Visiting Dad
Genesis was sound asleep in Lorcan’s arms when Kiefer came back into the room. He wasn’t surprised to see his father wide. awake.
“Can’t sleep?” He automatically moved to adjust the blankets. over his father’s feet and up to Gen’s shoulder.
His father put a finger to his lips as if warning him to be quiet, “she dozed off about an hour ago.”
“Were you both up all night?”
Lorcan shook his head, “no. I slept a bit. She slept a bit but then I was uncomfortable and since I was uncomfortable, she was hovering like a mother hen. She tore a strip into a nurse who was taking too long to bring me some pain killers.” Lorcan gave a grin, “I was half afraid to tell anyone else I was hurting in case she beat them to death.”
“Slightly jealous and overprotective,” Kiefer commented as he brushed her hair off her face, smiling as she snuggled in closer to his father’s shoulder. He watched his father flinch and offered, “I can move her to the cot.”
“Touch her and I’ll rip your arm off and beat you to death with
it.”
“Fair enough,” Kiefer chuckled and pulled a chair up. “We have
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fourteen funerals over the next two days. I’ve paid out fourteen million dollars in compensation to the families in total. Nazar also made personal apologies to every single family and while they all refused payment from him, he did set up trust funds for all the children in each of the families where children existed.”
“How is Monica doing? Jerren was quite worried about her.”
“She’s doing okay. She was demanding we train her when we train Egan on weaponry. Jerren is terrified she’s going to actually shoot one of our own because she’s so fucking clumsy. I swear Dad, she was coming down the stairs this morning. and made it all the way down and then took two steps, tripped over her slippers, and hit the floor like it was her first day experiencing gravity. Egan was right at her hands to lift her up.”
“Gen was telling me last night Egan likes her boobs.”
“Loves her boobs. I needed to have a conversation with him. about being respectful to women and how we don’t treat women like objects.”
“Did he get it?”
“He’s six. All he heard was blah, blah, blah, boobs, girls, blah.” Kiefer leaned forward, “strange of you to mind link with him like some kind of superhero.”
“I was telling Genesis I don’t know how the fuck I did, all I know is the fucker laughed at something I was thinking, and I knew he heard me. I immediately jumped on it.”
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“He was having breakfast when I left. He said Roan came to him. in his dreams last night and told him how his mother killed the
lady who killed Roan. Egan asked to see her body.”
“Your son is creepy.”
“You know who he reminds me of?”
“Don’t you say it,” Lorcan gave his son a hard look.
“Come on Dad. He’s Granddad to a T. He loves the macabre. He’s going to be amazing once he’s old enough to start coming to the interrogation rooms with us.”
“Your grandfather was in those rooms from the time he was born. We always thought he was weird because his parents. brought him to work while he was still in a cradle. Christ, your great–grandfather once dismembered a man while your grandfather was in a playpen twenty feet away.”
“Yeah, I’m thinking Granddad’s weirdness was influenced by them, but it is inherent to his nature. Egan is exactly like him. Dad, I’m telling you, he wouldn’t let up. He asked about ten times to go see her dead body and then when Tadgh finally snapped and said no because we got rid of it and cremated her, he asked if he could see where we burn bodies.” He was whispering but he knew his father understood how confused he was. “Were Tadgh and I as weird as this?”
“Weirder,” Lorcan gave a laugh, “Tadgh didn’t just eyeball titties, but he tried touching every single pair he could get near. He was three I think, and we took him to a funeral, and he was
Visiting Dad
happy to be passed around from auntie to auntie snuggling
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into them. I think there is a photo somewhere of him groping a mannequin in a store.”
“He is a boob man.
“You were brilliant in sciences. You were taking the frogs from the pond out back and dissecting them and some of them were still alive.”
“I did not.”
“You did too.” Lorcan frowned at him. “We needed to explain. to you how animals like people could feel pain and you were probably hurting them a lot. Then you tried to steal a bottle of paracetamol to make the frogs feel better before you cut them. Freaky little fucker,” Lorcan started laughing and then groaned as his shoulder jerked.
“Do you need more pain killers?” Kiefer asked.
