“Can you repeat that, Jax?”

“Don’t repeat it, cousin,” Georgie pleaded. “He looks like he’s about to have a bleedin’ stroke!”

I was definitely close to say the least.

“Ye’ heard me, unc. Georgie has a boyfriend; he’s me cousin. A Collins lad through and through.”

I hadn’t even realised I was pacing back and forth until my wife approached me cautiously and placed her hands on my biceps. All I could think of was this little Collins bastard touching my daughter in her no-go areas.

“Breathe,” Bronagh instructed. “Nice and slow, in and out.”

I copied her actions, taking slow, deep breaths, but it was futile. My blood pressure was too high for me to calm down.

“Boys,” I barked to my sons who lingered in the kitchen doorway. “Get up to your rooms. Now.”

My sons wished Georgie good luck as they hightailed it up the stairs without a backwards glance. Georgie didn’t look at them; her narrowed eyes were locked on Jax, and if looks could kill, my nephew would have been dead and buried.

I focused on my firstborn. “As of right now, you no longer have a boyfriend.”

Her gazed darted to mine, and screeched, “But Daddy!”

“No!” I cut her off. “No but Daddy! I’m not letting up on this, no way. You’re fifteen; what the hell do you need a boyfriend for?”

Georgie glared at me. “I’m not breakin’ up with ‘im. I don’t care what ye’ say.”

Excuse me?

“Is that so?”

Georgie shrunk under my stare but nodded ever so slightly.

“Everything is going in the trash,” I declared. “Phone, laptop, makeup, hair products, your television, your sound system, your iPod. Everything. Trash.”

Georgie widened her eyes.

“If you’re going to disrespect me in my house, then you’re sure as hell not having any of the privileges your mother and I paid for.”

“This is all your fault!” Georgie snapped at Jax. “Ye’ couldn’t keep your big mouth shut. Ye’ ruin everythin’. I hate you.”

Jax flinched as if his cousin’s words had struck him.

“Georgie,” he said in disbelief. “Take it back.”

“No.”

“Take it back, cousin,” he repeated. “Now.”

“No!”

“Georgie Slater,” Bronagh said, her voice deathly low. “Take back those hateful words right now.”

Georgie looked at her mom, held her gaze for a long moment, then turned and ran up the stairs without saying a single word.

“Georgie!” I hollered after her, but she didn’t stop.

Jax stood still, staring up after her. When he turned to face me a moment later, he said, “I had to tell you, unc. I was in The Square yesterday with Indie, and he bought condoms in Boots. I jokingly asked who he was datin’ to need them, and he said Georgie’s name before he could stop ‘imself. I had it out with Georgie last night and only kept quiet because she said she’d tell ye’, but when I was on the phone to ‘er earlier, it was obvious she hadn’t.”

Bronagh groaned. “Did ye’ hit Indie, Jax?”

“Not as hard as I should have,” my nephew grunted.

“Indie Collins,” I said with a snarl. “Gavin’s boy.”

My mind was focused on what my nephew said. Indie was buying condoms for him and Georgie to use. Condoms. Every muscle in my body tensed to the point of pain. The urge to punch something was strong, and my heart was beating so fast I thought it might burst.

“Yeah, he’s me uncle Gav’s eldest kid.”

Bronagh suddenly gripped my arm when I turned and headed down the hallway towards the front door.

“Don’t ye’ bleedin’ dare, Dominic!” She scowled. “Ye’ aren’t havin’ it out with Gavin because our kids are datin’.”

“Dating?” I repeated. “They’re doing more than that. They’re having sex.”

“Dominic, just listen to me.”

I knew that tone, and it meant she disagreed with me.

“No,” I said, refusing to look at her.

I wasn’t letting her talk me around on this, not a chance.

“Baby,” she pressed. “We need to discuss this.”

“There’s nothing to discuss,” I answered. “She is fifteen. Fif-fucking-teen. She is not entering a relationship when she has no idea about how they work. No.”

“Dominic—”

“Bronagh, I love you to death, but do not ask me to budge on this. I can’t. She is my daughter, and fifteen is too young for a relationship. Sex shouldn’t even be on her mind.”

My wife sighed. “You’re right, but we have to speak to ‘er and explain why.”

I was too heated to go anywhere near the kid.

“Unless it’s for school, she’s not leaving this house,” I stated. “She’s fifteen years of age, and she thinks she grown enough to have sex? Hell fucking no.”

“Okay,” Bronagh acquiesced. “If you say she is grounded, then she’s grounded, but just let me go and speak to ‘er before ye’ go up there and raise ten kinds of hell. She’s underage, we know that, but this is ‘er private business bein’ discussed with ‘er father and cousin, and she isn’t down here to defend ‘erself.”

