Ride or Die | Sam Fender AU

024

"Hiya, Mam," Sam greeted over the phone as he relaxed into the leather of his office chair.

"Hello, bambino," Emilia spoke softly in reply. "How are you?"

"I'm alreet like," he sighed, staring at the closed large oak door that separated his office from the long hallway and consequently, you from him. "Listen, I've got sommat to tell yer."

"What is it?" she wondered. "You've not broken up with Y/N, have you?"

"No, nowt like that, Mama," he assured her. He paused, contemplating how he was supposed to deliver the news that her missing child had suddenly reappeared again after nearly a decade and a half. He wasn't going to tell her at all but when you found out that days had passed already and he had not shared the news, you were quick to protest.

"Sam, you have to tell her!" you gaped after discovering he had kept his mother in the dark about the return of her son. Your outburst had taken Sam by surprise, the older man staring at you with a furrowed brow and pursed lips. You quickly softened, reaching up to cup his stubbled cheek in your hand, shivering as the blanket dropped from your bare upper body. "I know you and him aren't the best of friends but that's still her son. You need to tell her."

"Alreet," he agreed reluctantly. "I'll call her first thing tomorrow mornin'."

"Thank you," you smiled, reconnecting your lips with his in a slow kiss.

"Samuel?" his mother called. "Are you there?"

"Aye, sorry," he coughed, suppressing his thoughts of last night's events and of you writhing beneath him. He wanted to replay those sordid acts again that morning but you had sent him down with the strict instructions of calling his mother. Don't think you were getting away with that either, little lamb, he thought to himself.

"What's wrong, bambino?" she asked softly. "You're away with the fairies."

"Mam, Liam's back," he blurted, squeezing his eyes shut and resting his head in his free hand.

"W-what?" she stammered quietly, pure shock lacing her tone.

"He showed up here last week," he continued. "I dunna what he's up to like but it didn't end well as yer can only imagine."

"Sam," she called scoldingly.

"Y'kna what he's like!" he exclaimed in frustration. He was unused to his mother taking his brother's side. Emilia always chose to defend Sam growing up — he was her baby boy and a Mama's boy at that but times had changed and Liam had not been seen in nearly thirteen years. Sam, on the other hand, had changed a lot over that decade and a bit, moulded by his role in the business and the attempts of his father to eliminate the softness he naturally possessed. "Besides, it was his own fault!"

"What was his fault?" she asked firmly.

"I sorta punched him," he grumbled.

"Samuel!" she hissed.

"It was his own fault!" he repeated frustratedly. "Y'kna what he's like, he's a windup! He had everything coming to him."

"What am I gonna do with you?" she groaned.

"I know you're pissed—"

"Lingua," she scolded.

"—but he ruined my life, Mam," he finished quietly.

"C'mon, bambino, that's a bit extreme, don't you think?" she asked softly, her tone a far cry from how it was seconds before.

"Yer think Dad woulda done half of the shit he did had Liam not ran away?" he scoffed. "He made my life hell. Before he left and after."