me. Tell me right now. Oh, my God. Derek’s going to flip out, and Mom and Dad . . .”
Delilah barely breathes between sentences, her hands flailing wildly as she speaks. After a minute of hurling question after question at Demi, they both turn, in unison, and stare me down.
“I wish I had an answer.” Demi speaks to her sister like I’m not standing ten feet from the two of them. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
Delilah’s eyes drag the length of me, and her pointer finger rises to her lips. She’s trying to figure me out. And I can’t say I blame her. It does seem rather suspect, from the outside, that I’d show up unannounced at a time like this.
“I came here to offer support.” I shrug. “Heard about what happened with Brooks.”
“Oh, now?” Delilah’s head cocks. “Now you want to come around? Where were you seven years ago? When we had to pick her off the floor the night you didn’t come home? When Demi could barely eat for weeks because she was so heartbroken? She had to be hospitalized for dehydration. Did you know that?”
I shake my head, watching Demi. Her eyes are focused on the center of her coffee cup. It fucking kills me that I can’t comfort her right now.
“Of course you didn’t.” Delilah’s rant shows no signs of stopping. “And where were you when she totaled her car sophomore year at Hargrove? Broke her wrist and her leg in three places. Had to take a semester off school to recover. Where were you when Grandma Rosewood passed away? That woman loved you like one of her own. Where were you when Derek got married? And then divorced, because the woman he married was a fucking psychotic lunatic? He could’ve used a friend, Royal. Where were you when Daphne landed her first art show and it sold out in two hours? Huh? You were the one who believed in her. You encouraged her to pursue art when my parents wanted her to choose something more practical. Where the hell were you, Royal?”
Delilah lays into me, and rightfully so.
I’ve missed everything.
But not by choice.
If I’d had a choice, I’d have been there for it all. I’d have never left Demi’s side. Fuck. I would’ve married that girl. Been there for everything. Every step of the way.
The choice was taken away from me the night I left. Had I known when I walked out of the Rosewood house that Saturday night that I was never coming back, I would have stayed. I would’ve never left Rixton Falls.
“You were a fucking brother to me, Royal,” she continues, taking steps toward me. Her finger points at my heart like a loaded pistol. “I loved you like a real brother. You didn’t just break Demi’s heart when you left, you hurt all of us. Wherever you went, I hope it was worth it. We were the only family who ever gave a damn about you, and you disappeared, you worthless piece of—”
“Delilah.” Demi stops her sister, placing her hand on her shaking arm.
Delilah’s fists clench before she drops them at her sides.
“I should go.” I set the coffee mug in the sink. Sure as hell don’t see a dishwasher, though I’m sure it’s hidden behind some fancy cabinet façade. “It wasn’t my intention to upset anyone.”
My gaze meets Demi’s as I pass, but only for a split second. She looks away, her fingers still digging into the flesh of Delilah’s arm.
Someday I’ll tell her.
Someday soon, I’ll tell her everything.
But that day is not today.
Six
Demi
* * *
“Derek’s going to be livid.” Delilah folds her arms tight across her chest, angling her brows at me the second Royal leaves. “And Dad.”
She blows a tense, quick breath past terse lips.
Outside, the rumble of his engine fades into the distance, his roughed-up American muscle car vanishing from the rolling hills of our picturesque community.
I shrug. “I didn’t invite him over. He just showed up.”
“And stayed the night.”
“I didn’t ask him to.” I lean against the marble island, grazing my hand across the cool counter. All these years, he felt like something so intangible. Like a cloud. You know it’s there, you see it so clearly, but there’s nothing to grab onto when you try to touch it. Seeing him in the flesh is surreal. “He knocked on my door last night. I tried to tell him off. And then I threw up on his shoes. I don’t remember much after that, but