He presses his forehead to mine. “I’m sorry, Lo, but it’s true.”
I pull back from him. “How do you know?”
“I heard my parents arguing about it.”
Shock splays across my face. “Your fatherknew?”What kind of new sick, twisted shit is this?
“It seems so. He was fucking furious until Mom told him your dad gave her fifty grand for an abortion and her silence.”
I shuck out of Galen’s arm, standing and clutching my stomach as I double over. “This isn’t happening.”
“He didn’t want your mom to know. I watched my parents sign NDAs after they stopped bickering.”
Tears spill down my cheeks.Did I know my father at all? Has absolutely everything been a lie?
Galen stands, reaching for me, but I swat his arms away. “You blamed me for this?” I wave my arms in the air as my voice elevates a few notches. “How the fuck was any of this my fault?”
“It wasn’t,” he says, tucking his hands in the pocket of his jeans. “But after my sister died, the anger inside me mushroomed and mushroomed until I hated your dad and you.”
“Not my mom?”
“She was the innocent party in all of it. Her and Mya.”
“I was a fucking innocent party too!” I yell before frowning. “What did your sister have to do with it?”
He starts pacing, grabbing fistfuls of his hair. “Mya was born with a congenital heart defect. She’d had multiple surgeries over the years. Around this time, she started having problems. Was in and out of the hospital. She had a mini-stroke a few months before she died.” He drops down onto the bench, leaning his elbows on his knees and burying his face in his hands. His shoulders heave.
I calm myself down, rejoining him on the bench, although I’m careful to keep a distance between us, because I’m fucking mad at him. And furious at my father.
“I’m sorry for how you lost your sister. Genuinely, I am, Galen, but how is it connected?”
“They neglected her!” he yells, lifting his face to mine. His nostrils flare, and a splash of red creeps up his neck. “Your dad gave my mom fifty grand and it was like Mardi fucking Gras for my parents. They took that money and partied hard, leaving me and Mya to fend for ourselves. I was fourteen. She was ten. Grandma was sick, dying, and I didn’t want to burden her, so I tried my best. Took Mya to her appointments, made sure she ate and took her meds, but she was growing weaker, and my parents just weren’t there.” His voice cracks, and he buries his head in his hands.
His body shakes, and I let go of my anger, scooting over beside him, wrapping my arm around his back. “It’s not your fault. You were a kid, and your parents should’ve cared for their daughter better.”
“She died in my arms,” he mumbles, lifting his head and slumping against my body. “She had a massive heart attack. I called nine-one-one, but they got to us too late. I couldn’t save her,” he adds in a whisper, as a tear sneaks out of one eye.
Now, I get why saving his pathetic excuse of a mother means so much to him.
“Oh, Galen.” I hold him tighter. “No kid should have to go through that.”
He turns red-rimmed eyes on me. “Like no little girl should have to go through what you went through.”
Silent tears roll down his face. “It haunts me, Lo. I see Mya every night when I close my eyes, and I miss her so fucking much. Most little sisters annoy their older brothers, but Mya was never that for me. I loved everything about her. She had so much spirit, and she never complained even though her life was curtailed in so many ways because of her illness. She always saw the positive in every situation. My parents never deserved her.”
“They didn’t deserve either of you.” I rub my hand up and down his back, and he leans into me, pressing his forehead to my shoulder. I hold on to him as he clings to me, my mind churning with all I’ve learned. I still don’t understand why he hated me for this, but I’m not going to press him while he’s so upset.
Galen and I have already suffered enough for the sins of our parents, so I’m letting go of my anger, for both our sakes.
“The night I heard my parents fighting,” he continues, lifting his head but still keeping his arms around me, “Mom mentioned how much Trey loved you. She said everything revolved around you.” He has the decency to look ashamed. “I latched on to that. I made it all about you. In my head, you were the reason your dad started an affair with my mom and got her knocked up. And you were the reason he bought her silence, and in doing so, he set everything in motion. When Mya died, I have never felt so lost or alone. Saint and the guys were all I had. Then Dad overdosed, and Mom stopped trying. That anger burning in my veins fueled my vengeance. That was the reason I got up every day. I swore I would get revenge on your father.”
“And then Sinner killed him,” I say, fitting the pieces together.
“And I transferred my anger to you. It wasn’t that hard because you had my brothers in a tailspin.”
“This is so fucked up.” I sigh, letting my hands drop away from his body.
“You want to know what’s really fucked up?” He raises his hands to my neck, rubbing his thumbs up and down my skin, eliciting a rake of fiery tremors. “They say there’s a fine line between love and hate.”
