Page 57 of Forever After Fall

We sit in silence for a long moment after he confesses. Under different circumstances, it might be the most romantic thing anyone’s ever said to me. Hell, it might still be under these. But I can’t let him distract me from getting the answers I need. I won’t know peace until I feel like I’m not on the outside looking in with my closest friends and family.

“What happened to Curtis?”

“The consequences of his own actions.” I can imagine he means Hazel. There was enough in her eyes in that discussion after they captured Chris to know I’ve missed out on so much.

“And after those consequences?”

“I made sure no one could discover who played judge and jury.”

“Is that a regular part of your life?” I feel a chill run down my spine that a man who is so calm and collected, so careful and loving, could also be the kind of person who makes problems like Curtis disappear for good.

Anson nods.

“For the Stocktons?”

“The Stocktons and the Briggs.” He confirms my theory about Hazel. Now I have questions about Bo and Cade. If I’ve really been the naive ingenue all this time. Clueless to what was going on around her. I feel the flush of embarrassment. No one thought I could handle the truth. Maybe I couldn’t. Given how my stomach flips and my heart pounds in my chest as I think through what all this means for our family.

“I don’t know how to process all this. I feel like I’ve been walking through the dark without even knowing it. You must think I’m clueless for how much I didn’t realize was happening right in front of me.”

“I don’t think you’re clueless, Bristol. I think you were innocent and all the better for it.” Anson gives me a sympathetic look, but in my current state it only makes me feel more pathetic.

“Am I better for it? Because now I’m questioning if I ever knew you at all. Or Hazel. Or any of the Stocktons.”

“The Stocktons business model isn’t exactly a secret.”

“But you and Hazel aren’t Stocktons.”

“She is now.”

“So what’s your excuse?” I’m still so angry.

It’s hard to hold ground with Anson though. Especially when he’s so even-keeled and patient with my fury. But I still think I’m owed more explanation than I’ve gotten yet. How a man like him got into business like this.

“The Stocktons might as well be my brothers. Same as Bo and Cade. I respect their decisions, and I believe they’ll have my back as much as I’ve had theirs if ever I need it.”

“So you kill for them?”

“I’m not an assassin if that’s what you’re asking.”

“I’m asking if Chris would have been the first time you’d have cleaned up that kind of mess for them.”

He hesitates. Crossing his arms across his chest before he finally shakes his head and meets my eyes with the truth.

“Not by a long shot.”

“How did I not know?”

“It’s like you said before. I sometimes stayed out late, and you watched Ford. You assumed it was always with women, but I really did work some nights.”

“So I’m a co-conspirator.”

“Hardly.” His brow furrows at the idea I’m somehow complicit in all of this. But I have to imagine the folks in this town assume rather plainly that I’m involved in whatever the Briggs and Stocktons are.

“It feels like it. It feels like you would have easily made me one tonight if you decided it was in line with your personal moral code. If Hazel hadn’t taken my side, insisted we turn him over, would your decision have been the same?”

“I wouldn’t kill someone you love. I wouldn’t hurt you like that. But I won’t lie and say the thought didn’t cross my mind. I always knew he was reckless. Completely fucking careless when it came to you and your safety. But tonight he took things way too far. Had we called the cops. Had there been a standoff… Fuck. I don’t even want to think about the choices he might have made. I don’t want him having chances to do that again. But I couldn’t hurt you like that.”

“I don’t love him.” I want to be clear about that much. Chris was someone I thought I loved once. Maybe before I knew what love was really supposed to look like. When I accepted half measures. Before Anson showed me what real love looks like. Even in all the fog of tonight’s revelations, I know that much.