“She wasn’t perfect but she wanted the best for you.”
I moved closer to my father. “No, she was pure evil and only wanted what was best forher.And you did fuck all to stop her. You left us with her to build your fucking career.”
“Stop this!” my father demanded. “We were great parents to you. No one is perfect but we gave you everything you needed and more!” His voice raised and his face grew red with anger.
“You honestly believe that?” I shook my head. “No, you don’t believe that shit for one second.” I moved closer. “You knew what she was. Didn’t you?” I was in his face, daring him to lie to me.
“Jacob, she was your mother. I-I—”
“And you were our father! It was your job to protect us and you fed us to the wolves by leaving us with her every chance you got. Did you know?” I growled angrily, my fists tightening at my sides.
“Know what?”
I held myself back from punching him right then and there, but just barely. “Did you know what that sick cunt did when you weren’t around? All those long nights when you were working late or out of town. How she would sneak into my room and underneath my bed sheets because she waslonely.How I never said anything to anyone about it or complained and pushed her away out of fear she would do it to Luke instead. So I took it to spare him. Did you fucking know?” I growled.
My father’s eyes widened in horror and his grief turned to one of shame. He shook his head in denial. “Th-that’s impossible,” he stuttered. “Sh-she would n-never—”
“She did. And after three years I couldn’t take it, which was why I graduated high school early and left home.”
“And never looked back.”
“Oh, but I did come back. I came back repeatedly, to warn her that if she even so much as thought of doing the same thing to Luke, I’d kill her myself!”
“Is that why?” a deep male voice growled, behind my father.
He and I both turned, my eyebrows lifting at the sight of my younger brother. My shoulders slumped upon staring in his eyes because I knew he’d heard the truth. A truth I never wanted him to know.
“Luke,” that was from my father.
Luke hardly spared our father a glance before his gaze turned to me. “Is that why she barely paid me any attention once you left?”
I didn’t say anything because there was nothing to say. The answer was obvious.
Luke didn’t wait for an answer either. He moved passed my father and I, toward our mother’s casket.
Turning, I watched as he stared down into the grave. Then, in typical Luke fashion, he bid our mother farewell by spitting in her grave.
He turned to face our father. “I also came to make sure the cunt was actually dead.” His eyes moved to me, and for a split second I swore I saw them soften just a smidgen before he pivoted on his heels and headed in the direction he came without another word.
I wanted to follow him but I still had to get something off my chest. I looked back to my father.
“This’ll be the last time you and I ever speak. Because you and your dead wife won’t get a second more of my life. I have a career, a life, and more importantly a woman back home who loves the hell out of me, and if she can put up with me, I’m going to marry her and live our lives in peace. And you won’t ever be a part of that. You enjoy what’s left of your useless life.”
I gave my father one final scowl before brushing past him and walking back to my rental. I was done with this state, this town, and all of my relatives in it. Except for one.
I took one final look around to see if Luke was still in sight but he was long gone. I figured he would be. I didn’t know what I’d say to him, if he was still around.
The entire drive back I only had two regrets. One was that it’d be hours before I could hold Grace in my arms, if she would still have me. I knew I fucked up by what I said and then rushing out on her as soon as I got that text from a family member saying my mother died. My second regret was that Luke had overheard my ugly secrets, the ones I’d kept from him for so long.
But as I strolled into the lobby of the hotel I was ready to check out of, I found my kid brother, now two inches taller than me, leaned against the counter. The T-shirt, leather jacket, and jeans he wore were a far cry from the prep school outfits our mother forced us to wear years earlier.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” he said.
“So you have,” I retorted, slipping my hand in my pocket.
He glanced off somewhere in the distance. “I’m gonna need a beer for this conversation.”
I nodded. “There’s a bar on the corner.” I figured Luke wouldn’t be in the mood to sit at the bar of this five-star hotel. The other bar I referred to was more of a dive bar, and by its appearance, more in tune with the style my brother had taken over the years since we’d last spoken.
