Nico lost his brother twice. The night of the accident and then again the morning he died. He had years to saygoodbye, and climbed that mountain of grief so many times. When the day would come he would have to say goodbye for the last time, he thought he was prepared.
It was just another lie he told himself, like the lies he used to tell himself when he was foolish enough to believe he could live the life he wanted. None stung more than the lie that he could be with a man. Natalie was steadfast in her decision to not have children. Hell, she’d once joked she had her tubes tied but Nico believed it wasn’t a joke at all. If Nico didn’t end up with a woman, if he didn’t have children, the Fallon bloodline would die with him. That was a heavy weight he couldn’t shake. And sure, there were options such as adoption or surrogacy but those didn’t pass his father’s muster of what bloodline meant.
After promising his brother he wasn’t angry at him anymore, Nico circled back to being angrier than hell. A grief-fueled rage that filled him with shame.
Nico sat there for some time more until he eventually fell asleep against the tree.
A day went by and then another, and the silence never broke in the Fallon household. Being back home was an eerie affair and Nico desperately wanted to bolt. Family didn’t abandon family, though. Not in times like this. It was important to be around for his father and sister for when the inevitable would happen. They would break and it was his job to comfort them.
But they remained strong, wallowing in silence whilewatching TV, while eating dinner, and then their cries echoed off the storied walls painted with photos of better days in the middle of the night.
On the third day after the funeral, Nico woke up early after a miserable attempt at sleeping and ate breakfast alone. Raisin Bran, which he wasn’t fond of but it was his brother’s breakfast of champions. Nico had to load the bowl with three tablespoons of sugar to make it hospitable for his taste buds.
Natalie grabbed a quick bite to eat on her way out the door, heading back to work.
Around three in the afternoon, Nico’s father headed over to the church with the excuse that he needed to get ready for service the following night. Nico knew better. The church was his father’s safe place where he could quietly grieve on his own, without the need to be strong for his children.
Two hours later, Nico heated up six tamales, and sat down at the kitchen table. Five tamales on his plate and one on a plate across from him. After finishing his food, a notification popped up on his phone.
COOPER
I’m outside your house.
NICO
I’m not home.
COOPER
I’m in Orlando. Tell your family you’ll be back tomorrow and come get in the car.
Nico’s chair grated against the worn hardwood floors as he pushed it backwards and stood up. He stepped to the window and peeked through the blinds to find a black SUV with tinted windows pulled up next to the curb beside the mailbox. He grabbed his phone and hammered out a quick message.
NICO
What are you doing here?
COOPER
Please just come get in the car.
Nico packed a quick bag with a few outfits, grabbed his sister’s bottle of Klonopin, filled his water bottle, and texted his family on the way out the door. He looked both ways to make sure nobody saw him before climbing into the passenger seat.
Cooper was dressed in incognito mode with a baseball cap and sunglasses. As soon as Nico’s door was closed, Cooper pulled away from the Fallon house.
“Are you going to tell me why you’re here?” Nico asked.
“I figured you needed to get out of the house.”
Cooper was right, but how could he possibly know that? How did he even know Elon died? And… “How in the hell did you find my house?”
“The power of the internet. I’m surprised we’re not all inundated with more stalkers than we are.”
Nico didn’t have any stalkers, but imagined having onewould be quite the thrill. “I suppose this is a question I should have asked before I was kidnapped, but where are you taking me?”
Cooper pulled the shades from his eyes and clipped them into the top of his shirt. “We’re going for a drive.”
Chapter Eighteen
