Sitting on the bathroom floor in a public place wasn’t something that I would ever do in my life. Then again, I really didn’t care about anything that was going on right now, as I emptied everything in my stomach into the toilet.
“I threw up like that when I had to identify mom and dad’s bodies. Nash took me to identify them.” Menace’s low voice soothed me, which was odd because I hated whenever I had to hear his voice. It usually came with some rule, or some harm he had caused to someone I cared about.
He was sharing something he never shared with me before. To know Menace was to know that he never shared much. We never knew much about how he handled our parents’ death. All we knew was that he stepped in and made sure that we were alright. I didn’t know that he went to identify our parents’ bodies.
How cruel was it to take a child to witness that? Although he was a teen, he was still a child and didn’t need to see his parents in that way.
“Our bodies react differently to news, and the next thing you know, you shitting out your mouth.”
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. “Either that or Gerald knocked me up… had I known I was so fucked, I wouldn’t have allowed him.”
The bathroom went silent. “Making Gavin your baby father, huh?”
I was in the handicap stall, and pushed myself against the wall, not wanting to move. “How long did you know?”
“A while. Found her when I discovered that we still owned this house. Nash just lied about so much shit. Told me pops sold the Aspen house before he was murdered… I had no choice but to believe him. He had the power.” His voice cracked slightly.
“Who told you?”
“Vera.”
The door opened, and he stood there. “I’ve always felt different. Constance never treated me different, but I always felt like I was… I don’t look like you, Landon, or Kora.”
“Mom… don’t start calling her Constance. She was your mother and raised you as her own. Would have continued had she not been taken away from us.”
He was looking at the spot next to me like he was trying to talk himself into sitting down beside me. “How the fuck am I supposed to process this?”
“There’s no timeline on processing this shit. It’s a lot to process and something I never wanted for you.”
“You would have kept this from me?”
“Would have taken it to the grave if it meant I didn’t see this pain on your face, Bean. I don’t keep shit to myself because I’m evil. I do the shit because I’ll take everything on the back, if that means you three are good.”
“Can we leave?”
“Yeah.” He held his hand out and helped me stand up.
I washed my hands, and we left the bathroom. Kora had her arms folded while on the phone. “It’s supposed to cross my deskthis week… things are delayed, but soon as I learn when, we’ll talk… yeah.” She ended the call and looked at us.
“Hate me?”
“A little.”
“I’ll live.” Kora smirked, and hugged me.
I didn’t hate Menace or Kora, but I was angry with them both. How could they keep this from me? My entire life felt like a lie, and I didn’t know who I was. My brothers and sisters weren’t my siblings but were my niece and nephews.
Life was so fucked up, and the feeling in the pit of my stomach told me that my life would never feel the same again.
My mother, the woman who meant the world to me was really my older sister.
CHAPTER 23
CONSTANCE EATON
Past
“What do you mean she had a baby? She was assaulted… raped!” I hollered, slamming my hand down on the wooden desk.
