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I didn’t acknowledge him, just walked out of the house, knowing I was only doing so because they let me. I could end up with a bullet in my back, but I didn’t.
I was tired and wasn’t dealing with this shit anymore. I was going to live my life without the fear of my grandma or Parrish getting hurt, no matter what I had to do to make that happen.
When I pulled up at home, Parrish was sitting in a chair on the cement porch, with a scowl on his face that told me I was fucked.
I got out of the truck and made my way over to him. “You should be in bed.”
“Fuck being in bed. You went over there, didn’t you?”
I sighed. I wasn’t used to answering to someone this way—well, outside of the prison guards and my PO at least. It made frustration set root in my spine, but I reminded myself this was Parrish and that it was different with him. “Yeah.”
“What the hell, Riven. Do you want to put an even bigger bull’s-eye on our backs? Do you want to make things worse? I told you not to do something stupid!”
“No!” I shouted. “But I do want to protect what’s mine! And I’d do it again. I couldn’t just pretend that didn’t happen. It would have made them think I’m an easy target.” When Parrish shoved to his feet and went back inside, I followed. He kept his back to me, standing in the middle of the room. “All I did was tell them to leave us alone. I don’t have it in me not to say something. Last time I didn’t speak up, I ended up in prison.”
“Fuck,” Parrish whispered, then turned, walked to me, and wrapped his arms around me. “You say you want to protect what’s yours, but don’t you get that I feel the same?”
“I know.” I brushed his hair off his forehead and kissed his temple.
“We need to talk Betsy into getting out of here.”
“What about Becca and the girls? I thought you didn’t want to leave them.”
“I don’t, but hell, I don’t think she’s going to want anything to do with me anymore. You saw she came over. She knows about us. I broke her heart, Riv. They won’t even let me see the kids anymore.”
Tension thickened my blood, making it feel like it slogged through my veins. This didn’t help my anger and hatred toward them. Rex didn’t do shit to take care of his own kids, but now he was going to take them away from Parrish? “I’m sorry.” I didn’t know what else to say. The words that wanted to fall from my mouth weren’t very helpful.
“I just want a normal life. It’s not supposed to be this way.” No, it wasn’t, but this was the hand we’d been dealt. Before I could respond, there was a knock on the door. “She didn’t believe the bar-fight story. She knows it was my brother.”
I had a feeling that was going to happen.
I pulled away from Parrish and let Grandma in. She carried two covered plates. “I brought you boys dinner.”
“Thanks, Grandma.”
“You didn’t do anything stupid today, did you?”
My gaze snapped to Parrish, who held his hands up. “I didn’t say a word.”
“We need to get the hell out of this town,” I told her instead of answering.
“Can you? Isn’t that something you have to get approved? And where would we go? Why would we go there? I can see Parrish is beaten to shit, but that’s all I know. Unless you want to tell me what in the hell this feud is between you and the Hunts, I’m not going anywhere. I’m old, Riven, and this is my home. Your grandfather and I built this together.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her what had really happened the night of the fight, but I couldn’t make myself do it. Her mouth would get her into trouble if I did.
“I just need something different. I need a fresh start.”
She set the plates down and came closer. “That’s one of the realest things you’ve said to me. I know more is going on than you’re willing to tell me. If you need a fresh start, I want that for you. Maybe you and Parrish can—”
“No,” I cut her off. No way was I leaving here without her. “I’m not leaving you again. And Parrish doesn’t want to leave his nieces either.” He might have said he needed out of here, but if he couldn’t talk Becca and the girls into going too, we were stuck. “It’ll be fine,” I lied.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Parrish
When a week went by without hearing anything from my dad or brother, I was surprised. Once the second week passed, I was worried, then the third week went by and I was just plain confused.
