Cal looked up from his wrapper, eyed Jake while he thought through how to respond.There were alotof ways he could answer that would piss Jake off, a few that he could tell Nate about later that would piss Nate off.
But in the moment, weird as it might be, Cal found he only had the truth.“Yeah.”
Which was clearly not what Hayes wanted to hear.“I don’t remember him being some paragon of virtue before he left.”
“No, none of us were.”He could leave it at that.He could dive into the heart of whatever this was really about—Cal had a pretty good idea, but the idea Hayes could really think there was something fishy aboutNate…
Maybe it was weird, probably some kind of twisted he should discuss with his therapist, but he tended to view Nate as the one who’d had it worst.Sure, Cal had witnessed theworst,but Dad hadbeatenNate.Nate had run away, survived on the streets, become a soldier.
All alone.
Cal had been messed up, but he’d always had the ranch.And Landon, for as much as either of them let that be a thing, Aly, always.In all the trauma he’d survived, both he and Landon had always hadpeople, even when the relationships weren’t good.
Nate had lost everyone.
Standing up for his baby brother wasn’t going to get him anywhere with Hayes, but maybe the detective would honor the truth enough forthatto matter.
“I think I was so fucked up, Landon and Nate stepped into the role of protectors… in very different ways, without fully realizing it.”Something Cal wasn’t surehe’drealized until this moment.He was the oldest.He should have been the one protecting, but…
He’d run away.
He didn’t know how to grapple with that—certainly not in this dingy fast-food restaurant with Jake Hayes of all damn people.
“I’m not saying Nate doesn’t have faults, but he doesn’t have secrets.There’s some core of do-gooder in there.He’d tell you he joined the military to get out of being an abused, runaway teenager.”Cal let it sit a beat.
The truth of it.Thevictimhoodof it.So maybe Hayes could get it through his head that Nate hadn’t justswanned out of townand then back in.
Not like Cal had.
“But it wasn’t his only option, no matter what he thinks.It was the only option that felt like help to him.And he needs to help.Whether that came from watching the way our family was, from not being able to help Mom, being helpless himself, I don’t know.But it isn’t just something he does for fun or for some kind of accolades.It’s a driving need.For all his faults, he’s the best of us.That’s for damn sure.”
Hayes said nothing to that.Didn’t look movedat all.
So Cal went in for the kill, because he was who he was.“If you’re thinking he’s got some deep, dark secret you’ll expose that’s going to mean you can swoop in and steal Sam away, I’d have to bet against you.”
Hayes got up, trash crumpled in his hand.“That’s not what I’m thinking.”Then he stalked over to the trashcan.
“They’ve got that same thing Landon and Aly have,” Cal continued, because he was fascinated by the reaction.By this wholething.
“Oh, yeah.What’s that?”Jake grumbled, striding outside.
“That linked thing.Where they’re like two different sides of a whole that lock in together.That understand each other.”Like destiny or fate, which Cal didn’t believe in and certainly wasn’t going to verbalize.“Sam really that special?”he asked conversationally, following Hayes out to his truck.
“My questions weren’t about Sam,” Hayes replied cooly, unlocking his truck and climbing into the driver’s side.
Cal climbed into the passenger.But he didn’t let it go.“Then what were they about?”
Hayes turned to him, fixed him with a very hardcopglare.“How I’m supposed to believe the three of you came from one rotten-ass apple and rolled far,farfrom the tree.”
Cal held the accusatory glare for another beat of silence.When he spoke, he made sure his voice was very soft.A page he’d taken out of his therapist’s handbook.Softcould crumble foundations with more stealth and force thansharp.
He thought of how Jake had once described his father.“You don’t strike me as a careless man, Detective.”Hayes didn’t say anything, but Cal pressed.“So I’m wondering why you’d think your dad had less of an effect on you than ours had on us.Sometimes, when the apple knows the tree sucks, it rolls as far as it fucking can.”He wanted to believe that.Needed to, these days.
Jake started the truck.“Maybe we should stick to Swenson.”
Cal smiled.Sharp and antagonistic.“Happy to.”
*
