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“I heard him say something to that effect. What does it mean?”
He scratched the back of his head, hating to admit the truth. “I come from a family where everybody’s screwed up. I told you my mom did drugs, and my dad disappeared when I was young.”
“Yes.” She stroked his arm. For once, her touch did nothing to take away the irritation of dredging up the past.
“Well, to make it a nice family affair, Kenny’s father drank. Everyone knew he sometimes took it out on Kenny, but as far back as I can remember Kenny fought him back. They got into knockdown fights almost on a daily basis. One day my cousin showed up with a black eye. The next, it was his dad. Came to be a way of life with them, but I knew he wasn’t happy living like that. I should have…” He broke off and clenched his teeth.
“Someone must have known and should have helped. An adult.” He heard pain in her tone and squeezed the steering wheel tighter.
“I knew,” he said and tensed.
“An adult,” she insisted.
“Kenny and I were always in trouble. We were always getting into fights in the streets, at school. You name it. It was the way all of us lived, and none of us thought anything of it. Then it changed for me.”
“How?”
He sighed. “My mom OD’d, and my godfather came for me. He offered me a more peaceful existence.” Somehow Torrian didn’t want to tell her he’d gone to a private school and was tutored to catch up to the level he should have been on. Later, after he’d obtained his high school diploma, he went to a private college, everything paid for. At the time what he wouldn’t have given to go back and just be regular like Kenny.
“You moved away,” Jaz supplied, and Kenny felt like you abandoned him.”
“More or less,” he agreed. “Kenny and his dad got into one last fight. Kenny put him in the hospital and was sent to juvie for a while.”
“Now he’s been in and out of jail a few times on small charges,” she said.
He nodded. Torrian didn’t tell her each time, Kenny called him to bail him out. Torrian never failed to do so. Yet, nothing dulled Kenny’s hatred.
“Stop blaming yourself, Torrian.”
He frowned. “I’m not.”
“Aren’t you?” She twisted to face him in her seat. “You’re obviously doing a little better than him now, and he resents it. That’s not your fault. Kenny is a man, and what he does with his life is his decision, not yours. I can’t imagine what it’s like not to have my family surrounding me, but no matter what they do or I do for that matter, it’s our individual decisions.”
“Jaz—”
“Hear me out,” she insisted. He fell silent.
“Okay, so your godfather shows up one day. Did you say well, I’m out, cuz. Sucks to be you.”
His eyes widened. “Of course not!”
She smiled. “What did you say?”
“Come with me.”
She leaned toward him. “What?”
He groaned. “I asked him to come with me, to leave everything and come with me. I told him even if I had to hide him in the attic and sneak him food, he should come. My godfather was a cold and distant man, but he felt like he owed my mother something from their old days. He’d promised her he would look out for me if anything happened to her. He kept his word. I figured I would take Kenny whether he liked it or not. I never asked him about my cousin.”
“What did Kenny say?”
Torrian sneered. “He said that he never wanted to leave South Boston, not for anything or anyone. It’s where he belongs he said, and where he will die.”
“Let me guess. He thinks you’re a traitor for leaving?”
“Yeah.”
Jaz didn’t give her interpretation of what he’d just shared. Nor did he think any deeper into it. He let it sit there, hanging in the air for what it was. The tightness in his chest eased a bit, and he let go of the steering wheel with one hand to take one of hers. Her hands were warm, her smile sweet. He longed to take her home, remove her clothes, and make love to her all night.
