He ignores my reaction. “Beck’s happy when he’s here. Ellie and Wyatt fell in love out here. This one?” He points to a frog peeking out from the top of a palm tree on his left pec. “Spent a weekend playing Frogger at Beck’s place maybe eight years ago. Best weekend I’d had in ages. All the guys were there. Like old times. I fit here. I have good memories here. I like it here. If this gets out—we can’t hurt Shipwreck. I’ve done—we just can’t.”
I pull my knees to my chest and look at the tattooed, crazy-haired, tense man on the chair in front of me. “This is a lot.”
“Would’ve preferred to not have to burden you with this, but you needed to know.”
“Does Pop know?”
“Likely.”
“Does he know you know?”
“He’s not stupid.”
“And that’s why he doesn’t like you.”
“Partially.”
“What are the other parts?”
He stares at me, and then his lips quirk to the side.
Like he’s almost smiling.
“He hates my motorcycle and my tattoos.”
I squeak.
Pop is my grandma.
Except Pop hasnever— “Oh my god, are you making that up?”
“Ever seen Pop on a bike?”
“No. But he has tattoos.”
“Mine are cooler.”
This is definitely not the full story. “This is why Vanessa told you to show me your family tree.”
“Yes.”
“She believes it?”
“She’s in the information business and also believes I’m correct in my understanding of the real history of this place.”
“That’s a lot of words that lead to a lot more questions.”
“That aren’t mine to answer.”
“Why can’t anything be simple and straightforward?”
“Because people are inherently good, but they’re also inherently selfish and greedy.”
I can’t go back to town tonight.
I need a game face first. There’s zero chance I could walk into Tillie Jean’s house or Grady and Annika’s house or any of the businesses that the Rock family runs around town without one of them asking me what’s wrong, and there’s no possibility that I could answer that question, even with a lie, tonight.
I growl at Davis.
