Page 28 of Say Uncle

“But now that it is with your sister, you have doubts?”

“Legally, he’s my step-nephew.”

“Legally, he’s not shit. Nobody cares about that. His father just kicked him out, for God’s sake.”

My jaw tightened, and the sound of my molars grinding together sounded loud inside my head. His fucking father was a piece of shit.

“He’s young,” I pointed out. Cass doubled over, laughing. I wanted to kick him in the nuts. “He’s a virgin and still figuring out his sexuality.”

“That’s fucking bullshit,” Cass argued. “He might be a virgin, same as Nicky was, but I’ve never seen someone so eager to get rid of their virginity, except my own boy. He’s not naïve about his sexuality. I think he’s got it all figured out. With a father like his, can you blame him for not going public with that shit any sooner? It wasn’t safe for him. You gave him that safe space to come forward. What you did for him was huge, Sam. It was life-changing.”

“You think he wants to fuck me out of some sort of debt of gratitude?”

We both gazed out over the bow, watching the boys tickle each other with their toes, laughing and thriving in the sunshine.

“Debt of gratitude, my ass. That boy is hung up on you, Nicky, and the idea of the three of us together. Take mercy on him before he does something incredibly stupid to get your attention.”

“The kind of relationship I want with him… I don’t think he has any clue what that would look like.”

“Then teach him. Teach him what it is to be your boy. I think he’s perfect for the role.”

After lunch, I switched out with Cass, giving him a turn at the wheel, and ran through my mental checklist of shit I needed to get squared away. Lifting the lid on the equipment box on deck, disguised as a bench with a cushion on top, I checked several lines of rope I’d asked the boys to coil when we left the marina. Sure enough, they looked like shit. Tossed in a heap instead of coiled and tied off like they should have been. Like I taught them. I glanced up and the first one I saw was Nicky.

“Come here,” I barked, crooking my finger.

“Yes, sir?”

“Did you do this?” I pointed to the rope thrown into the box.

“No, sir,” he said, his throat sliding as he gulped.

“I see. Find your partner in crime and send him to me, please. Pronto.”

Damn, I was pissed. This was my boat, my baby, and I wasn’t going to tolerate bullshit and shoddy work. I worked hard, and I expected everyone else around me to work just as hard.

A minute later, Matteo popped his head up from below deck. “Yeah?”

“Yeah?” I repeated. “It’s ‘yes, sir.’”

“Okay, sir?”

“Did you do this?” I asked angrily.

“Yeah—yes sir.”

“Is that how I showed you to tie rope?” He shook his head slowly, apparently afraid to say no. “I’ll stand here and wait while you do it properly, like I showed you.”

“Yes, sir.”

Of course, he knew how to do it. Apparently, he was just being lazy. Thinking I wouldn’t notice. Eventually, he would learn that I noticed everything that happened on my boat.

“Sorry, won’t happen again,” he murmured, turning away.

“Not so fast.” I reached out to snag his wrist. “Hands out, palmsdown.”

Taking the shortest length of rope from the box, I bound his wrists together.

“What are you doing?” he hissed.

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