he said it, I don’t know. I’ve never not believed him.”
What the fuck was Deek’s problem?
“He’s supposed to be her dad, too.”
“If she doesn’t want him around, he can’t force his way in there. You know?”
“What the fuck, Chad? What the actual fuck?”
He quieted again, frowning. He was looking to the right, to the left, up, down. He grabbed his drink, drank all of it in one go, and held it up, motioning for a refill.
He was stalling.
Fine. I’d let him.
For now.
But still, what the fuck?
When the server brought over another one, she slid it over with a smile and included me with that. “You want another, too?”
I shook my head. I’d barely touched my drink.
As soon as she was gone, it was my turn.
“Okay. Let’s go over this timeline. Cheyenne’s mom goes to rehab.”
Chad nodded. “Correct.”
“You had any interaction with her before that?”
“Not a one.”
“She comes into the house, you’re shipped out.”
“Hunter too. Mom was worried about…” He trailed off, then added, his eyes darting down, “Cheyenne had a history of shoplifting.”
“Shoplifting from stores?”
He frowned, thinking, and then shook his head. “No. The neighbors, I think.”
“So, food and water that the neighbors put out for Cheyenne, but she thought she was stealing?”
He opened his mouth, had nothing to say, and shut it.
That’s what I thought.
I kept on, “According to Cheyenne, she was never told about Hunter. She found out his name in a meeting with her social worker.”
“Really?”
Everything in me went flat. How’d he not know any of this shit? “Thinking about my own brothers, if they existed and I was never told, I’d be going Reaper on someone. That would not fly with me.”
He swallowed, reaching for his second drink. “Yeah. I can see what you mean.”
Moving forward. “Her mom dies and she stays with her uncle. That ever hit you weird?”
His mouth opened, again.
His mouth shut, again.
He had nothing to say, again.
Except, “What are you getting at, Cut? You want me to light up the torches or something? I’m not going to do that. Deek’s not my bio dad, but I gotta say, he’s way better than the dad I did have. That guy was an asshole, and I love my mom. She did the best she could for us. If you’re trying to insinuate things a certain way, then back up because you’re wrong.”
I was out of patience. “Cheyenne doesn’t hassle. Ever. She runs. She hides. She doesn’t hassle. You spend more than two minutes around her, and not fucking glaring at her, you’d wake the fuck up. You’re dead wrong about her, and I don’t know what Deek and Natalie were thinking when—”
He shot up in his seat. “They were scared of her, okay?! Scared. I would be, too. I heard them talking to her social worker. They never knew I did, but I overheard the whole thing. Her file, she was crazy, and she spent more time on the streets than in an actual loving home. Think on that. Think about what that type of environment will produce. You want that coming into your house? No, thank you. I get where Deek and my mom are coming from. They were worried about their family. They just wanted to protect us. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
I had to take a beat, because I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
Their family.
Protect ‘us.’
Crazy.
Streets.
‘You want that coming into your house?’
That. Not her.
He was set in stone.
He’d never get it right.
Deek and Natalie were so ingrained in him.
This was the same guy who helped check fuckers on the ice for me. He slept at my house. Ate at my parents’ table. He wrestled with my brothers. Played video games with us. I got drunk with this guy. Knew all about the girls he liked and the girls who liked him, and now I was staring at him and wondering where’d that guy go?
But he was the same. There was just this other side in him, one that wasn’t meshing with me.
“You’re quiet.” That was Chad speak for ‘what are you thinking?’
“Yeah. I am.” That was code for ‘I’m not liking what I’m hearing.’
His face twisted up in anger, and he jerked forward, hitting the table. He didn’t notice. Both his drink and mine spilled over. He didn’t notice that either.
“I don’t understand our issue here. What’s your problem? You want me to be nice to Cheyenne? Fine. I’ll be fucking perfect to her. Polite. I’ll open the door for her. Want me to bow to her?”
I was shaking my