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“I was fired—”
My change of subject was cut off.
“Do you know how many people Zane’s fired over the years? Everyone. That’s his way of saying, job well done.”
That was crazy.
“He’s crazy.”
“Not going to get any arguments from me. I wish I could tell you my brother was a complicated man but he’s not. What you see is what you get. But when you understand what you’re getting is when you see who he truly is.”
In my opinion that was complicated.
But I didn’t get a chance to inform Lincoln of that.
Without leaving the doorway, he somehow managed to make it feel like his presence was invading the space as his gaze turned intense.
“All of this. Everything you see. Everything you’ve heard. The reputation he works hard to keep, is to give us something to hold on to. He built this to make a home. He’ll lie and tell you he did it because we grew up dirt poor and he never wanted to feel that kind of poverty again. He’ll come up with ten more bullshit reasons why he’s built Z Corps to what it is and they’ll be totally false. He built this for you. For me. For my wife. For Leo, Colin, Jax, Garrett, Brooks, Kyle, Thad. Max, Gabe, Owen, Kevin, Myles, Coop. For Drew, Eric, Declan, and Theo. For Easton, Smith, Jonas, Cash, Kira, and Layla. All of this for us. For us to have a family. There’s no firing family, Nebraska. Drew left us to give his wife something she hadn’t had a lot of while he was serving—his time. Eric died protecting this family. Declan left and took Autumn with him because after the life they endured they fucking deserved nothing touching the peace he was going to give her. Those three left but didn’t leave the family. All of that to say this—you need an office, if you’re good taking Easton’s, have it. If you want something different, speak up and it’s yours. But don’t ever mistake family looking after family as anything but that.”
Whoa.
I think that was the most I’d heard Lincoln say at one time. At least to me. And it was to chastise me for not taking my place in the family.
That felt so good I had to take a moment to savor the feel of it as it soothed some of the fresh wounds my parents had inflicted.
When the balm settled, I gave back the only way I knew would mean something to a man like Lincoln.
The truth.
That didn’t mean I didn’t infuse a healthy dose of smartass.
“Easton’s office works for me. But it might not work for him when I paint the walls and bring in a plant. And his desk is fine but not near big enough so I hope Zane’s office furniture budget is generous. With the mental torment I’ll have to suffer through, I plan on breaking the bank. So heads up with that. And since I’m new to this whole family thing you can expect me to screw up here and again. You’re going to have to deal with that, then deal with my attitude after since I’m not well-versed when it comes to graciously accepting anything that remotely shows kindness and consideration for my wellbeing.”
“We’ll see to that,” he told me and I felt my breath catch. “But I suspect Easton will get in there before any of the rest have a chance.”
“You’re being kind, again,” I noted.
“Get used to it.”
“I’m not sure that’s possible seeing as I’ve been told too many stories about the infamous Ghost.”
Lincoln’s mouth quirked and that was so far from the Ghost stories I’d heard about the man it wasn’t funny. The one story that never changed was, the man didn’t smile. The rest of the tales varied, some more brutal than others. But it was widely known Lincoln Ghost Parker was dead inside. And dead men didn’t smile.
I’d seen him with his sons and his wife so I knew that was bullshit.
But I now understood the difference—what you gave the world and what you gave your family. It was possible to be two different people and still be whole.
Ghost was proof of that.
So was Viper.
So maybe that could be me, too.
We both had to get back to work, but before we did I had one last thing to tell Lincoln.
“I’m sorry about Eric Wheeler. I never met him. But I didn’t have to, to know he was a good man.”
“He was the best of us.”
