Rut Bar

“Sixth precinct, this is Officer Barnes. How can I help you?”

“Hi, officer, I’m so sorry to bother you, but I saw two alphas getting into a fight outside of some bar on Christopher Street.”

“Where did you see this?” the officer asks.

“Outside of some new bar called… God, I hate to say the name. It’s so trashy. It’s that new one called Rut. Listen, you can hear in the background how loud and obnoxious it is.”

“We’ll send someone to check it out. I need to get your name and?—”

“So sorry, my baby just woke up. I have to go,” I lie and hang up before he can finish his question.

Anthony and Brendan both give me blank looks. “What?” I ask.

“He was right. You are diabolical,” Anthony says with awe.

I shrug and pick up my drink, taking a sip now that my brain freeze is gone. “Just doing good business.”

The rest of the night passes in a blur as everyone switches from celebration to work mode and our doors open at seven. An hour later, I get a call from my uncle. It’s been a few months since we first reconnected. I head up the stairs to the office and swipe my thumb across the screen to answer it. The door shuts out the worst of the club’s noise as I bring my cell phone to my ear. “Hey.”

“Hey, Veronica,” Uncle Brian says.

“Hey, Vee!” his husband Steven shouts in the background.

“We were calling you to say congratulations. We know this is a big day for you. How’s the opening going?”

“Good.” I smile to myself and stand at the windows behind my desk so I can watch over Rut while we talk. “The house is packed. Everyone’s worked so hard to make it perfect. Don’t tell him, but I’m thinking of stealing some of Nate’s ideas and making it part of the Rut branding.”

Each club should have its own unique flair, but the core of Rut should be the same. Still, Nate’s idea for gilded VIP thrones was genius. Every omega wants to feel like royalty on their special day. It’ll be easy to make it an add on for our packages.

“Our lips are sealed. Maybe when you’re done, we’ll drive up to LA and see it,” uncle Brian says.

“I’m making him take me to Rut for my birthday!” Steven shouts amid the banging of pots and pans. It sounds like he’s cooking. “We’re gonna pretend we don’t know each other so he can pick me up. He owes me for canceling our last three dates.”

I pinch between my brows and close my eyes. That was way more information than I needed to know about my uncles.

“I had to work, honey,” Uncle Brian sighs.

“You’re always working,” Steven bitches. “You’re gonna die at that desk. Just have a heart attack and keel right over top of your paperwork.”

There’s muffled talking in the background, like he’s covering the speaker, and then uncle Brian sighs again. “Veronica, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” My lips quirk in a wry smile. “We’d love to have you, of course. Let me know what day you’re coming. Maybe we’ll have the thrones by then. Steven can be our test subject.”

“No, I meant… I’m not good at this sort of thing. Last time I met with my therapist she recommended making amends. I never know how to work it into a conversation so I’m just going to be awkward and say it. We never had kids, and I was young and stupid. Self-absorbed and desperate to climb the corporate ladder. We didn’t give you what you really needed from us. I should have known better. You needed us to stick around and to pay attention even when you said you were fine. We weren’t there for you. I wasn’t there for you. I’m sorry.”

My eyes water and I bite my lip to stop it from quivering. Uncle Brian must take my stunned silence as a void to fill because he continues.

“We tried to find you after they took you. I don’t know if they ever told you. If you wanted to be found or not.”

“You did?” My chest pinches and it’s hard to breathe. The club beyond the windowpane blurs as tears swell in my eyes. “They didn’t tell me.”

“They wouldn’t tell us where they placed you or let us contact you. We tried again once you’d turned eighteen, but your file was still sealed. Our private investigator hit a lot of dead ends and old addresses. I don’t know if you were allergic to social media or something, but you were hard to find. By the time he found you, you’d opened Rut. That’s actually how we did. There was a photo in the paper. You looked so happy and proud in that photo, and I… I was a coward. I thought that if your life had turned out so great without us that it meant you were better off without us bothering you.”

He takes a breath. “I didn’t know how to face you now that you were an adult and you knew how badly I’d fucked up. So I convinced myself that you were doing fine and didn’t need us anymore and if you wanted to find us, you knew where we were. I’m sorry for that too. We lost a lot of time we can’t get back because I was too proud and afraid. I’m really glad you reached out.”

Without my pack’s reassurances and support, I’m not sure I ever would have been strong enough to risk it. But Brendan was right. One way or another, I needed the closure. After weeks of thinking about it, I picked up the phone and dialed their old number with zero clue about what I’d say if they answered or even if the number was the same. When Uncle Brian started crying, so did I. We’ve talked once a week ever since. He’s right. We lost a lot of time, and we could never get that back, but that doesn’t mean our separation has to be forever. I’m not sure I’ll ever fully forgive him for everything, but it’s impossible to stay that angry when a grown man bawls.

“Me too.” I brush the tears from my eyes before they can fall or ruin my makeup. “I’d like to see you guys. Let me know what day you’re coming. We’ll go out to dinner first. Anthony’s uncle runs a cute little Italian place down the road. It has an old world charm.”

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