When Ulie’s done strangling me and painting the back of my head, she peels herself off and pushes past him into the house.
I move toward the porch.
“You went home?” Grant asks.
“Not exactly.” I’m not really sure where home is anymore. I climb the stairs and stop in front of him. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to go back. Not for a while, anyway.”
I expect him to rant against me, or maybe throw a punch. Instead, he just looks at me, and I’m surprised that what I see in his eyes is more relief than hate.
He hasn’t cut his hair since we got here. It’s halfway to his shoulders now. But that’s not the only change. There’s something wiser in his face, understanding that was never there before. He scoops his helmet off the love seat, brushes past me on his way to his bike. “Welcome home.”
He straddles the bike, guns the engine, leaves a plume of blue smoke behind as he rumbles down the driveway.
I’m pretty sure I know my brother, but that guy, I’ve never met before. I’ve been gone five days and it’s like my whole family did some brain switch.
I know that’s true when I look at the door and see Sherm half-tucked behind the frame, peering out at me.
“Hey,” I say without stepping closer.
He steps out from behind the doorframe, but doesn’t say anything.
“You held down the fort?” I ask with a vague wave of my hand at the house.
He nods.
With just that gesture, my heart implodes.
He watches me a second longer, then turns and disappears upstairs.
I follow him up and close my bedroom door. The bed is just how I left it. I drop my duffel and pull down the sheets. Adri’s blood is still there.
She went to Chicago to find me. That is just about the stupidest and most incredible thing anyone has ever done for me. She put herself in danger to save my sorry ass, which makes me love her so much more. But it also makes me see what a fool I was. She’s over her head in shark-infested water and she doesn’t even know it. I’ve put everyone I love in danger. It was spectacularly selfish of me to think getting involved with Adri wouldn’t do the same thing to her.
My arraignment is on Monday. Provided Adri’s father doesn’t want to take this to the press before then, which I’m banking he won’t to shield Adri from the publicity, that’s how long I have before my face goes into the system. That’s how long I have to get my family out of here. After that, it will be too late. Anyone near me is likely to be collateral damage.
If anything happened to Adri because of me, I wouldn’t survive it. Because I’d take down anyone and everyone responsible, which would ultimately include me.
Chapter 31
Adri
When the back door opens, I’m on the couch in the living room. I’ve thought a lot about what Dad said in his office yesterday, that he’s not going to let anything hurt me, and all the pieces are starting to click in my head. On the coffee table in front of me are some things I spent most of the night digging out of the attic. My eyes scan the pile and I know that this could totally backfire if I’m not extremely careful.
Dad sees me sitting on the couch and immediately lowers his gaze.
“Dad, we need to talk.”
He notices the framed photo that Mom always kept in the drawer of her nightstand lying on the coffee table and freezes. “Where did you get that?”
“I got it out of the attic,” I say, picking up the picture of the brand-new baby boy with a fringe of black hair.
His gaze lifts to me and it’s raw and wounded. “Why?”
“Because there are some things that need to be aired out.” I turn it for him to see. “Why didn’t you let Mom keep this picture out?”
He lowers his gaze. “There are some things we don’t need reminding of.”
“But he was your son, Daddy, even though he only lived a few days.”
I was only three when Aaron was born, so I don’t remember him, and there’s only this one picture of him as far as I’ve ever known. When I was little, maybe four, sometimes I’d hear Mom crying in her room when Dad was at work. When I went in, she had this picture out. She’d hug me tight