"It's fine," Alex said, though he let Michael take a look. "The wall and I had a disagreement. I don't think it's broken. I'd rather have punched my dad, but he's already gone." He followed that statement with a muttered, "He'd better be." Did he think this whole thing was over? No. His father was like a dog with a bone. Ten years on hadn't changed his attitude towards Alex, not that Alex had really expected it. Not even with him being the returning injured war hero.

He shouldn't have cared. He'd grown up knowing exactly the kind of man his father was and it wasn't anything pretty, but there was still a lost little boy somewhere inside who wanted his daddy's approval. Luckily, the rest of him was much more pragmatic.