Pitch cleared his throat. “Our little brother is a free bird. Security’s his game, so it makes sense he’d want a piece of this.”
“How’d Pop take that news, Ro? You wanting to go outside the business?” Aaron asked.
Roman’s smile reflected relief. “He was cool with it- way more than I expected. It’s like he already knew I wanted to go my own way.”
“Jeez,” Stone was incredulous, “the man’s unbelievable with that.”
Aaron grinned, rich brown eyes sparkling merrily. “Have you told Ma you don’t want a piece of the family biz?”
“I didn’t tell her yet,” Roman’s grin ignited the splice along the corner of his mouth. “I figured I’d wait ‘til after Grek shares his big news. Maybe she’ll be in a good enough mood to accept it.”
“What news?” Stone demanded.
“Grek invited me to the Assumption Dinner,” Pitch said, smirking when Aaron and Stone regarded him with open mouths.
“What the hell? What’s he up to?” Stone breathed.
“Didn’t you get a special invite too?” Roman asked.
Stone shrugged. “I figured we were all just expected to be there- like usual.”
“There with dates,” Pitch stressed. “Sounds like Grek wants this girl to feel comfortable in the midst of the Tesano nest. You guys need to get out your little black books and pick one of your many girls to bring to this thing.”
Aaron’s speechlessness gave way to laughter when he observed Stone’s reaction. “What’s wrong, Stow? Afraid you’ll pick the wrong girl?”
The distress had returned to Stone’s expression. “I need to tell you guys something.”
“Hey, sorry Stow,” Roman winced. “Didn’t mean to get you off topic-”
“Nah Ro, it’s not that um...”
Pitch frowned, glancing to Roman and Aaron when their brother settled to the corner of his desk. “What’s goin’ on, Stow?”
“I think Ma will be fine with Roman leaving the family business. She took me telling her I’m gay well enough.”
There was no sound or movement in the room for well over half a minute.
“Jesus, Stone...” Roman breathed, leaning forward in his seat. “You’re sure?”
“Ro.”
“It’s alright, P.” Stone insisted. “Yeah Kid, I’m sure,” he laughed softly. “If I wasn’t before, I sure the hell am after the stunt Ma pulled a few weeks ago.”
“Ah jeez, do we want to know?” Aaron cringed.
“She set me up with a girl. One I strongly suspect sleeping with. Can’t quite recall...I think Ma pushed the wine so heavy to count on us doing just that,” Stone’s laughter heightened in response to the slew of curses his brothers sent around the room.
“I haven’t had the nerve to ask her about it yet.”
“And you um...you still feel the same? Even after...?”
Stone understood Pitch’s query. “Yeah,” he nodded.
“Is this why you didn’t want to go with us to Lucinda’s that night?” Pitch asked.
“Yeah,” Stone looked to the blemish swirled amid the wood in his desk. “Sorry to hit you guys with this, but with the Assumption thing, I didn’t want to deal with any more questions about why I wasn’t there with a girl.”
“You don’t want the others to know?” Aaron said.
“I’m pretty sure Vay suspects.”
The room was deafeningly quiet, until Stone gave a quick clap and pushed off the edge of the desk. “It’s not catching, guys.”
“Fuck you for saying that, Stow.”
“Ari’s right,” Pitch followed up, “we’d love you no matter who you want.”
Roman left his seat and went to tug Stone into a crushing hug.
“It’s alright, Kid,” Stone whispered, hugging his little brother tighter when Roman kissed his cheek.
Soon, Aaron and Pitch were joining in. The four way hug between the brothers lasted for a very long while.
~55~
“There he is,” Gavis Eamon threw out a wave when he saw Roman across the crowded tavern where they’d agreed to meet for lunch that day. Gavis forged his way through the dining room and waved for the others joining him to follow along.
Roman exchanged verbal greetings and unorthodox handshakes with the friends he’d known since elementary school. Despite laughter and cool salutation, it was soon quite obvious that a serious discussion loomed.
