Page 33 of Mr. Infuriating (Mister #1)

Gabe

My hands shook the entire drive home, and I tried to figure out why seeing her son had such an effect on me.

Obviously, I’d seen toddlers in the seven years since Bodhi died; what was it about Gretchen’s little boy that had me so rattled?

Maybe it was because I wasn’t expecting her to have a kid.

Or maybe I’d let myself have a tiny sliver of hope that I could be the man she was looking for. The reality of what that looked like had smacked me upside the head.

So much for that little daydream.

I’d been right—having another kid wasn’t for me. I’d leave that to my gazillionaire brother.

After pulling into the garage and shutting my truck off, I heard the roar of Derrick’s car exhaust as he pulled up behind me.

My little brother hopped out as soon as he shut the car off and approached where I stood in the garage.

“What are you doing? I thought you had to get to Flannigan’s?”

He shook his head with a solemn expression.

“Flannigan’s can wait. I needed to check on you first. Are you okay?”

I blew out a long breath. I knew I’d behaved poorly at Gretchen’s, but I’d had to get out of there.

“No, not really.”

Derrick gripped my shoulder and directed me toward the door leading to the house .

“Come on, let’s talk.”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” I grumbled even as I let him steer me inside.

“Sure there is,” he said as we walked through the threshold and into the kitchen.

“We can discuss the weather, politics, the Celtics, the Red Sox, or the Bruins. We can even talk shit about your ex-wife, if you want.” He plopped onto a stool at the kitchen island and motioned for me to do the same.

When I was seated, he swiveled so he faced me.

“Or we can just sit and stare at each other; it doesn’t matter to me.

But I don’t think you should be alone right now. ”

I snorted. “I’m fine.”

“You looked like you’d seen a ghost when Gretchen’s little boy showed up.”

My gaze fell to the black flecks in the granite countertop, and I uttered, “Because it felt like I had.”

“It probably didn’t help that we’d just been talking about Bodhi this morning.”

“No, probably not.”

“Are you still seeing Dr. Frank?”

I shook my head. “Not in a few years.”

He nodded slowly. “I guess you’ll have to make do with some Mitchell therapy then.”

I had an ominous feeling about this, but I still asked, “What are you talking about?”

My answer came in the form of my brother Beau’s voice echoing off the kitchen walls.

“What up, suckas?”

I glared at Derrick. “You called Beau? ”

The asshole didn’t even have the decency to act contrite. He just grinned when he replied, “And Mav.”

Beau opened the fridge and pulled out three beers before sitting down opposite us at the island and sliding two of them across the counter to me and Derrick.

“And Mav will probably call Nick.”

Derrick took a bottle opener from his pocket—a byproduct of being a bar owner, I was sure, and opened his bottle, then offered it to me.

I pushed the beer away and shook my head.

Unbothered, he held it out to Beau, who took it.

“Look,” I said as they both took a pull. “I appreciate that you guys are worried about me. I’ll admit, I didn’t handle things as well as I could have at Gretchen’s. It just took me by surprise, that’s all.”

Beau asked, “What did?” and I scowled at Derrick.

“You didn’t tell him?”

“It wasn’t my place.”

“But it was your place to invite everyone over?”

He lifted his pinky finger as he brought the bottle to his lips with a grin.

“Yup.”

I muttered under my breath, “Asshole,” even though I couldn’t really be mad at him for caring about me.

“What took you by surprise?” Beau reiterated. “Why am I here?”

“Let’s just wait for Maverick to get here so I don’t have to repeat myself.”