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They both looked at me and frowned. “What the hell are you talking about, Dad?”
“She gets seasick she won’t want to watch something about boats.”
Zak grinned and scratched his head. “You do know it doesn’t work like that, don’t you?”
“Not sure, do I?” I said and winked at him leaving the room.
In the hallway I listened out for any noise from Maya and when I heard nothing, I started to walk to the kitchen but had barely walked two strides when the doorbell rang out. Not wanting it to wake Sleeping Beauty, I ran back to the door. Ibarely had it open when Steven came barrelling in, his face fixed in a sneer.
“You couldn’t just say yes, could you. You had to say no, and now it’s too fucking late,” he screamed at me.
“What the fuck.” I pushed him with both hands against his chest. “How dare you storm into my house and shout at me.”
“I dare because you’re nothing but a fucking bastard, and now I’ve lost my son because of you.”
I took a step back blinking rapidly. “What?” I didn’t know my brother, his son, yet shock and sadness hit me in the chest. “What happened?”
Steven gripped his hair with both hands and then bent at the waist and let out what I could only describe as a howl.
“Dad?” Maddy appeared in the doorway and looked at Steven. “What the hell is going on?”
I rubbed a hand over my mouth, not sure what to tell her. Then movement caught my eye and I saw Maya walking down the stairs.
“Babe, what’s happening?” Her arm wasn’t in her sling, but she was cradling it against her chest.
Steven stood up straight and turned to her. “He killed my son,” he spat out, his finger pointing at me. “He didn’t say yes to the transplant, and now my son is dead.”
I rubbed a hand across my mouth, not sure where the guilt was coming from. I didn’t owe him, or his son, anything, yet I felt an element of truth in his words. Maybe I could have saved his life.
Maya took the last couple of steps and as she got closer, I could see fire in her eyes. Her good hand was clenched into a fist; she was mad.
“How dare you come into Will’s home and speak to him like that.” Her growl was so low and angry even I was scared of her.“You only asked him a few days ago, how could you expect him to say yes immediately?”
When she winced and put her hand to her ribs, I took a step forward. “Maya.”
“No, Will,” she snapped. “He doesn’t get to speak to you like that. He doesn’t get to storm in here and accuse you of something that isn’t your fault.” She wheeled back around to Steven and pointed a finger at him. “If he’d said yes, only a few days ago, do you really think it would have happened that quickly? That your son would have had his kidney by now?” She stared at Steven, but when he didn’t answer, she poked him in the chest. “Well, do you?”
“Shit,” Zak muttered behind me. “She’s scary.”
“Yes I am,” she hissed, her eyes still on Steven. “When someone accuses my boyfriend of something that is beyond his control and,” she said, thrusting her good hand to her hips, “they wake me up from one of the best sleeps I’ve had in days.”
I was sure that was a lie because she’d told me only that morning that she was sleeping better. I didn’t care, though, Maya was angry, and she was sexy as hell when she was angry.
“If his kidney has finally given up then he was obviously seriously ill. Will couldn’t have helped.”
The way Steven looked at her made me want to punch him. He was looking her up and down with disdain, like she was dirt under his shoe.
“You need to go,” I told him. “Out of my house, and I never want to see your face ever again.”
He turned to me and gave me the same look of contempt, if not a harder one. “He was twice the man you’ll ever be.”
“Oi,” Maddy butted in. “Don’t you dare speak to my dad like that.”
When he said, “I should have known you’d be dragged up, just like him.” I’d had enough.
“Right, get out now. I’m not to blame for your son, I couldn’t have saved him. Even if I’d said yes, there was no way we could have had tests and a transplant in a matter of two weeks. I’ll let what you said about me go because you’re grieving, but I will not have you speak to the people I love like that. Maddy is my daughter and Maya,” I said pointing to the angry woman seething at the bottom of the stairs, “is my girlfriend, and this is their home. They deserve respect, and if you can’t give them that, then shut your damn mouth.”
“His heart gave up,” Steven practically whispered. “He had a massive heart attack because of the drugs and booze, all when he was going to give up, and that’s not fair. I’d got him out of the squat he was in, and he wanted to do better. He wanted to get back working, be good at his job again, like he was before the drugs. None of it is fair.”
