Rivers head whips around to me with wide eyes. “Excuse me?” he says. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“We’ve had a busy three months here without you,” I tell him. “Believe me, finding out about our mother was just the beginning.”
“You need to start talking right fucking now.”
“Where from? Before or after we found out that you knew Alyssa had sent that video of me and you said nothing about it?”
His face scrunches up with a cringe as he looks to me with regret. “Shit, I knew that was going to come back and bite me in the ass.”
“You could have told me. You know, a quick message that said, ‘Alyssa did it,’ would have been fine.”
“I’m sorry,” he says. “It wasn’t easy finding time to use my phone and when I could…I didn’t know what the fuck to say.”
“It’s ok,” I tell him. “I get why you left and I’ve accepted that. It’s the other two that are still hurting. After all, you’re my brother now. We’re family, and besides, it’s not like I can hold a grudge forever.”
“It’s going to take a while for me to get used to that,” he says before letting out a heavy breath. “So, Gina told you about my dad then?”
“No, that happened when Noah found out that Anton never actually paid for Lily’s treatment.”
“What?” he grunts, looking appalled. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
I shake my head. “I wish I was, but are you really surprised? Taking advantage of an emotional, eleven year old kid and forcing him into a life he never wanted sounds exactly like something he’d do.”
“That fucking bastard,” Rivers roars in outrage. “I should have known.”
“You were just a kid too,” I remind him. “Noah cut off all ties with him and stopped showing up for those jobs, so eventually Anton came looking. He brought some thug here and questioned Tully. He hurt her and that’s when Noah lost it. He knocked him out cold in the middle of the street after Anton pulled a gun on him.”
“Fuck, he hurt her? He didn’t. Tell me he didn’t.”
“Yeah…he did. Noah handled it, then handed Anton’s gun to the cops while he was at it.”
“Anton wouldn’t have taken kindly to that.”
“He didn’t,” I tell him. “He had his men break into their home in the middle of the night and ransacked it, looking for the gun and then kidnapped me when he wasn’t getting any answers. We really could have used you around, Rivers. You picked a really shitty time to try to better yourself.”
“Fuck, ok. I get it. I fucked up, but I don’t fucking regret it. I did what I had to do and one day, you’re all going to understand that.” Rivers drops his face into his hands. “What happened then, after he took you?”
“You see, that’s the weird part. He recruited Rocko an-”
“I fucking knew it,” he says. “I knew Rocko was bad fucking news. That son of a bitch. I can’t believe I let Tully date that loser.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I say, rolling my eyes while trying to hold back a grin. “You were right for the first time in your life. Now, shut up. I need to finish telling you this shit so I can go and check on Tully.”
“Fine,” he says. “Go on.”
“So, Anton had Rocko drag me into the woods and that’s when he told me that he was releasing Noah.”
“What?” Rivers grunts. “What do you mean ‘releasing’ him?”
“He let him go. He said that he could see that he’d done wrong by Noah and was going to leave him alone, you know, as long as he keeps his mouth shut. Then he talked a bit about Gina and asked me where you were because his son had fallen off the face of the earth.”
Rivers face scrunches up in a cringe. “You really do know, huh?”
“Yep. I know it all. It’s been a very…informative few months.” I push up to my feet and squeeze his shoulder. “Despite all the shit that comes along with it, it’s nice to have you back.”
“Thanks. At least someone is happy to see me.”
“They’ll come around,” I tell him, walking to the door. “Just give them a little time.”
Chapter 14
Tully – Where are you? Wanna do something?
Henley – I don’t know. It’s too freaking hot to go out.
Tully – Rivers isn’t here. I was going to hide some old seafood in Rivers’ car and wait for the afternoon sun to hit it.
Henley – Fuck! He’s going to be furious! I’ll be there in ten. Don’t forget to slip some between the air-conditioning vents.
Tully – There’s nothing quite like the smell of revenge!!!
Henley – If we go down by the old boardwalk, I’m sure we could find a dead rat or two, but I ain’t touching that shit!
Tully – I knew there was a reason I’ve kept you around!