“I lied.”
“You met that woman?” She closes her eyes and shakes her head, probably trying to clarify everything I’m saying. “She knew Ellie? Ellie knew she was going to die? Hunter, that makes no sense at all.” Redness webs across her cheeks as she stares through me. “I speak to Ellie’s parents all of the time and not once have they ever hinted at knowing this could have happened. Don’t you think that’s something they would have shared with us—with you?”
I shrug because I don’t have a good response. I’m questioning a lot right now and I wouldn’t put any kind of secret past Ellie’s parents.
“If this is true, they didn’t know, Hunter. I can tell you that much,” she continues. “Did that woman tell you any more than what you just said?”
“No, she said she didn’t feel right sharing Ellie’s secret.”
“Oh my.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
MARCH
-One Month Later-
You know you’reon a downward spiral to nowhere good when you cancel jobs to get out of working. AJ is pissed at me, or I’ll assume he’s pissed at me because I haven’t called him back in an entire week and I don’t even know if he went to get a paternity test he had scheduled or how that all worked out. I’ve been a shitty brother, as well as a shitty co-worker, and yet part of me doesn’t care, which is even shittier.
I can look in the mirror and tell myself I have a problem and I need help. I just haven’t gotten to the point where I’ve picked up the phone to get help. Everything hurts all of the time whether I’m awake or asleep. I have spent every day these past few weeks sitting on the frozen ground in front of mine and Ellie’s tree. It’s fucking cold out here but this pain is only skin deep and it hurts far less than everything in my stomach and chest.
“You fucking dickwad,” his voice echoes between the snow banks. “How many jobs are you going to make us lose? Get your head out of the clouds and get your ass in the truck.” AJ rounds the slight corner from the stone stairs, holding his arms tightly around his body, shivering against the frigid temperatures.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, wondering why after sitting here for at least an hour I feel far less cold than he looks.
“Looking for you, jackass. Why haven’t you returned any of my calls? Or Charlotte’s? What the hell is going on with you? First it was the unusual silence and now you’ve just been completely MIA. I’ve seen this before, Hunter. You’ve been down this road already. You aren’t going back down it again. I won’t let you.”
I can only stare back at him because I have no good response, as usual.
“Get up and get in the truck, Hunter,” he demands. “I’ve let this go on long enough.”
Instead of moving, I relax my head against the tree and close my eyes, lifting my chin toward the sky. Flakes of snow are feathering down over me as particles of ice rest on the tip of my nose. While inhaling the painful air, AJ yanks me from the ground and pins me to the tree. With my back scraping against the engraved letters I once carved, anger floods through me, and the desire to swing at my brother is nearly irresistible. Exercising restraint, I grit my teeth as AJ’s face stops only inches from mine. “Get in the truck, now,” he says again.
I didn’t agree or disagree but he’s dragging me up the stairs and I’m complying with little effort. Suddenly, I’m freezing and my muscles are aching below my numb skin. The steps become a blur and I don’t regain my strength until my back is pressed up against AJ’s truck. The passenger door opens and AJ shoves me inside. Never in our lives has he been stronger than I am. I’ve always been the bigger of the two of us but right now I don’t have the energy to fight back.
He slams the door and makes his way around to his side, sliding in and slamming his door in the same fashion. His fists drop against the steering wheel as he releases a brash growl. “I’ve had it, Hunt. We’ve all had it.”
I let him talk because it doesn’t matter what I say, it won’t make a difference and it won’t diminish his anger. That’s AJ. He wears himself out until the steam goes away. He starts up the truck and peels out of the lot. The snow is coming down harder now, making visibility tough as we continue down this road. I glance down at my watch, noting the time. It’s only noon but if the snow is going to continue like this, they might dismiss Olive earlier than normal. “Where are you taking me?”
“Don’t worry about it,” he mumbles through a shiver. Reaching over to the center console, he turns the heat all the way to the max and then does the same with the volume knob, allowing the sound of the heater to mix with the harsh tones of Metal Rock.
I turn both down, glaring at the side of his face, waiting for him to tell me where the hell he’s taking me because at this point I know it sure as hell isn’t home. “AJ, don’t be a dick.”
He laughs and looks out his window as if he doesn’t want to acknowledge my statement. “The baby isn’t mine. I’ve contacted a lawyer to draft up the papers and at the end of this week, I’m checking out of the hotel I’ve been crashing at and I’m staying with you.”All of my answers in one simple sentence. Regardless, I should have called him, especially since I thought he had already sort of moved in with me and yet he didn’t come home this past week. Part of me just assumed he was working things out with Alexa but I should have asked. I get it.
“What the hell were you doing at a hotel all week?” I ask.
He shrugs and looks over at me with defined anger staining his eyes. “If you had answered any of my calls, you would have known but when you nicely ignored my tenth call, I figured you didn’t want me crashing at your place. Then Mom filled me in on your bullshit behavior.”
“Of course she did.”
“Dude, you fucking need help. This isn’t okay and it isn’t fair to Olive.”
“Don’t you dare bring her into this,” I snap back.
“Yeah, no, see, I am bringing her into this because this isallabout her. She is the only thing that matters and should matter in your life and yet you can’t even get your ass to work right now so you can continue to support her. So as Olive’s God-dad, I’m here to step in and get you the help you need to give that little girl as normal of a life as she can have without a mother.” His words stun me, they taser me, holding me hostage along with the truth I would rather deny.
As I’m considering everything he said, the truck jerks around and we pull into a nearly empty lot against a small house-looking structure. “What is this?”
