Tanner, Keller, and Asa nod, telling me I’m good to talk about what really happened instead of the legal jargon we were told as a family unit to say. The three or four guys who went along with my brother and his hairbrained scheme were let go with a severance package and a non-disclosure agreement.
“First, I’m going to tell you when I met Leena, I had no idea who she was. The few emails I saw between her and my brother were all I saw of her. The only people I really dealt with face-to-face were Tanner and Keller. It wasn’t until I saw everything printed out on our marriage license that it all came together like a puzzle, the pieces fitting inside the border.” I take a deep breath before continuing, “I told her what happened, laid it all out, and gave her the details I’m about to give you. She still said yes, and I’m thankful as hell she did. And I hope this doesn’t get around either. The incident at Hart Construction sadly wasn’t the only one, and it took a lot of water to put out the fires.”
“Well, then, you know he’s a decent guy,” Asa responds.
“That’s yet to be seen,” Keller implies. I take a sip of my beer, wishing like hell it were a shot of bourbon.
“Yeah, well, no one knows an addict is spiraling until it’s too late. My brother, Elijah, we didn’t know he had a problem until his now ex-wife came to us letting us know she had a loan shark show up at their front doorstep while she was shuffling the kids out to school. Thankfully, Maya knows we’re her family since the pieces of shit she has by blood are worthless. Anyways, after the kids were at school, Maya called my parents, who then called me. We all met at the shop, and she let me know what was going on. What we didn’t know was that he mortgaged the house to the hilt. It was paid off, so Maya had no idea what was going on. Dad and I took off while Mom assured my sister-in-law things would be taken care of. Apparently, gambling wasn’t all he was doing. Cocaine and pills are his vice, and gambling was helping fuel the addiction. And within the next week of finding out that my brother was living a double life, job sites started calling in. So, I took the bull by the horns, went to all the places we had contracts with, figured out what was happening, and the rest, well, you know what happened. I’m not expecting you to understand; it would be hard to if you didn’t have someone you loved in active addiction. Right now, he seems to be in a decent place, but for how long, we never know. Some weeks, Elijah is present. More times than not, well, he’s not. I can tell you that he’s no longer allowed on job sites or on our payroll.”
This time, I do take a long drink of my beer, finishing it in one glug, not caring what they think of me. It can’t be any worse than what they thought anyways, and judging by the stone-cold silence, I’d say it’s not going to be good. That’s okay, though; they know the truth. It’s up to them now.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
leena
“I’m done. These men in my life are going to make me go gray before I’m thirty years old. Selfish little turds.” We’ve been inside the house. Mom is with Jace in his dedicated play area that she keeps for him. Montana, Alana, and Marlie are sitting with me in the kitchen when I announce what I’m doing.
“Try living with one of them,” Alana says about Keller.
“Been there, done that. No thanks.” At least she wasn’t around when my brothers were of the stinky variety, giving noogies, and being gross.
“I bet they were still hot. Asa at least,” Montana pipes up.
“Okay, leaving now. This is going to make me gag if it goes too much further.” My back is already turned towards them. The house is set up so the back patio is right off the eat-in kitchen table. A few steps, and I’m opening the sliding glass door.
“Fuck.” Tanner’s head is dipped low, Decker looks like defeated, Keller is hard to read, Dad is grinning, and Asa is sitting beside my husband with a beer up to his mouth, so he’s hard to read. It doesn’t matter, though; I’m going to stand by Decker through thick and thin.
“Hey.” His voice gives away to the tiredness I’m sure he feels after dealing with all the drama today.
“You okay?” I ignore my family, fully intent on making sure Decker’s okay.
“Yeah, baby, I am.” He pushes his chair out, making room for me to sit on his lap. I’m sure my brothers will have something to say about that. Honestly, though, who cares? We have this one life to live, and that’s what I’m going to do. Decker presses a kiss to my forehead. A throat clearing interrupts our moment, annoying me, and I make it known.