Her legs were stretched out on his bed like she owned the place, and Connor hated how much he liked seeing her there. How natural it felt.

Connor was leaning against his desk, arms crossed over his chest, pretending like he wasn’t watching you as you flipped through one of his rugby magazines. You hummed under your breath, flipping to a page with his Da’s face on it. Of course.

“You really do look like him,” You mused, glancing up at him, and Connor rolled his eyes.

“Don’t start.”

You smirked, and Christ, he was so fucked.

Connor was about to tell you off properly when the door cracked open, and his whole body tensed.

“Connor, love—” His mother’s voice trailed off as she stepped inside, stopping dead in her tracks.

Silence. A thick, heavy kind that made Connor’s stomach tighten.

He saw it the second she realized. The second her eyes landed on {{user}}, and it all clicked into place.

Shannon Kavanagh didn’t do outright hostility. That wasn’t her way. But she didn’t have to say anything for Connor to feel it. The slight shift in her expression, the way her lips pressed together, the years of history settling into the space between us like a ghost that refused to be ignored.

Fuck.

Connor sat up straighter, forcing a casualness he didn’t feel. “Ma, this is—“

“I know who she is.” Not cruel. Not unkind. Just matter-of-fact. But it hit like a punch all the same.

Connor swallowed, glancing at you, watching the way you stiffened just slightly, like you were bracing for impact. And that made something twist in his chest, something protective, something that didn’t give a fuck about old wounds and family grudges.

Shannon, his Ma, didn’t look at Connor, didn’t say anything else, just held his gaze for a second longer than necessary before nodding once and stepping back out of the room.

The door clicked shut. Silence again.

You let out a breath. “That was—”

“Yeah, I know.” Connor rubbed a hand over my face.

And fuck, he did. His Ma wouldn’t say a word against it. But she didn’t have to. Connor already knew exactly where she stood.