“They do. From my point of view, you’re putting in the work and it’s paying off,” Liv said. Before she could elaborate Rhett pinched her ass. She playfully shoved at his shoulder, a laugh hissed past her lips. Before they could completely wind off track, Liv sombered up and sat up a little straighter to listen. As Rhett talked about his parents, his voice getting tense, she rubbed at the shoulder she just shoved.
“You don’t have to get mad if she does. Might be a red flag of mine, but I should warn you my track record with people’s families is not good. My own only half likes me,” Liv chuckled. She paused for a moment, chuckle trailing off. She thought better of completely making light of her family, she just finished talking about trust with him, and this was one of those things. Liv blew out a little sigh and wiped her hands on her pants.
“Actually, I will say my mom disowned me when I was eighteen. It’s why I’m here and not somewhere else and that’s a long story, I’ll tell you about it one day, but you should know things were never good between her and me. She was, is, abusive. We can be in the same room now, but only with my siblings as a buffer. It’s like Cold War status for us. I have a stepdad who kind of just lets her rule and stays out of the way. I don’t know my biological dad either. They divorced when I was five. Oddly enough was a military man and I was born on a base,” a wry smile crossed Liv’s face at the irony of that statement, “All that to say, my mom’s been around lately because of the accident. My brother’s her only kid with my step-dad and he’s her baby, so she’s better with him. I won’t be bringing you around her, not because of you, but just because of her being well, Gwen.”
Getting all of that out, felt a lot like a experiencing a drop on a roller coaster. Now that it was out there, Liv felt the rush of relief, the loosening of the knot in her chest. Usually, she kept all of that carefully hidden away, but things were a little different with Rhett and with everything going on outside of them it seemed appropriate. With that rush of relief, Liv was able to smile as Rhett grinned over his project. She looked over at the table where he abandoned it, brows arching. “A surprise? Well, now I just want to know,” she pouted for a moment, then blinked at the mention of his Unit buddies coming around, “That sounds really nice. Do you want me to meet them, or should I make myself scarce and meet them another time?”
As Liv told him her family history, his eyes went to the bump on her wrist. He knew it. He’d seen that before, even in the dingy light of that warehouse backroom, he knew what that bump was. His eyes stormed over, and he stilled, listening to her. “That’s how you got the bump on your wrist,” he said, providing for where he went as she spoke. His mouth filled with blood and he realized he had bitten the inside of his gum. The snap of rage that came along with the idea that a grown woman put her hands on a child wasn’t something that he could stomach. Paired with it being her. He was having issues stringing words together as the demon that resided in his chest pounded on the door to his brain.
The jovial and light nature was gone, the air sucked from the room, mostly because he was staring at the door while the monster knocked and he stood there. His head came back to her. There was the dark knowledge, unspoken, that Rhett wasn’t above putting her mother into a bodybag if she even so much as looked at Liv in a way he didn’t like. The sort of feral protectiveness that the demon demanded. Slowly, he formed words, “I don’t tolerate people disrespecting the woman I am with very well. Her family, my family, my friends, her friends, strangers... doesn’t matter.” The words came out slowly, because he was still wrestling with the metaphorical pounding on the door. “I tend to get a little disrespectful right back, when that happens. And I am much better at it.” He could be downright fucking mean if he wanted to, and it didn’t take much.
“If you need a break, stay here,” he said, finally able to turn his back on the knocking. The knocking was subsiding, and he was returning back to his body again. It was the sort of mood that tended to quiet even his Unit buddies. He thought of them quietly, and wheeled himself back to what she asked. “They’re on better behavior since they’ve been out for a bit now. You can meet them if you’d like. Jenkins looks like he never left, Theels, he’s grown a beard, looking like a fucking Tennessee mountain bootlegger hillbilly.” Rhett shook his head. “And, Tex, well Tex... he’s looking like his namesake. Davy Crockett.”
