Seth sat next to Kaydon, and Bryson leaned in the doorway.
Adria’s footsteps continued, and Bryson wondered if they should interrupt her musings.
“Well,” she said, hand on her hips. “Why don’t we start with what happened at Regan’s?”
Bryson’s entire body tensed.
Kaydon and Seth’s gaze snapped to him, and he could feel the warmth of their stares rising into his face as he shook his head.
“No, let’s not start with that.” His tone firm.
“Why not?” Adria pushed.
“Because I don’t want to talk about it,” Bryson said.
“You are going to have to talk about it sometime,” Kaydon said.
“Like you’re going to have to explain the red marks on your arms,” Bryson snapped, the words tearing from him before he could stop them.
Kaydon’s face fell, and his arms moved reflexively closer to his body. Bryson regretted saying it. He knew Kaydon was struggling, and just like Bryson, he just wasn’t ready to talk about it either.
Adria moved to stand in front of Kaydon. Kaydon hugged his arms, looking anywhere but at her.
She put her hand out. He didn’t move.
“Kaydon, you need to show me,” Adria commanded.
The care in her voice made Bryson’s heart crack. He watched as, slowly, Kaydon brought his wrist to rest in her hand.
Adria looked over the fresh marks that Bryson was sure Kaydon had placed there sometime this morning.
“Kaydon, I’m so sorry I didn’t notice this sooner,” she said.
Kaydon mumbled, “It’s nothing, really.”
Adria put her finger under his chin, pulling his face to look up at her.
She said, “If this is going to work, if we are really going to try whatever this is, you need to trust me enough to come to me when you need something.”
She pointed at his arm. “This shit,” she said, running her finger along his forearm, pausing at all the older marks, “stops today. Am I understood?”
Kaydon shook a little in her firm grasp and Bryson was instantly hard. Just seeing a person of Kaydon’s size tremble under her small hand.
“And you,” she said, rounding on him, “you are going to talk about what happened.”
Her eyes bore into his, and Bryson had to fight to hold her gaze.
“You are going to talk to me about it first, and then you are going to tell your brothers. Am I understood?”
She hadn’t touched him, but he could feel her everywhere. Her commanding presence was impossible to ignore. His mind waged a war inside him. He never wanted Adria or his brothers to know what went on in that house, but seeing them all together, Bryson understood they were never going to be able to move forward unless he did.
Slowly, he nodded to her, and when she narrowed her gaze, he cleared his throat. “I understand.”
She sighed. “And this,” gesturing to the four of them, “how do each of you see this working?”
She pointed to Seth.
Seth turned pink and said, “Me? You want to know what I think?”
