AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I drove to my dad’s place, which wasn’t far from Rex’s. The parking was set off a bit from the house. There were six cars there, one my brother’s and the rest my dad’s, but not all of them ran. It was the same house I grew up in, an older ranch-style home he hadn’t taken care of. The property and house could be beautiful if he gave a shit, but he didn’t, so the paint was old and there was wood over one of the broken windows.
I headed toward the house, heart thumping like crazy. Why in the fuck this mattered so much to me, I had no idea. Riven McKenna shouldn’t be my concern.
Just as I was about to head up the front-porch stairs, I heard Dad’s and Rex’s voices coming from the back of the house. They were too far for me to make out the words, but their voices carried.
For a reason I couldn’t understand, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I was quiet, trying not to make a sound as I sneaked along the side of the house, heading toward the back. When I hit the corner, I stayed tucked behind it and listened.
“You think he’s going to keep his mouth shut?” Rex asked.
“Riven is smart enough to know better than to say something. He cares too much about that grandma of his to risk anything. We keep up the fear of something happening to her, and he’ll stay in line. That’ll also make it easier to use him later on if we need to.”
My gut twisted into knots. I didn’t know what they were talking about, but whatever it was, they were threatening Betsy McKenna.
“Even if he said shit, there’s nothing anyone could do about it. He already did the time, so what’s the point? It would be our word against his, and with you and Uncle Bill having my back, plus Riven being the dumbass who took the fall for killing Jerry, he can’t touch me.”
The world spun, my eyes blurring as anger scorched through me. Rex had been the one to do it? Rex had killed Jerry, and Riven had done the time for it? Why would he do that? But then I remembered what they’d said about Betsy, and I had my answers.
There was a smacking sound, my dad likely swatting the back of Rex’s head the way he did.
“Ouch. Don’t fucking hit me,” Rex complained.
“Don’t be a fucking idiot. It doesn’t matter if he already did the time and we have the witnesses. Who needs the cops coming around? In case you forgot, there’s shit we’re doing now that would get us locked up, and I don’t want any more attention than necessary. Plus, we lose control of him now, all it does is make us look weak. We keep a tight leash, and like I said, we can use him again if we want to.”
My chest was so damn tight, it was hard to breathe. My dad and brother weren’t good people, I’d always known that, but they’d let an innocent man, one they supposedly loved like family, go to prison for something he hadn’t done. They’d threatened Riven’s family without blinking an eye.
My stomach rolled, vomit trying to climb up my throat. This whole time I’d thought Riven wasn’t any better than them, yet he’d sacrificed years of his life for the woman he loved most in the world.
And my family exploited that.
“When is Parrish getting here?” Rex asked. “Becca is freaking out because I didn’t come home last night, so I need to get going soon.”
“He said an hour when I called, so he should be here soon.”
I took that as my cue to sneak back around to the front of the house. They wouldn’t want me to have overheard what I just had. I didn’t know what in the hell to do with this knowledge, if anything, but for now I was keeping it to myself.
I knocked on the front door. When there was no answer, I opened it and called out, “Dad!”
“Out back!”
I steadied my breathing, trying like hell not to let it show how agitated I was, when really, my pulse throbbed against my skin, blood rushing through my ears.
I made my way through the house, which was a mess, trash and beer bottles everywhere, my dad’s bong on the table.
“What do you want?” I crossed my arms, trying to act the way I always did.
“Why the hell didn’t you tell us Riven McKenna is back and working with you?” Dad pushed up from his chair, trying to be intimidating.
“Why does it matter? I figured he would have told you. He’s Rex’s best friend.” I pointed to my brother, hoping my voice was steady and sounded like I believed they were still close.
