“Those fucking Duporths,” Clancy hisses, slamming his fists into the table and scaring the hell out of me. “Sorry, Jackson. Didn’t mean to frighten you. But I’ve had just about enough of those assholes.”
“Why? What’s your beef with them? Seriously, no one gets you as worked up as that family.”
A long silence follows.
It’s times like these not being able to see people’s reactions, the subtle shifts in their features, sucks the most.
“There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell the family, but with Evie’s arrival, everything’s been up in the air these past few days.”
“Do you want me to leave?” Pip interjects.
“Of course not,” Clancy replies. “You’re family, too…whether you want to be or not.”
Pip snorts. “Okay. Just checking.”
“I was with Maverick when I got the call about Sibella going into labor.”
That I knew. What I’m curious about is… “Why were you with him?” Clancy clears his throat. “The truth, old man. My sight might be almost entirely gone, but I can still tell when you’re lying. Or about to.”
“Motherfucker,” he mutters under his breath. “Okay, I’ll tell you. But don’t get mad.”
“Impossible. Go on.”
“I went over there to give him a piece of my mind,” he says timidly.
“What! Why would you do that?”
“I wasn’t meddling. I was just…trying to help.”
“Thatismeddling,” I point out, knowing full well it won’t change the man one bit.
“You were upset, Jackson. I didn’t like seeing you like that. I had to do something. Who do you think Sibella gets her protective instincts from? I knew you were too stubborn to make the first move, so I thought I’d try and convince Maverick he should.”
“For the record, I’m adding this to the list of stuff to be mad at you about.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault I look so young for my age.”
Iwill notgive him the satisfaction of smiling at that. “Still haven’t forgiven you and Sib for kidnapping us.”
“It was her idea, I swear.”
“I know it was.” She confessed when we got back. Turns out, she’s friends with a woman called Candice Burlington who knows Maverick’s brother Wagner. That’s how all that came about. “Anyway, back to why you hate the Duporths.”
“While I was over there, Maverick showed me some letters he found when he was going through his grandfather’s boxes.”
“What sort of letters?” Pip asks.
“Boys, it’s a long story…”
A long and ultimately heartbreaking story about Clancy losing the family business and one of the two loves of his life all at once all because of the great-grandfather of the guy I’m possibly related to.
“Not a day goes by when I don’t regret what I did.”
“Oh, Clancy.” Pip’s chair scrapes against the floor, and I can see his blurry form make his way over to Clancy to give him a hug. “I’m so sorry.”
“Makes sense why you hate the Duporths so much,” I say. A low, pained groan rumbles out of me. “And I could be one of them.”
“Even if it turns out that you are, you’ve got Hunter values instilled in you. Never forget that, Jackson.”
