“And when you do shit like this, it makes me wonder if I can trust you,” I snapped. My anger wasn’t entirely for Brock, but he got the brunt of it, seeing as my mother was not around. She and I would have words. How dare she keep something like this from me for seventeen years!
If she hadn’t gotten involved with Steven and the Elite hadn’t investigated Angie’s past, Grayson and I might never have known the truth.
Fuck that.
The first time I’d learned about the Elite digging into my family, I’d been livid. But now… a part of me was grateful. “Does Kenna know?”
Brock shook his head. “Not yet. And Grayson wants to keep it that way for now. She is finally in a good place. Kenna isn’t as strong as you. He doesn’t want to risk sending her spiraling again,” he explained as my eyes continued to scan the documents, reading the words but not comprehending.
I remembered what Mads had told me about Grayson’s sister. She’d suffered from depression long before Carter came into the mix. The way Brock spoke about her made Kenna seem like a fragile doll about to break. But this was my sister too. He couldn’t keep me away from her. I realized how much I wanted to meet her. My cheek frozen from the ice pack, I pushed the folder toward the center of the table. I’d read enough. “I don’t know what to say. Or how I’m supposed to feel. I need to talk to my mom.”
“No,” Brock snapped, surprising me. His hand closed over mine where it lay on the table. “Not yet.”
“Why? Because of Carter?” I guessed. With all this talk of triplet stuff and the shots I’d taken, the incident with Carter seemed as if it happened months ago instead of just an hour.
Brock screwed the top back onto the bourbon bottle, indicating we were done drinking. “Partially,butmostly because of the Edwardses. And you,” he added. “This has to be overwhelming for you, and I can’t imagine what you’re feeling, but we need to be careful with this information. If we expose what Angie did, she will go to jail.” He didn’t bother to hide the disdain he felt for Angie, or that he thought she belonged behind bars.
My feelings were a fucking mess. On one hand, anger festered inside me, aimed at Angie. She had taken me from my family, pretended to be my mother, and yet, she never really loved me. Not like a mother should. I could see that now, and it finally made sense.
All this time I just thought I was a disappointment to her. I couldn’t understand how we could be so different.
This wasn’t supposed to be my life.
“You need to be sure you’re ready for the consequences,” Brock reasoned.
“What am I supposed to do then?”
“Business as usual,” he stated, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms over his chest.
I had gone seventeen years without knowing about Kenna and Grayson. How much longer would I have to wait? “What about Grayson? Are things going to be weird with us now?” Did I want to pursue a relationship with Grayson as my brother? Did he want to? Before tonight, I would have said hell no. Grayson had shown no real interest in me other than annoyance. Had that changed?
Would he continue to look at me and see his sister? Could he get past it? Before tonight, I would have said hell no.
Something flashed in his eyes. Regret? Pain? “I don’t know. Give him some time to cool down,” he replied. “Grayson is all messed up in the head right now after what happened tonight. He’s had it rough the last few years and I think seeing you with Carter snapped part of the grudge he’s been holding on to. He has a sister he adores and would do anything to protect. He is all mixed up about you.”
“He isn’t the only one.” Perhaps Grayson and I had more in common than just DNA.
Brock snorted, shaking his head. “The two of you are so much alike.”
Wasn’t that the definition of triplets? It finally made sense why Kenna and I looked freakily alike. The worse part for me was the chance to grow up with my sister had been stripped away from me.
I dropped my head, refusing to admit how much it hurt having the Elite keep secrets from me, knowing they still didn’t trust me, not completely. I’d been willing to put myself on the line to take Carter down, not just for my safety but for the Elite as well. “It’s been a long night. I think I’d like to lie down.” And be alone with my thoughts. Brock had a way of scrambling my brain; add in the shots, and I might forget that I was just here to sleep.
“Do you need to let anyone know where you are?” he asked.
I shook my head. How pathetic. But then I remembered.
Mads!
Dropping the ice pack, I reached around to my back pocket. I had to text her, let her know I didn’t get murdered. I leaned slightly to the side, my fingers sliding into the pocket as I fished for my phone.Shit! My fucking phone.Memories I wanted to suppress came flooding to the surface. I had dropped my phone on the floor in the back of Carter’s car. “Son of a bitch,” I mumbled.
My forehead thumped against my palm as I groaned. I had no hope of ever seeing it again, meaning I had to ask Angie for a new cell phone and come up with a lie for how I lost it. Though, I hadn’t yet made up my mind on whether or not I’d try to plead with Angie to take my side for once—to believe me. Most sane people would tell their mother that their stepbrother had kidnapped them, held a knife to their throat, and assaulted them.
I wasn’t most people.
And neither was Angie.
She wouldn’t believe me, and if she did, she’d be more concerned about her newly acquired status, protecting the Patterson family name, keeping her closet filled with designer clothes, and hiding her own secrets. I was far down on Angie’s list of important shit.