Page 240 of Branded
Instead, I was staring at two boys, at my half-brothers, and I was glad their childhood had been different from mine. Glad there was light in their eyes instead of shadows.
I was pissed that my mother had dared to lay a hand on Beth.
But that was it.
The rest was…indifference.
This woman had stopped being my mother when she walked out, when she stayed away. But my brothers? My brothers were innocent.
“Do they know?” A beat. “About me?”
My mother shook her head, whispered, “No.”
I didn’t know whether to be relieved or not.
I glanced down at Beth.
Her expression was placid, but I felt her tension.
And suddenly, it didn’t matter what I felt. There would be time to unpack it later.
For now, I needed to take care of two boys who had nothing to do with this then get my woman and my ass on a plane.
“Raph?” Beth whispered.
“I’m okay.” Another squeeze of her hand before I released her and moved to the boys, squatting down in front of them. “What are your names?”
“Mario,” the older one said.
“Bennie,” the younger one chimed.
“It’s cool to meet you guys.” Their faces lit up. “Do you come to a lot of games?”
“We got an eight-pack for Christmas!”
Tickets to eight games. The perfect gift for hockey-crazed kids.
“Wow,” I said, meaning it, “that’s awesome.”
“And Mom lets us pick out a souvenir every time we come.” Bennie held up a medium-sized plush of the team’s mascot. “See?”
I smiled. “That’s really cool.”
“I gave Bennie my souvenir money because it was too much,” Mario whispered loudly. “He’s gonna let me have his next time so I can get a T-shirt.”
Good kids.
Happy kids.
I glanced up, saw hope in my mother’s eyes then looked back down at Mario. “That sounds like a good plan.”
“Now, I want to talk with you more,” I told them, “but we have to catch a plane, so maybe your mom can give me her number and the next time you come down to Baltimore, you can come to a Breakers game.”
“Really?” the boys exclaimed.
“Really,” I said.
“Whoa,” Bennie said.
