It popped open immediately.
With one arm, I shoved up the rolling door, and then time stopped.
Or maybe it didn’t stop as much as it transported me into the past.
A knot formed in my stomach as I swung my gaze around the dust-covered trip down memory lane.
Dirt Bikes. Trophies. A motorcycle. Boxes stacked as high as the ceiling. Fishing poles lined the back, and there was an entire shelf of custom helmets.
I recognized each and every one of them because they’d all belonged to Brenden.
The wave of grief that rolled out of that storage unit was almost enough to knock me on my ass, and it completely stole my breath.
Why the hell did she still have this stuff? Brenden had been gone for over six years. Short of a few photo albums and a box of his stuff in the top of her closet, I’d had no idea she’d kept anything. As far as I had known, when Cal and I had moved her out of the house she and Brenden had shared, everything he’d owned was going to his parents.
So how the hell had she ended up with all of this?
And, worse, why did she still have it?
There had to be an explanation.
“Um, Lex,” I called out, putting my chin to my shoulder to catch her gaze.
Her green eyes collided with mine, but as they drifted to the open door, her wide smile melted away. “I’ve got to go, Mom. I’ll call you later.” She quickly hung up.
Silently, I watched as she hurried my way, trying to force her mouth into a grin even as the color drained from her face.
“That’s the wrong unit, silly.” She grabbed the cord and gave it a tug, attempting to close the door, but I caught the top and propped it open. “Hudson, stop. The cover for the Chevelle is next door.” Her voice shook and it rattled me to the core.
If there was an explanation and she wasn’t hiding this, why did she seem so fucking nervous?
“What is this?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
“Doesn’t look like nothing, Lex. It looks like you’re still holding on to half of Brenden’s life locked up tight in a storage unit.”
She became fascinated with her brown sandals. “Okay, so maybe it’s a little bit of that too. But I’m not holding on to it. I just haven’t gotten around to getting rid of it yet. It’s not a big deal.”
It felt like a big deal.
It felt like a betrayal.
And I had no right to feel that way. We both had a past. We’d each had front-row seats for those pasts.
But this was the present and she was mine. I beat back the flood of jealousy because it wasn’t fair. Sure, it seemed like a really long time to still be procrastinating even for Lex, but I had no reason not to believe her.
“Okay, well, then let me help. I know a guy who owns a bike shop out in Roswell. I’m sure he’d take the bikes on consignment. Maybe the rest of it we can—”
“That’s okay. Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it. Come on. Let’s lock up and go get that pizza.” She gave the door a hard yank, but with my hand still at the top, it didn’t budge.
I narrowed my eyes at the side of her face. She wouldn’t even look at me. “If it’s not a big deal, then let me take care of it.”
“I don’t need you to take care of it.” Another pull from her.
Another block from me. “Obviously you do. It’s been six years and it’s still sitting here like you’re expecting him to come bac—” I didn’t get to finish before she exploded.
“I know how long it’s been!” Tipping her head back, she finally lifted her gaze to mine, and it was the most confusing mixture of agony and anger I’d ever seen. Squaring her shoulders, she looked me right in the eye. “You do know it’s completely possible for me to do something without you stepping in to fix it, right? I’m a big girl, Hudson. I don’t need you swooping in to save the day every time I get so much as a fucking splinter.”
My back shot straight as fears I’d never even considered I needed to have rained down over me like a storm of rusty razor blades. Brenden wasn’t an issue for us. I’d been there every grueling day as she’d put her life back together. She fell into the darkness hard after we’d lost him,