Page 31 of Dead Serious Case 4 Professor Prometheus Plume

“Is that it?” I point toward the house.

“Yeah,” he says gruffly.

He lets out a slow breath and reaches for my hand, twining his fingers with mine, yet not breaking his gaze with the house.

“I need to do this, for me.” He grips my hand tighter.

“Do you want me to stay in the car?”

Danny finally tears his eyes from the house and looks at me. “I want you to come with me. I want you to meet them, but I’m not gonna lie, I have no idea how this is all going to go. It could be pretty bad, and I’m torn because I don’t want to put you in an uncomfortable situation. I know what my brothers can be like. Dad… well, he tends to just go silent. He never needed to say much because you could feel the weight of his disapproval and that was somehow so much worse.”

“Danny.” I reach up and cup his jaw. “If you want me to go with you, then that’s where I’ll be. If your brothers want to be dicks, that’s on them. If your dad wants to give us the silent treatment?” I shrug. “Again, that’s on him. Their behaviour says more about them than you. There is nowhere else in this world I want to be other than right by your side, through the good times and the bad. Okay?”

He nods and gives another sigh. “Come on.”

He climbs out of the car and I follow, taking his hand as we cross the street and approach the house. He swings open a small black metal gate and we head up the path to the dark blue front door.

“You’ve got this, baby.” I squeeze his hand gently and go to release it. If most of his family is still not accepting of his sexuality, I don’t want to make this any harder for him. But instead of letting go, he clutches my hand tighter.

Taking one more shaky breath, he reaches up and rings the bell. We stand on the doorstep for what seems like an eternity. Finally, the door opens and I find myself staring at a tall, well-built man that looks so much like my Danny except he’s maybe ten, fifteen years older. This must be one of his brothers.

The man’s eyes briefly sweep over me coolly before landing on Danny. His gaze had been cold enough when he looked at me, but now it’s positively glacial. When he speaks in that familiar northern burr, which is so warm and friendly when coming from Danny, his voice is harsh, laced with a hint of something akin to contempt.

“Well, well,” he says flatly. “The prodigal son returns.”

8

Istand on the doorstep of the house I grew up in and stare at my older brother. My belly is squirming and suddenly I’m a kid again. It’s so messed up—when I was really little, all I’d wanted was his attention and approval but as I grew up and realised just how much of a dick he could be, most of that need waned. Confronted with him again after all this time, I’m surprised to find a little shadow of the boy who wanted his approval still hidden inside me.

“Derek,” I say flatly, matching my tone to his.

“Daniel.” He makes no move to step aside and allow us in.

The silence stretches out between us. We glare at each other, our last conversation and all the terrible things we’d yelled at each other fresh in my mind, and it’s clear as we stand there in the freezing cold air, the tension tight between us, that there’s still resentment on both sides. I’m just beginning to think this was a colossal mistake when I feel the soft pressure of Tristan’s hand on my back ground me. It reminds me that he’s the reason I’m doing this. Not because he’s pressured me into it, but because I’m very aware of the small box burning a hole in my pocket.

I want a future with Tris and I know this without any doubt or caveats. But I want to start our life without all the baggage I’m hauling around, and I want Tris to know all of me, including my fucked-up family. There’s also a part of me that wants them to meet this incredible man I’ve fallen so completely in love with.

This could all go so very wrong. It has the potential to completely blow up in my face, but I’m here now and I’m not leaving until I’ve spoken to my parents, and I don’t give a shit what Derek thinks.

I open my mouth to tell him as much when a voice speaks up loudly from behind him.

“For god’s sake, Del, what are you doing? If it’s the Jehovah’s Witnesses, tell them to sod off, you’re letting all the heat out.”

Derek shifts aside and Leigh appears. The moment her gaze lands on me her eyes widen and her mouth falls open. She hurries forward, pushing Derek out of the way until she’s standing in front of me.

Once again, I open my mouth to speak, but the next thing I know she’s raised her hand and clipped me around the ear.

“Ow,” I mutter, rubbing my ear.

“That’s for making me worry myself sick about you for the past year and a half.” She scowls. “What, you couldn’t pick up the phone? Do they not have phones in London, or emails?”

This time when I open my mouth to speak, all the air rushes from my lungs when she leaps at me and wraps her arms around my neck so tightly it almost cuts off the circulation of blood to my head.

She buries her face in my neck. “I missed you so much, you absolute tosser.”

Everything in me softens with love and affection, all overlaid with a thick coat of guilt. “I know,” I mutter, holding her against me, her feet dangling several inches above the floor. “I’m sorry.”

She sniffles and lifts her head. “Yeah, well, there’s plenty of blame to go around. As things stand, your portion is pretty minimal.” I lower her to the ground and she steps back, retrieving a tissue from her cardigan pocket and wiping her nose, but not before glaring in the direction of our older brother. “I tore everyone a new one when I found out what had happened. I tried to call but you’d already left. Not just left the house, but left Yorkshire.”