Page 103 of Worth the Wait
“It was his job, Dad.”
Ron scoffed, tossing the rag onto the workbench with a slap. “Round here, we look after our own. He should’ve known that. That bloody kooky mother of his raised him soft. Turned him into the fairy he is and forgot to teach him basic fucking manners—”
Nathan hit the wooden worktop behind him with his fist, the bang loud enough to rattle a socket tray.
“That’s enough.” His voice was steel. Controlled, but brimming with fury. He stepped forward, jabbing a finger in Ron’s direction. “Don’teverspeak about Freddie like that again. Not to me. Not to anyone. You hear me?”
Ron stared at him for a long beat. Testing. Weighing. Then, to Nathan’s surprise, he let out a low, barking laugh.
“Well. Finally.” He shook his head with a grin that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Looks like the army made a man out of you, after all. Was worried for a bit there.”
Nathan clenched his jaw. Looked away.
Because, of course, Ron would twist his defiance into a compliment. Turn standing up for the man helovedinto some long-overdue rite of passage, instead of what it truly was—the line Nathan had needed to draw for most of his life.
“Iama man, Dad.” Nathan punched his chest. “I’vealwaysbeen a man. You made sure of that when I was twelve fucking years old. When you wouldn’t even let me grieve my own mother.”
His voice cracked then, the pressure of it all rising to the surface in one burning, uncontainable lump in his throat. His vision blurred. But he refused to look away. HewantedRon to see it. The tears. The fury. The truth.
Big, tough military man, crying for the boy who hadn’t been allowed to cry back then.
“And I won’t let you do it to Alfie,” he said, breathing hard. “I won’t let you turn him into me. You back off. You accept us—meand him—for who we are, whatever we are. Or you lose us. For good.”
He gestured to the garage. The place his father loved more than people.
“You’ll losethistoo. Cause you won’t get another mechanic who’ll work here for you. Not with your shitty wages and worse attitude.”
Ron blinked, caught in place. Silent for once.
Nathan scrubbed a hand roughly across his face, clearing the tears as they fell, not ashamed of them anymore. “Alfie’s been through hell. And yeah, a lot of that’s on me. I ran when I should’ve stayed. But that wasn’t all mine to carry either. I ran becauseyoutold me to. Because you looked me in the eye and told me the only way out was the Army. You knew about Freddie. You saw us. I know you did. And you didn’t give a shit that I was eighteen and scared and in love. You just wanted me gone.” His voice dropped, raw and exposed. “And I was so fucking scared of you… I went.”
Nathan took a breath and stepped back, trying to steady the shaking in his limbs. But the truth was a dam finally bursting, and it had no intention of stopping.
“I walked into hellfire. Got blown up. Fucked my leg. Almost died.Twice! Had a knife at my throat, saw things I’ll never get out of my head.” He looked his father straight in the eye. “Yetallof that was easier than standing herenow and telling you about Freddie. Aboutmeand Freddie.”
Ron didn’t say a word. He focused on wiping down the spanner. And that heavy silence instead of a punchline or a sneer was a fucking win.
Nathan let himself breathe for the first time in minutes. Maybe ever in his old man’s presence. And he swallowed down the rage still simmering under his skin and stepped back. Enough to shift the moment. To pivot.
“Alfie’s in trouble,” he said. “With the police.”
Ron looked up, eyes narrowing, but before he could speak, Nathan raised a hand to stop him.
“Let me finish.”
Ron hesitated, then nodded once.
“He found himself in the wrong place. A house he shouldn’t have been in. He saw things.Isaw things. I got him out, but not without a price. Freddie had to bring me in last night. Procedure. It backfired on me.”
He watched his father’s mouth press into a hard line, but pushed forward, anyway.
“We’ve been given an out. A deal. They won’t take me or Alfie to court. Won’t drag us through it,ifwe cooperate. Alfie knows things. Maybe not much, maybe more than he realises. The police want what he knows to help build a case. Against some serious people. Not local thugs.Realbastards. Organised. Dangerous.”
Ron’s hands stilled on the cloth.
“I’m telling you because this might not just touch me and Alfie. It could come down on all of us. If this goes deep, and I think it does, we need to be ready. And we need to be together.”
Nathan stepped closer, his voice softening, but no less firm.
