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“Yeah,” he grunts, not happy about that right now. “He was a lazy arse who had it coming, and I had plans for you and for Sebastian and it all got shot to hell. Literally.”
“Why did you leave straight after?”
“I had to. Things were getting too tense. Everyone was in my face every second of every day. Look at Frank. I needed to step back and regain some of the respect that my father had for being less available. It was the only way.”
“I felt like you abandoned me.” The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them. “You didn’t even say goodbye, just left me with Frank’s death to clean up.”
“I know. It was all planned. If I hadn’t left when I had prepared to, I wouldn’t have got away. You know that. You know what it was like.”
“But you didn’t even tell me where you were going. We were best friends. You told me everything, so why not that?” My bitterness at the pain of his betrayal is still too raw for me to think about.
He sighs and slumps in his seat. “I was going to. After. But then shit hit the fan, and I knew you were gunning for me for leaving you to clear up the mess we left with killing Frank. Then Seb and the aftermath of you taking over. I wanted to reach out, but I couldn’t trust that you’d keep it a secret. It was easier just to let you go.”
“Fuck you,” I hiss. “It was the coward’s way out.”
“No,” he says, shaking his head sadly. “I had, have, the weight of this world on my shoulders, Dante. I had to leave you to sort it out, to gain the respect, to take control.”
“I’ve lived with this for ten years. This betrayal, this title you gave me that I didn’t really deserve.”
“You deserved it. And it’s my right under the circumstances to give you any position I clear myself. You’re right; I can’t take them myself, so the bylaws say I can give it to anyone I choose.”
“You make it sound like I’m supposed to fall to my knees in gratitude.”
“Fuck that, dickhead. Do that, and I’ll chop your head off.”
Snickering, we share a look of bonding that we once had and that I miss, but I sober up quickly. “You hurt me.”
“I know, and you hurt me too by turning on me. But I get it now. Do you?”
Looking away, I slump back into my chair. “I think so. It was a huge misunderstanding, but your leaving exacerbated it.”
“I had no choice.”
“Yeah.”
“Friends?” He holds his hand out, and I glare at it.
“Just like that?”
“It’s this, or I kill you, so it’s your choice.”
“Well, gee. I guess it’s no choice then, isn’t it.”
“The way of Solitaire.”
I slap my hand against his, and we shake on it. The burden of this entire situation lifts a little. I can see his side as he has laid it out. I still don’t know for sure if he is telling the truth about Frank accidentally shooting himself, but I guess that’s just something I’m going to have to get over because he firmly believes he didn’t do it, as do I.
“Did you really say to Isla that you’d let me share her with you?” I ask suddenly, letting go of his hand.
“I did.”
“Why? That was never your thing before.”
“I’d never met a woman like Isla before that I would do anything to keep in my life, even if it means accepting she doesn’t just want me.”
“She does just want you. She isn’t sold on the idea of having more than one man.”
“Can you blame her? It’s not exactly the norm.”