I jerked my head in response, and Bronagh hustled up the stairs. I lifted my hands to my face and resisted the urge to scream. My entire world had been turned upside down, and I was infuriated that it was a Collins boy who caused it.

“How long have they been dating?”

“Indie says a couple of months,” Jax grunted. “It’s been a huge secret because Locke didn’t even know, and he’s always with Indie. I feel stupid for not coppin’ onto them sooner, but I honestly had no clue before yesterday. I never thought me cousins would look at Georgie in that way because they know I’d end them if they hurt ‘er.”

I paced back and forth, feeling like a caged lion.

“I’m fucking furious.”

Jax nodded. “Ye’ look it.”

“Bronagh will kill me if I kill this kid and get arrested.”

Jax nodded. Again. “I’d be more scared of Auntie Bee than prison, if I’m honest.”

I couldn’t even laugh. I felt sick to my stomach.

“She’s fifteen,” I said. “Fifteen and having sex.”

“In ‘er defence, Indie did say he was buyin’ them for their first time. He’s ‘er first boyfriend, so she’s still a virgin as far as I can tell.”

My heart deflated. “Oh, thank Christ in Heaven.”

I felt better but knowing that she was most likely planning on having sex still didn’t sit well with me at all. She was a child. Still a young girl whose mind shouldn’t be on something as grown up as sex. Fear wrapped around me because I realised that so far, I was handling this situation very badly. I reacted with anger, and if I continued to push that anger onto my child, she would rebel, and I’d definitely end up in prison to stop her from seeking out this little Collins bastard and his little dick.

“She has four brothers and twenty male cousins ... you’re all supposed to repel any boy from sniffing in her direction. You’re all doing a terrible job.”

Jax snorted. “Thanks, as if I didn’t already know that.”

I shook my head, then leaned my back against the hallway wall.

“She didn’t mean what she said, you know? She’s just upset.”

“I know.” Jax nodded. “I still want ‘er to take it back, though. Pain sliced across me chest when she said she hated me. She’s never said that to me before.”

I knew it hurt him. Jax adored Georgie; she was his number one girl. She was everyone’s number one girl, and she knew it. She loved her brothers and cousins more than anyone could explain, so I knew that a tearful apology would be given to Jax later when her anger passed, and regret was all that remained.

“She’ll take it back; just give her a second to calm down. She’ll come and find you when she realises what she said.”

Jax only nodded, then turned his neck and looked up the stairs. I spotted a hickey on his exposed flesh, and my lips parted slightly. I knew from experience if kids were taking the times to give each other love bites, they took the time to do other stuff too.

“You better not be having sex either!”

Jax snapped his head in my direction. “What?”

“You have a hickey on your neck. A big one.”

Heat burned its way up said neck.

“I’m not havin’ sex,” he answered, then cleared his throat. Twice. “I swear.”

I glared at him. “You’re sixteen. You aren’t old enough to have sex either, so don’t think because you’re a guy, you won’t get into shit with your parents. You and Georgie are in the same boat here.”

Jax swallowed. “Trust me ... I know.”

He knows?

I raised a brow. “What happened?”

“Earlier today ... me ma and da walked in on .... y’know what? Never mind. I’m sure me da will tell ye’ all about it.”

I was sure he would, and from how Jax’s face was burning red, I knew it was going to be a hell of a story.

“Speakin’ of me parents,” Jax continued. “I was only supposed to come over ‘ere to talk to Georgie. I’m grounded.”

“Does being grounded have anything to do with what your mom and dad walked in on?”

Jax nodded, and I thought back to my conversation on the phone with him earlier in the day. When I called him, I heard him hush a giggling girl, and I put two and two together.

“You were with a girl earlier when I called you ... is that what you parents walked in on?”

Axel came down the stairs at that moment and grabbed Jax’s hand.

“Mammy says I can go to your house to play with Eli if you’ll bring me.”

Jax smiled down at his cousin, “‘Course I’ll bring ye’, cousin.”

When he looked back at me, his smile faded.

“I have to go home but tell Georgie that’s where I’ll be if she’s lookin’ for me. Later, unc.”

Before I could reply, he was out the door with my son without a backwards glance. I knew whatever Kane was going to tell me about what he walked in on was going to be a story that was as rough for him as this situation with Georgie was for me.

“Fucking teenagers, man.”

I walked into the living room and fell into my armchair with a deep sigh. I leaned my head back and wondered if I was ever as nightmare inducing as this generation of Slater kids were, then I laughed to myself because me and my brothers were definitely worse when we were kids. We didn’t live in cosy homes with normal, loving families. No, we lived in a compound where disloyalty or hesitation would get a man killed. Our road to adulthood, and to reach the point we were all at now, was a rough one, and to be honest, I was surprised that the five of us survived it.

God knows there were times were each of us didn’t want to.