“Not at all. They shot me up good a few hours ago. I have all I need right here.” He looked down at Genesis still sleeping on him. “I was a bit worried I’d lose her the other night.”
“You and me both. I’m glad we got her back before they took her from us, Dad. I hate you were hurt in the process.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not. You were in surgery for five fucking hours, Dad. Tadgh and I made a pact not to let her see us sweat but we were
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shitting ourselves. I am not ready to run this family without you.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Lorcan offered reassuringly.
“I’ll send Egan after you to bring you back,” Kiefer snorted.
“Did you figure out where the shot came from?”
“I went through the video of the shoot out, which by the way, your shot is impressive, but quite sure Nazar Sokolov eats, breaths and sleeps with his gun attached to his body. He didn’t miss a shot. Every single shot was a head shot, and he didn’t miss a lick. Anyway, you took the shot of the guy in the corner. You took his shoulder, and it sent him flying. I would have thought he was down permanently too. He come back and fired. a single shot and then my shot got him in the head but funnily enough, Nazar’s shot was an eight of an inch beside mine.”
“Why did the bastard take the shot at Gen?” Lorcan questioned.
“There was a directive from Yegor. If anything happened to him, take her out. Allan’s been going through all the computers and stuff. He’s been working with one of Nazar’s men and they’ve been cozied up in an office. Yegor paid the meres to kidnap her because he wanted to kill her himself while Nazar begged.” He pulled his phone out, “I brought you a gift though.”
“Yeah? What is it?”
“At the risk of watching you pop a boner, it’s the woman in your arms killing Yegor Sokolov.”
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“Definitely going to get hard,” he laughed as Kiefer propped the phone up close to him, turned the volume down and hit play.
Kiefer watched his father’s eyes narrowing as he watched the smaller screen. The way the smile tugged his father’s lips as he pressed a kiss to the top of Genesis’s sleeping head made Kiefer smile.
“She’s a goddess.”
Kiefer nodded at his father’s words, “she is.”
“Do you have video of what she did to Laoise?”
“Yes.”
“Gen might need to give me a second blow job.”
“Dad, did you,” Kiefer’s eyes widened, “in this bed?”
“She gave me a bath. Tell me if she was giving you a sponge bath if you wouldn’t ask.”
“I’d ask.” Kiefer nodded. “Who am I kidding? I beg. Might even cry and play up the bullet and a need for pain relief.”
“She’s a good girl and didn’t make me beg but I was willing,” Lorcan kissed the top of her head again before hitting play on the video. He gave a groan as he watched Genesis chase the woman with a baseball bat. “Fucking hell, she is something else.”
Visiting Dad “Why?”
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Lorcan looked at his shoulder, “this, I know how to deal with this pain. I know how to fix it. I know it will heal and pass. Her? If she left me, if she said she didn’t want me anymore, I don’t know how I would process the pain. I don’t know how I would be able to heal.”
Kiefer nodded, “it’s how I’ve felt the last seven years, Dad. She was gone and I didn’t know how to move forward. I swear the minute I laid eyes on her in Burbank, I started to breathe again. I couldn’t let her go. Even if she hated me and never wanted to let me touch her again, simply being near her, having her in my presence makes it hurt less.”
Genesis gave a loud sigh in her sleep.
“What does this mean for you Dad?” Kiefer asked quietly.
“I want to stick around home, around Genesis more.”
“We can split the travel. We’ll sit down and find ways to make it more even. We can also take her away with us on our own. I can do the meetings next week in Europe, but we’ll get your PA to reschedule them, so they’re done in seven days.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Lorcan sighed. “First things first, I need the fuck out of here.”
“I’m working on it. We have funerals to do the next two days, and I know you’ll want to be there. Tadgh is at the house working with the guys on getting a new bed installed for you.
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We’re putting in one of those old man adjustable beds, but you’ll be able to get in and out of it on your own if Gen isn’t right at your side. My driver Hugh dropped me off here and he’s out getting the hummer instead of the escalade. We’re getting you home today.”
“That might be the best news I’ve had since I woke up.”
“Then let’s wake our girl up and start getting you ready to leave this shit hole.”
“Sounds good to me.”
