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She shook her head refusing to listen to what I was saying. She backed away. “Stay away from us. Just stay the hell away.” She was backing off toward the gate like she was done and had her say.
But I wasn’t, no fucking way I was going to have her right here and just let her leave.
“Why’d you even come, Lia?” I asked, using the nickname that only my mom and dad called her. Everyone called her Phee, but to Mom and Dad, she would always be their little Lia. She sucked in a sharp breath, and her hand reached for her heart. But she kept trying to get away, obviously not expecting for things to be this way. Maybe she thought she’d show up and yell at me, make me cry, break me down, and then leave feeling better. Or maybe she thought I wouldn’t be the same person I was six years ago believing that I left her and Romeo to rot.
“You’re living in California. Why did you feel the need to come all the way to Alabama to tell me to stay away?” I prodded, matching her step for step as she tried to escape. “I was almost as far away as I could fucking get. Yet you came to me. So go ahead and tell me what you need to tell me. What youwantme to hear.”
I was prepared, I had steeled myself. I could tell she was holding back. She forgot I was her damn brother and knew her inside and out. I was the one who patched up her skinned knees when she fell off her bike. I was the one who taught her how to hide her vegetables in her pockets so she could have dessert. I was the one who walked her to school every damn day since pre-K.
She stopped moving, and so did I.
The fight in her was still strong, but it was forced. Her eyes were watering, her bottom lip quivering as she fought against the tears. “I hate you,” she whispered. Tears were finally breaking through the barrier and streaking down her cheeks. “I wish it was you in the car, not them.”
The words struck me hard like a fucking sledgehammer to the face.
She fell back, her mouth hanging open as if she’d shocked herself.
I felt fucking sick, my stomach churning as though I wanted to vomit. It was hard to hear those kinds of words from people whose opinions didn’t matter. But to hear them come from someone who you would give your life for, in a heartbeat, it was like a hand reaching into my chest and crushing my heart in its fist.
“They would have protected me. Do you know what kind of kids I was forced to live with? Girls who shaved your hair when you were sleeping. Boys who… who…” Phee sobbed her words each like a punch in the gut. “They would have never let me be put in a home. They would have fought for me.”
“I fought for you,” I roared, my voice echoing through the trees at the edge of the compound. She was startled for a second, and I caught a brief look of fear in her eyes. I needed her to hear me, and if this was how we were going to do this, then I guess this was it. “I appealed the courts for over a year to get custody of you. I used Mom and Dad’s life insurance. I sold the house and used that money. I lived in a shelter for months so I wouldn’t have to pay rent. So that I could use every bit of money I had to fight the court’s decision. Over and fucking over again.”
Phee stared at me, those bright and sparkling eyes full of emotion as she listened to the bullshit and hell I went through.
“I’ve got court records,” I barked, taking a step forward, my voice raspy with emotion. “Denial, after denial, after denial. At one point the court banned me from knowing where either of you were because they considered me crazy and a risk to you and Romeo. I fought with everything I had until I couldn’t afford to fight anymore. And when that day came, the day where I knew I’d failed the both of you, I went and sat on the edge of the nearest bridge, and I questioned whether it was even worth me taking another breath.”
I tried to inhale, but it shook. I tried to fight the lump in my throat, but it wasn’t even worth the energy, the tears already breaking through the barrier I was trying to keep up.
I’d never admitted that to anyone before, not a single fucking soul, scared of looking weak or having people think that I was pathetic. I wasn’t expecting sympathy, or for people to feel sorry for me, especially my brothers. But if Phee was going to turn around and walk away today, I needed to know she had all the information, and she knew the truth and the hell that I endured.
Sometimes it felt like people forgot I lost my parents, too. Not only that, but there was suddenly no one there to fight for me either. I lost all four people who I could rely on to have my back, and I was going at it alone.
It wasn’t fair, and God did it hurt, but I fucking did the best I could.
Everyone was still, afraid to breathe as my little sister tried to process what I’d told her. The little pigtailed girl who used to look up at me like I was her hero, she was gone—maybe not completely—but in her place was this beautiful woman. She was strong, unafraid, and full of sass that if fired at anyone else, would have brought a smile to my face.
I just stood there waiting for her to turn and leave or rip me another asshole—at this point, I wasn’t sure. But when a gut wrenching sob left her lips, and her feet skidded on the gravel as she fought to get to me, I broke.
She launched at me, I caught her but didn’t have enough time to steady my body, and the momentum sent the both of us flying backward with me landing right on my fucking ass. Stones and God knows whatever else stabbing into different and strange parts of my body. Phee landed directly on my stomach forcing the wind from my lungs with a hard “oomph.”
My little sister buried her face in my chest, and I wrapped my arms around her, swearing that someone would have to pry her out of them before I’d ever let her go again.
Six fucking years ago she was taken away.
Now here she was.
My family was being pieced back together.
A throat cleared, but I refused to look up, knowing it wasn’t good. “Sorry to interrupt this moment,” Wrench drawled. “But we need to talk about Romeo.”
