“It’s my fucking house, ain’t it?” Steve snorted. “What sort of question is that? Now make yourself useful and get my bag out of the car. Hurry up.”
Justin obeyed.
By the time he got back inside again, Scarlett’s crib was out in the hallway and Steve was sprawled on the bed Justin had been using, a beer in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other. There was no ashtray in the room, so he was just flicking the ashes onto the floor. He was on his phone too, the conversation on speaker.
“I dunno,” he said as Justin set his bag down. “Just a couple of the guys, I guess. Some beer, some pussy, whatever else you got.”
Justin didn’t recognize the voice on the other end of the call. “Yeah, man, yeah. I can hook you up.”
Justin stepped outside again, struggling to breathe. His first instinct was to run to Del, but then Steve would know. And Justin knew what that would mean. He’d had the shit beaten out of him enough as a kid for being a wimp, or for being a pussy, or for not being man enough, to know exactly how Steve would react. Although how long until Steve caught up on local gossip and realized Justin and Del were together? It’s not like Justin could hide it forever.
His eyes stung as he dragged the crib into Harper and Wyatt’s room. He sat on Harper’s bed and sent a text to the car guy. Made some excuse as to why he couldn’t meet him today after all. The guy was probably already halfway here, and he’d be pissed now, and Lloyd would be pissed by extension because he’d been doing Justin a favor, but Justin couldn’t have the guy here. He couldn’t have anyone here. Not with Steve.
He…
He thought of Emily, and her visits. What would she say when she found out Steve was back? That’d make Justin unfit to look after the kids, wouldn’t it? Steve and his friends and their drinking and drugs.
And Abigail was coming tomorrow, just in time for a front row seat at the Justin O’Dwyer Shit Show. What would she think, and what would she tell the rest of Del’s family, when she knew what a mess he really was? How bad he was for Del?
He…
Del was supposed to be working on his YouTube stuff this weekend. The last thing he needed was more of Justin’s drama to deal with. Maybe Justin could just get through this weekend, just until Abigail left again, and then he’d ask Del what he should do. Maybe Del would save him again, just like every other time. Or maybe Steve would be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Maybe Del would finally decide that Justin wasn’t worth the trouble he brought with him. He’d still look after the kids probably, because he was a great guy, but would he still want Justin?
“Justin!” Steve yelled from the other room.
Justin stood up and wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans. He drew a deep breath before heading down the hallway. “What?”
Steve was off his call. He was staring at Justin, a narrow, speculative look in his eye. “Guess what Frankie just told me about you?”
Justin froze.
“Says you got a job at the feed store,” Steve said. “So I guess you owe me some rent, huh?”
Justin nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He took his wallet out of his pocket. He had two twenties in there and he tugged them out and crossed the floor, holding them out to Steve.
Steve reached out and grabbed his wrist. “Guess this’ll do for now.”
Justin let the bills drop onto the bed and pulled his wrist free.
Steve tucked the bills into his shirt pocket. “We can talk about how much you owe me tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Justin said, his gut clenching. “Are you having a party here tonight?”
Steve gave him a slow, lazy grin, showing broken teeth. “Yep.”
“Okay,” Justin said. “I’ll probably go crash somewhere else. Can you maybe keep everyone out of the kids’ room?”
“You giving me fucking orders now?”
“No,” Justin said, curling his hands to stop his fingers from shaking, and then uncurling them again quickly because what if Uncle Steve thought he was making fists? “I’m just asking.”
“Just asking,” Steve repeated back to him and then laughed abruptly. “Whatever. Whose house is it?”
“Yours,” Justin said, because it didn’t matter that the house had always belonged to the O’Dwyers, and that Justin was as much an O’Dwyer as Steve, and that he’d lived in it most of his life, the same as Steve. That wasn’t the answer that Steve wanted, and Justin knew it.