Second, my loyal dog had turned traitor and was accompanying Lex. But I couldn't exactly be upset about that. Actually, it was the only bright spot. I knew Brewer wouldn’t let anything happen to Lex. I didn't really understand my dog's fascination with the young man, but since I couldn't explain my own, I figured who was I to judge?
And lastly, as pissed as I was at Lex, I wasn't happy to see him walking away. He was doing exactly what I'd told him to, but it still felt like some kind of strange rejection. I lifted the glass again but as soon as the liquid touched my lips, I found myself looking out the damn window once more. "Fuck," I growled and practically slammed the glass down on the table.
Since I hadn't taken the time to work my jacket off or remove my boots, it took just a handful of seconds to get back outside and into my truck. It took about the same amount of time to catch up to Lex because he was walking slowly, carefully putting one foot in front of the other. He had one hand stretched out before him just a bit and the other was on Brewer's head. Not surprisingly, he stopped when I pulled my truck up next to him.
"Gideon?" Lex asked in confusion. I was already climbing out of the truck. I grabbed his arm, though I kept my grip gentle as I led him around the front of the truck, making sure not to go too fast because I didn't want him to trip or slip. He repeated my name, still clearly not sure what was going on, but he didn't resist me at all. I wanted to think it was because he trusted me a little, but I knew that wasn't true. He’d proven as much the day before when he'd accused me of snooping around to find out who he was.
I yanked open the passenger side door and said, "I'm taking you home. You have as long as it takes for us to get there to explain what the fuck happened yesterday." I didn't give Lex a chance to respond before I slammed the door shut and stomped around the front of the truck. I wanted to kick my own ass for having given in to this man yet again. I tried to tell myself I was just giving him a ride home so he wouldn't freeze to death on my stoop, but it was impossible to deny the fact that I really did want to know why he’d turned on me like he had.
I got back into the truck and threw it in gear. I waited only long enough for Brewer to jump in the back and then I took off. I expected Lex to launch into a long-winded explanation, but he merely sat as still as a stone in the passenger seat. I almost reminded him that his time was ticking down but then I remembered I wasn't supposed to care.
"It's the world in general," Lex said softly after what had to have been a good minute of silence. I glanced at him but saw that he was staring straight ahead. I knew well enough what he was talking about because I remembered every part of our conversation from the day before.
"Unless you're one of those lucky foster kids who find your forever family the first time out, you learn pretty quick not to trust anyone. Especially the grown-ups, even though they all tell you that you can trust them. Just like they all tell you that things will be different and how happy they are to have you in their family. It took me a while to figure out that grown-ups don't always tell the truth. What didn't take me a while was learning that I had absolutely no say in any of it. Anyway, you weren't asking about that. You wanted to know about trust. I trust my brothers. That's it. Absolute, unconditional trust? That's for my brothers and no one else."
It was hard to keep my attention on the road as Lex spoke because I really wanted to see the emotion on his face since his voice had fallen flat. But I didn't interrupt or ask questions because we had just a few minutes left, and I wanted as many details as I could get.
"I made my first million when I was twenty-two. And it wasn't just a million. It was more like ten. The year after that it was a hundred." Lex paused for a moment and then said, "There’s no class on how to deal with making a shit ton of money after you've grown up without any. Spending the money is easy, of course, but all the stuff that comes with it…” Lex let out a small laugh. “I know this sounds like some poor little rich boy thing—”