“Really?” My mind whirled. “Okay. Too much. I need…”
“Time. Yes. I know.” He pressed on my head until I set it down on his shoulder again. “But Alatheia, you are richer than we are. Significantly.”
I didn’t care about that. At least not now. Murial was my cousin? Davis was my cousin? How… the sibling that went missing. My father was the sibling that went missing. They’d told me about him. They thought he was on an ashram or something. But no it was my dead father.
Phoenix and I sat together staring at the lake. It was huge and framed by towering pine trees, their branches heavy with the weight of winter’s chill. No snow but just what looked like a dusting of something. It was afternoon, the sun was starting to dim. Around the lakeshore, big houses stood like sentinels. People not in the know would think that they were symbols of wealth, and they were, but they also hid what happened in those houses. The families created here weren’t traditional. One woman, multiple husbands. For generations now. Big enough to hide secrets.
The water shimmered under the pale winter sun not quite gone from the day. It was soothing. It had been days since I’d been randomly falling asleep, but I yawned.
Phoenix squeezed my hand. “Nap if you want to. I did here. A lot.”
“You just sat here alone and napped?” I rubbed my nose to his shoulder, almost like I was keening. I couldn’t help it. I was so fucking needy.
“My brothers never left me alone. In a good way. They left me alone when I had to lock in and get through things. But they were here the whole time. Waiting for news on you. And keeping me company. I made them promise they would leave to go to you if I wasn’t done and ready. They agreed. So we knew we would get to you and I wasn’t ever abandoned.”
That was so Lent of them.
All of them together against the world.
“You didn’t get me arrested and sent off. I chose to grab that bag. I should have thrown it on the floor. I think we can blame it on Maggie drugging me.”
He shook his head. “I played a role. One hundred percent I did. And Maggie will no longer be a problem.”
What did that mean? “Is she dead?”
“No. It was bad enough when she fucked with you because that pissed off Murial and now that you’re her cousin? Forget it. My father bankrupted them and Murial ran them out of New York. Maggie is somewhere else now. You are now Murial’s family.”
That was sort of… nice? In a weird, disturbing way. Why had we stayed away from them? Why had I been hidden, living in a trailer when both my parents came from money?
It was too much. I closed my eyes.
Barrett’s arrival roused me, which was a good thing. I didn’t want to sleep all day. He sat down next to me, and I lifted my head to smile. Phoenix was so quiet that I looked over. He was asleep, his head sort of tipped back. He breathed deeply.
“When you weren’t in your room you had to be here. His favorite spot. We called this Phoenix’s healing spot. He’s out.” He motioned toward his brother.
I took Barrett’s hands in mine. “I’m so sorry we had a bad morning, the day I was taken.”
Barrett’s head fell forward just a touch like for a second he couldn’t maintain it with his neck. “Alatheia, you are never going to know how it haunts me. How that has ridden me every second of the days without you. Why didn’t I kiss you and tell you I loved you? Why did I storm out of there? Because I was unprepared for my test, but that isn’t your problem and never was. I am so sorry.”
I kissed him. “I thought it was a terrible ending for us.”
“Not an ending. Never that.”
4
Ihad to make him understand.
“There are always endings. Everything ends. You know that.”
He kissed me back, right on the mouth. He was the first person to kiss me like I wouldn’t break since we’d been back. I sighed against him. Okay, I liked it. A lot.
“I am so sorry I wasn’t there when she dosed you. That you couldn’t have reached me if you had tried. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to hear your ecstasy confessions. I hate them a little bit that they all did. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there when the police took you. Or any day since. I am so sorry.”
I threw my arms around him and held on. He shuddered against me. “What are my ecstasy confessions?”
“That you loved them. You told them.”
I smiled, pressing it on the skin by his neck. “You have to know I love you.” How could he think otherwise?
