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Chapter 31
Jasmine
Jasmine set the phone down, her hand shaking. Her chest squeezed tight. She forced a breath in.
“Was that the results?” Mikel asked, sitting next to her on the porch. The sun hung low in the sky. Seagulls cawed as they dove for their dinner. The salty breeze tickled her skin.
She nodded, unable to speak. Tears blurred her vision.
Her brother’s strong arm wrapped around her and pulled her close. She wiped the tears before they could fall as she turned away.
“Do they want a meeting?” Mikel asked.
Jasmine nodded.
“We’ll call the lawyer and go with you,” Bently said, taking the empty spot on her other side.
Jasmine’s gaze flicked to the beach where Zoey was happily playing with her cousins. “I got this. I made the decisions that I did. I should be the one to deal with the consequences.”
“We’re gonna come anyways. You shouldn’t do this alone,” Bently said.
“You think I’m incapable? Just because I made a lot of bad choices in the past, it doesn’t mean I can’t take care of myself now,” she snapped.
Bently turned to face her. “I don’t know where you get off thinking I believe you’re incapable of anything. Damn, woman. Have you looked in the mirror? You are raising a child by yourself. You bought a run-down house that’s old as shit and turned it into a destination on the seacoast. You work harder than anyone I know, and you still manage to be the best mother Zoey could ever ask for.”
Tears streamed down her face. Bently wiped them away with his thumbs. “You are a fucking warrior. I’m just happy to fight by your side.”
“We got your back, Jaz,” Mikel added.
She looked between her brothers, emotion bubbling up: gratitude and joy. She had a family who loved and supported her. Brothers who would be there for her no matter what. “You two are the best brothers in the world. Do you know that?”
Mikel shrugged. Bently flinched. A dark shadow passed over his face.
“What is it?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Nothing.”
“Bently—”
“I wasn’t there for you when you needed me most.” Bently’s voice was hoarse. His shoulders slumped like he’d been carrying this secret for a lifetime.
She sucked in a breath. There was no doubt in her mind what he was referring to. No. Jasmine shook her head. This conversation was long overdue. “Don’t do that. Don’t carry your father’s sins. The fault lies with your father and only him.”
“I should have seen it sooner. I should have been the one to take care of it,” Bently whispered.
Jasmine’s stomach dropped. She looked to Mikel, the confession in his dark eyes. His gaze shifted to the floor. She slapped a hand over her mouth. The brother she’d given such a hard time to for abandoning her. The one who’d struggled for so long with his addiction, only to return and have her be so hard on him. “But he died of an overdose. I thought he killed himself like Mom.”
Mikel shook his head. “I couldn’t let him touch you again, Jaz.”
Her mind was reeling. Her brother had protected her. He’d risked everything to make sure she was safe from a monster and then carried that guilt in silence. She turned to Bently. “You knew?”
He nodded darkly. “I went there to do it myself, but he’d beaten me to it.”
She wrapped one arm around each brother and pulled them close. “We might be the most fucked-up family, with literal skeletons in our closets, but you guys . . . I just can’t even express how much I fucking love you.”
“This is so fucked up,” Mikel said as she released them.
She licked her lips, pressure in her chest expanding. The words stuck in her throat. She sucked in a haggard breath, gaining courage. They needed this. But so did she. And she was strong enough to survive the telling, capturing back just a little more of her power. “It started when I was five.”
