“NO!”

His mom sighed. “She gave birth to him. That will never change. I think he wants to know her, even if he’ll never admit it. Even if it’s only to get answers. He’s a grown man. He has the right to make that decision if it’s what he wants.”

Mason leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. He loved the two people in the next room, but he did wonder where he came from. It was a natural curiosity, he thought, but it also felt like a betrayal.

The longer their silence went, the heavier it got for Mason, until he couldn’t handle it anymore. Quietly, he walked down the hallway. Shook his head at Isaac, who stood in the living room, as he opened and closed the front door loudly.

“Mason?” His mom called from the room.

“Yeah, it’s me.” He went down the hallway and greeted them both. “How are you guys doing today? Pop, how are you?”

His dad nodded but Mason could see how much he held himself back. “Good.” There was a gruffness to his one-word reply that made that knife go deeper again.

“Isaac is out there. We were going to discuss business with you, but my head is killing me tonight. I think I’m going to tell him he can go and we can talk tomorrow. Does that work?”

Both his parents agreed and Mason told them goodnight. Isaac leaned against the stairs, close enough to have heard what Mason said. His arms were crossed in his cocky, questioning way. Mason held up a hand. “Not tonight.”

“What happened?” Isaac asked.

“Nothing. Everything is fine. I just have a headache.”

He lowered his voice. “That why you pretended to come home after you did? And I hear orgasms help with headaches. Want me to come up with you?”

“God damn, do you ever stop?” He had enough shit going on in his life. He didn’t want to deal with Isaac, too.

“Hey.” Isaac grabbed his arm. “I’m giving you shit. What happened? You know I’m here to talk if you need it.”

In reality, he did know that. He just couldn’t find the words with Isaac. “Same old shit, just a different day. Come over in the morning and we’ll figure things out, okay?”

He took the stairs two at a time, knowing Isaac would let himself out. Mason kicked out of his shoes the second he got into his room. Pants and shirt came next, and then he fell into bed. His head really was killing him. He’d had a constant pain there for damn near a week.

He glanced at the clock on the bedside table. Gavin would still be at the bar. What the hell would he have done without the man these last few weeks? He really came through for Mason. He not only did a great job in Mason’s absence, but he dealt with Mason’s obsessive phone calls and written instructions about a job Gavin already knew.

A smile tugged at his lips. It would serve him right if Gavin stopped answering his calls, but Mason knew he wouldn’t. Gavin didn’t work that way.

Mason couldn’t count on him forever, though. I’ll never be able to work again. His father’s words replayed in his head.

Where did that leave them all? Isaac was loyal to the bone, but he was also damn ambitious. Soon he would want something of his own, which is why his parents had always been happy about the two of them together. They could run Alexander’s the way his parents had.

“Fuck.” Mason closed his eyes, hoping to make all the shit overcrowding his brain quiet down. He owed the people in this house right now. He loved them, too. It was his obligation to be the person his family needed.

***

Gavin just climbed into bed when his cell rang. He grabbed it from the bedside table to see Mason’s name on the screen. “Hey. Perfect timing. I just got home from getting the bar closed up.”

“Really? Took you that long, huh?”

Despite Mason’s joking words, his voice held the husky tone of sleep. “Ha ha, funny man. You sound tired as hell, yet you couldn’t keep yourself from calling to see how things went with your bar today, I see.”

“Or I called to see how you are.”

Gavin liked the sound of that probably more than he should. “Okay, so you’re tired but you couldn’t help but call to see how your bar is doing and talk to me.” Because the bar was in there. Gavin knew that, and he couldn’t fault him for it, either.

“Maybe a little.” Gavin heard something else in Mason’s voice this time. The exhaustion was there, but it wasn’t the only thing.

“You’re working too hard. You need a day off.”

“Nah, I just have a headache.”

“Which head?”