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“Exactly.”
Sighing, Rubble took a seat beside him. “She knows the risks, right?”
“I explained them, yes.”
“Not much we can do otherwise, brother.”
Brewer nodded, accepting Rubble’s words as gospel. They dug at him, nonetheless. “Would my parents want that? Revenge against their murderer?”
Rubble stopped drinking and capped the water. “Not sure. I knew them, of course. Your dad was my brother, but I never connected with him like you and I have. Same with your mom. She was great, but other than knowing her as an old lady, that’s the extent of my knowledge.”
Finishing off the water, Brewer steepled his hands over his nose.
Rubble swiveled his chair to face him. “But you know them better than most of us. You and Dolly. And you two will be the ones we turn to when the truth comes out. If you want Macha to stand down, you’ll both have to say the word. We all have skin in this fight, but yours is in it the most.”
“And if Dolly wants one thing and I want another?”
“We vote on it like anything else.”
“I was afraid you’d say something like that.”
Dolly walked down the hall just then and stopped in the kitchen. “Hey, boys, what’s new?”
“Your ears must’ve been burning,” Rubble joked. “We were just talking about you.”
“Oh? All good things, I hope.” She leaned her forearms on the counter, her hair down for the first time in a while. It fell in dark sheets around her shoulders, the lengths hiding the Macha stamp on the front of her black sweatshirt. She looked more like their mom with each passing day. It sent Brewer’s stomach into a nosedive. No matter how many years went by, he’d never stop missing them.
“We were discussing Shovelhead and your parents.”
Her makeup-free face clouded. “Never a fun topic. Anything new on that front?”
“Just the meeting at the picnic.” Rubble stood up and tossed his bottle into the recycling bin. “I’ll keep you both updated if anything changes.”
Once Rubble was halfway down the hall, Dolly took his spot next to Brewer. “I’m way too excited to bring the bastard down. He’s gonna pay for what he did to Mom and Dad.”
Brewer wanted to agree but couldn’t. “What if he didn’t do it?”
“He did.”
“Dolls, what if he didn’t?”
Dolly’s bright blue eyes searched his, her brow furrowed as if she was trying to decipher a code written on his face. “This is about Delphi, isn’t it?”
“No.” He glanced at his black boots.
“Liar. You always look away when you lie.” She sighed. “It’s okay if it’s about her, but it won’t change my mind about anything. If Shovelhead shot our parents, he’s going on a very long trip to hell.”
It was exactly as he expected. A month prior, he was right there alongside her on the retaliation train. But now it was different. Something had changed him.More like someone.
“Delphi’s a big girl. She can handle the truth.” Dolly gave him a side hug. “And we’ll all live happily ever after.”
“Speaking of—how’re things going with Yasmina?”
A sly smile crossed her lips. “Now that, big brother, is none of your business.”
“It is if you’re leaving Macha to be with her.”
Dolly’s eyes flashed a warning. “Keep your voice down.” She stood and poked her head out in the hallway, then returned to the edge of the counter. “I never said I wasleavingleaving.”
