Page 28 of Nolan (The Doherty Mafia)
“Look, Amelia, I think we’d all really appreciate it if you could speak to him. All his brothers have tried to get through to him but he keeps shutting everyone off. Maybe he’ll listen to you…it sounds to me like the two of you are close.”
“We don’t really know each other,” I said with a shrug.
Reese looked deep into my eyes and for a moment, I wondered if we’d met somewhere before.
“Then maybe you’ve just figured him out pretty accurately. Maybe you can hear his innermost thoughts. Either way, something tells me you want what is best for him. His family is best for him. He needs them and they need him before it’s too late and they’ve lost each other. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Reese placed a gentle hand on my arm. Her touch felt warm and kind. Usually, I would’ve pulled my arm away but I didn’t this time. I liked listening to her voice. It made me feel like I had always known her.
A movement at the kitchen door made us turn to look and then I saw an older man. A man I didn’t recognize.
But there was no doubt in my mind that this was Patrick Doherty. Nolan’s father and Aldo’s arch enemy.
“Who the fuck are you and what are you doing in my house?” Patrick Doherty growled at me.
I had always considered myself to not scare easily. Hadn’t I seen it all? Apparently not, because I felt my body physically shrink as the man drew closer to me.
He was tall and imposing with gray hair and a muscular build. He had the same sparkling green eyes as Nolan did.
“This is Amelia. She’s Nolan’s friend,” Reese interjected. I was grateful for that because I couldn’t find my words.
“Where is he?” Patrick growled again, looking around like Nolan was hiding somewhere in the kitchen.
“He’s asleep,” I murmured.
“And are you supposed to be sleeping next to him?”
I nodded.
“Then what the fuck are you doing here?”
“I came to get some water. I didn’t want to wake him.”
Thankfully, I still had the glass of water in my hands.
Patrick looked me up and down again, like he tried to read me inside-out. I suddenly felt very exposed under his gaze. Reese being there in the kitchen with me felt like moral support, even though I didn’t know her at all.
“I’m surprised he brought you here. What it looks like to me is that he never wants to see any of us again,” he grunted.
Patrick came towards me and for a moment, I thought he’d hurt me physically, but he just walked past. I tried to hide my sigh of relief.
Reese and I exchanged nervous glances, but she passed me an encouraging smile. Like she wanted me to know that I’d done good.
“It’s not that he doesn’t want to see his family, I guess what he’s feeling is left out of the picture. Because he’s the youngest and he isn’t treated as an adult member of the family.”
I knew I’d taken liberties speaking to Patrick Doherty this way. It wasn’t my place to talk like this. I was nobody. I wasn’t even anybody special to Nolan.
Patrick sat at the long kitchen table while Reese rushed to prepare coffee.
“Is that what he told you?” he asked.
I said nothing. No, that wasn’t exactly what Nolan told me. That was the conclusion I had come to…and I now saw I was right.
Patrick groaned under his breath. He was thinking.
“Maybe if he came and showed me his face, I’d explain to him how wrong he is. I value his opinion. He is my son.”
“Then you have to value how he feels and why he feels that way. He can’t just be making this up,” I said.
What was I doing? Why was I trying to fight Nolan’s cause? These people were supposed to be the enemy. I wasn’t supposed to care what he thought of him.
Patrick stared at me like he had been slapped—more like he had never thought of it this way before.
“Amelia?” It was Nolan. His voice thundered all around the house. We heard his footsteps on the stairs, then he ran towards the kitchen.
He stopped at the doorway and saw the three of us in here. I saw the shock register on his face.
“What are you doing, Amelia?” he snarled at me.
“We were just having a chat. Why don’t you sit with us, son? Reese made coffee.” Patrick spoke in a softer voice to Nolan. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was a result of what I’d just told him.
But Nolan lunged at me, grabbing my hand and yanking me out of the kitchen in a hurry.
“We’re not here for a chat,” he snarled over his shoulder, taking me away from them.
“I found your shoes in the room and knew you were somewhere in the house,” Nolan said.
