When I flop down next to her and try to take a peek, she tucks the notebook against her chest. “Maybe there are surprises in here, Trouble.”
I laugh, rolling onto my back. “If there are surprises for me, I’m all about this list.” I’m about to ask her to go shopping with me when the doorbell rings.
Not two seconds later, the back door opens, and we end up with one heck of a traffic jam in the hallway with four of the five of us there.
Luckily, Walker gets to the door while we sort ourselves out, and when we reach the front of the house, we find a puffy-faced Mattie on the doorstep.
“What’s wrong?” Trip half shouts, looking outside for whatever problem might be chasing his sister.
She shakes her head, then runs up to Clara and gives her one heck of a hug, almost knocking my girl down. “I’m so sorry,” she whispers.
Clara’s confusion is as obvious as my own until something shifts in her gaze. She’s figured it out. “Mattie, why don’t you come in, have a seat, maybe some hot cocoa? We can talk. I promise you’re okay.”
“I don’t want to take anything else from you. I’m such an idiot. And the worst human possible.”
Clara ushers the girl into the living room, and I have a feeling this conversation is going to be a lot more important than running out to buy a new gaming console, games, and a party’s worth of controllers. So I skirt around to the kitchen to hear what I can.
Chapter 70
Trips
Mattie’s tears hurt just as much as Clara’s. And while I’ve gotten a few hours of sleep, my temper burns under my skin, aching to explode at the mildest trigger. God. Clara wasn’t lying when she said this shit would always be with me, even if I have more control than before.
“Sparkles, what’s going on? How did you get here? Does your mom know where you are?”
She tugs on her sleeves. “I left her a note.”
“Like, a physical piece of paper?”
“Yeah. I called a car. She’s absolutely smothering me, and I knew she wouldn’t let me come, but this is too important to put off.”
Clara tugs her onto the couch beside her, and with a glance, the rest of the guys go to the kitchen, leaving my baby sister, my wife, and me alone in the room. But I know enoughto know they’re crowded by the door, listening in. They are crooks, after all.
“You know you have nothing to apologize for, right, Mattie? We’re just glad you’re okay,” Clara says, taking over while I get myself under control.
Mattie curls into a ball. “But I killed your dad. I killed your perfectly nice dad and ran away with your ex. He’s my ex too, I guess, but yeah. I’m pretty sure I’m unforgivable.”
Clara says nothing but opens her arms. After a moment, Mattie crawls into them, and Clara holds her as ragged sobs rake through her, her red hair shimmering under the lights with every gasp.
I will kill Bryce the next time I see him. And unlike the other deaths on my conscience, I won’t feel an ounce of regret. The man has brought two of the smartest and strongest women I’ve ever known to their breaking points.
Good women, good people, shouldn’t be broken. They should be fostered, supported, and encouraged to bloom into the powerhouses they were born to be. And the two women clutching each other on the couch are exactly those kind of women.
He will pay.
Once Mattie calms enough to string together cogent sentences, Clara repeats that she did nothing wrong, that she was trying to save a life, not take one, and that she has no hard feelings toward her. And the crazy thing is, she means it. Having spent the same childhood analyzing every word someone says, the tone and meaning behind them, Mattie has no choice but to believe her.
Jansen pops out with a tray of two coffees and a hot cocoa, leaving it on the table with a plate of Walker’s chocolate chip cookies, now a few days old, but still better than any I’ve been able to buy in any far-off country. Mattie picks up her cup and sips it like it’s medicine—something she has to take to get better later.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I ask, not wanting to push her.
“Not really. I just wish I’d figured it out sooner. But yeah. I got out of there. Good riddance.” She takes another sip, then glances at the woman beside her on the couch. “It was actually your dad who helped me figure it out.”
Clara’s brow scrunches as she sets down her mug.
“It took me a few days to puzzle it out, but it was weird that he knew Bry’s last name. Everything he said sounded like a riddle, but once I realized Trips must have taken your last name—” she glances at me with a hint of a grin “—you’re a lot more progressive than you let on, middlest brother.” Her smile fades quickly, and she drops her gaze to her lap, tugging on the ends of her sleeves. “After I figured that out, though, I felt like the biggest idiot. I confronted him about it, and he didn’t deny it. He laughed at me, saying he’d gone after me to get back at you, but that I ended up being a fun challenge. God, he…he said that we wouldn’t last because I wasn’ttrainable.Like a dog. And when I got mad, well…” She slams the mug onto the tray. “Anybody who hits someone smaller than they are isn’t anyone worth my time. So, I snuck out, only to find that Mom had left Father. Like maybe permanently?”
She looks at me for confirmation, but I’m still caught on what she didn’t fully say. Bryce fucking hit my sister.
