She lifted her hands before letting them fall to her stomach. “I just looked at her. I didn’t know what to say. But Stephanie said, ‘I know that’s his truck that’s been parked out front late nights and early mornings. I saw him getting into it when I was headed into work the other day.’ So, I just kinda shrugged and said my condo was always available to family before walking away. That’s it. That was the entire conversation. I never said anything about what’s been happening or even hinted at a divorce.”
“Nothing,” I said, voice hard. “Someone asks you about me? You say nothing.”
“Okay.” Her head bounced in a shaky nod. “Beau, I’m sorry. What can I do? I’ll go to someone and tell them she’s lying.”
“Don’t you think you’ve done enough?”
“That isn’t fair,” Cayson said from beside me, but I was already turning.
Already heading back to my truck.
Every step felt harder than the last. My body heavier. As if I could feel the gossip and judgment from the town weighing me down because I knew what this would do to my marriage.
And I hadn’t even had a part in this shit.
“Beau,” Hunter called out when I was nearing my truck, voice close behind.
“Need you to leave me alone.”
“Maybe you should just stay,” he said. “You don’t need to be out there making any decisions with all this shit going on in your head.”
A sneering laugh bled from me. “Think you told me to leave about five times.”
“Beau.” He grabbed my door once I had it opened, positioning himself so I wouldn’t be able to shut it. “This is messed up, I don’t even know what to say about all this. But we can figure it out. We can figure out what to do.”
“There’s nothing to do,” I ground out. “Don’t you get that? I have to go tell Savannah and hope she hasn’t already been told by a dozen other people. Hope there’s some way she actually believes me when I already know she won’t.”
His brows pulled close together before he tugged at the bill of his baseball cap, a slow, heavy breath leaving him. “Stay. Wait until you’re calm. Let us all think of some way to fix this.”
My head shook because he wasn’t understanding there wasn’t a way to. “Move.”
He started stepping away, then rocked back and settled against the door, hesitation pouring from him. “Every time you’ve shown up this past week, I’ve thought back to the day Dad’s will was read,” he said after a moment. “That was the last day we saw each other for nearly ten years. Now every time you leave, I can’t help but wonder how many years it’s gonna be until I see you the next time.”
A grunt of understanding built in my chest. “Yeah, well . . .” I turned my keys over in my hand before reaching forward to put them in the ignition. “You and I are done forever, so I’ll probably see you in a few days.”
Hunter coughed out one of his rumbling laughs, nodding as he did. “All right.” He pushed from the door but didn’t move to leave. Instead, that hesitation grew and grew. “Beau, none of us want this for you or Savannah. All of us . . . we’ll do anything to help y’all.”
My stare fell to the side as that fear I’d been drowning under gripped my throat, making it hard to breathe. “We were already far past help. And now with this?” A miserable sound left me as I finally cranked the engine. My jaw strained as I reminded him, “I’m supposed to be moving out tonight.”
He stood there for a moment before nodding. “Yeah. Well, I hope you don’t. But if you need anything, we’re all here for you. Just maybe don’t go charging at any of the girls, saying you’re gonna kill them.”
A laugh scraped up my throat. “It’s Emberly,” I said, one of my shoulders lifting as if that explained it. As if that proved I wouldn’t have touched her. The girl had been more like a little sister than anything.
“Yeah, and Savannah’s always been like family for the rest of us,” he said, easily showing the similarities between the two. “What if one of us did that to her?”
“I’d fucking destroy you,” I promised softly, my stare searching for my other brother and Emberly, who must’ve gone inside.
“Exactly.” He grabbed my door, his hand tapping the side of it for a second as he thought.