More of Us ( A Love You More Rock Star Romance #3) - Laura Pavlov Page 0,71

that we have to stay in touch with our father, so we’ll know when he’s going to attack?”

I pulled the door to the steak house open where we were meeting Dad, and the hostess smiled as if she had been expecting us. “Follow me. We have a table waiting for you.”

We walked toward the back of the restaurant and my father sat in an oversized booth, holding the phone to his ear. “I need to finish this later. My boys are here.”

He pushed up and gave Lennon and I a half hug. This was new.

“I took the liberty to order us a nice bottle of wine,” he said as he took his seat.

Lennon rolled his eyes. “We don’t drink. How out of tune are you with our lives?”

“Ah. Didn’t know if we were still sticking with that whole sobriety phase. Alright, I guess I can polish the bottle off on my own.” He waved the waiter over. “They’d like to order something else. Maybe a Shirley Temple?”

Dad’s laughter was loud, and the waiter forced a smile before turning his attention to me.

“Waters fine, extra lime please.” I gave my father a hard look while Lennon ordered a Pepsi.

Dad sampled his wine when the waiter brought it out and took a hearty sip before setting his glass down.

“So, how were your holidays, boys?”

“I’m sure you’re more than aware that we worked through both Thanksgiving and Christmas.” Lennon kept his answers short, as his guard was up where my father was concerned.

“You know, Lennon, I’m still your father. I’m sorry if me bedding your high school girlfriend has you that traumatized. It’s time to move on.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at how sick and twisted the man was. Yeah, Dad had an affair with an old flame of Lennon’s but that wasn’t the worst part of it. He’d cheated on our mother and slept with his best friend’s teenage daughter. The list was long, but he had a way of minimizing his offenses by focusing on small pieces of his depraved little world.

“I think you’re missing a whole lot of offenses there, big guy,” I said. I noted the veins bulging in my brother’s neck, and I put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

Lennon leaned forward. “How about what you did to our mother? Shall we talk about that, you selfish prick.”

“Your mother is a grown ass woman. She can fight her own battles. She’ll get over this. Give her time,” Dad said, chugging the rest of his Chardonnay and snapping his fingers for the waiter to refill his glass.

Classy.

“How about what you did to your own son? Paying some psycho bitch to claim Cruz knocked her up. Who the fuck does that?” Lennon said, his words laced with venom. My brother had found his backbone somewhere between getting a grip on his sobriety and falling in love. And I was impressed. Hell, the kid was a force to reckon with now.

“So, we’re going to let some, what did you call her, psycho bitch, come between us?”

“She’s back in the news, if you hadn’t heard. You opened a shitstorm by bringing her crazy ass into our world.”

“I didn’t bring her in. Check with your pal, Dex. He’s the one who brought her in. I just fanned the flames. I barely interacted with the girl, and I haven’t talked to her since. I’ve apologized for the role I played in it. Now let’s move on. We’re family.”

“You’re not my family,” Lennon said, and even my jaw dropped a bit. I’d never seen my brother take such a strong stance against our father. But Lennon was making his own money, and since distancing himself from Dad, he’d learned that he didn’t need the man anymore. In fact, he’d come to realize that my father was at the crux of most of his problems. It was a valuable lesson we’d both learned this year.

“Is that so?” Dad chuckled. Good Christ, the man must have a heart of steel because he seemed completely unphased by Lennon’s words. “Then you won’t be needing my planes,