“What?” he asks me, confused.
“Happiness. You should try it more often.”
“I would if I was around the person who brought it out of me more.” Sometimes his honesty and bluntness take me by surprise still. “Think about that, Cambree.”
“Yeah, you will be busy with figuring this mess out, and I am going to be busy trying to get my life on track.”
“Never too busy for you.” Again, he is quick to the point. “Quit fighting it, we were once good together.
When I don’t answer him, he leaves it alone. We pull up to the farmhouse and Amelia rushes out. She gets one look at me and pulls me into her for a hug only a surrogate grandmother can give. Tight, close, and nearly smothering me in her boobs. She is speaking in her native language, and to this day I still don’t know a word.
About that time, Brielle and Addison arrive with Colby’s parents. Max starts helping them unload a few suitcases and boxes. Most of my stuff was left back in the apartment at school. I can always send for it later. Hell, when things settle down maybe we can make a girls road trip out of it.
Once all my stuff is taken up to my old room, I assume Max is leaving. I decide to get it over with and thank him. Believe it or not, politeness was taught to me. When I go looking for him, I am surprised to find him in conversation with my sisters like they don’t have anywhere to be. “Hey, sorry to break up this hen party, but don’t you have kids to raise?” I look to Max, “Don’t you have bad guys to catch?” He just shrugs my question off and goes back to talking with my sisters.
I stand there for about a second. “Hello? Anyone hear me?”
Brielle looks to me. “Rude much?”
Addison shakes her head and looks to Max, “We just don’t know where we went wrong with her.” I know she is teasing because she can barely hold back her laughter.
“Well, if you have some time today, I could give you a list,” Max says to Addison. My mouth falls open. I can’t believe he thinks I have faults. “Stubborn would be at the top of my list, but then I think she gets that trait honestly.” He looks between all of us.
Addison high fives him, and Brielle laughs at his true assessment. So I have one sister laughing like they are best friends and another acting like they are in the locker room high fiving and congratulating him. I would like to high five them all . . . in the face . . . with a cast iron skillet. I don’t know that coming home is going to help me keep a clean criminal record. I am picturing my rap sheet to be about five miles long by Christmas.
I just roll my eyes at them and go upstairs. Manners or not, they can all kiss my ass at the moment. A few minutes after, I threw myself across the bed dramatically and realize that wasn’t the smartest thing to do after getting attacked by grown ass men. My bedroom door opens, and it is Colby’s mom, Valerie, walking in. She stares at my face for a bit and then takes a seat next to me. She is everything I wish my own mother would be. Tucking my hair behind my ears, she asks, “What is really bothering you about that scene downstairs?”
She knows. She was the one person I confided in. There is something about having her around that makes me feel like I have a mom. I broke down in her arms the night it all ended with Max. Yet, I don’t know why I am so bothered with him and my sisters getting along. I honestly don’t know. I know I overreacted, which I tend to do a lot where Max is concerned, but seeing him with my sisters, bonding, like they didn’t really do when we were together, bothered me. It was like each part of our lives were separate, yet together. He wasn’t rude or anything with my family, but he wasn’t comfortable with them either. Same with my friends. Now, he wants to be in my life fully, but I know there is an ulterior motive. There has to be, because I fought for this so hard before, and the more I pulled, the more he pushed back.
Valerie must see the confusion because she answers for me. “I think it felt too right.” I shake my head at her. “Oh, sweet Cambree. You don’t see it. He is making an effort this time, because last time nothing fit. He wants to be a part of your life. I think last time he went into this with you, he wasn’t sure what would happen. This time, he is showing you in his own way that he is all in. And I think he is thinking getting your sisters on his side will help his cause. Foolish boy.” She laughs and shakes her head.
“What does that mean?” I ask her. I am so out of my element here.
“The reason you broke up before . . . the secrets?” I shake my head at her. “I really don’t think he did that intentionally. I don’t think he understood what this case and dating you would entail. He tried to keep them separate, and in doing so, made separate compartments for your relationship. You can’t do that. Your relationship has to flow over to all aspects of life. He realizes that now. I told you, you should have listened to him then. I think he realized it the day you walked away. He wasn’t just deceiving you, but himself as well.”
“I don’t understand,” I tell her honestly.
“You will in time. When you are ready. I am not saying your feelings aren’t significant, but you need to give everyone around you some leeway. We are all worried about you and what happened, and you will find us in your space, and that is selfish of us. We just need to make sure that you are here and safe. Can you give that to us, all of us, Max included?”
“I guess.” She stares at me for a long time.
“You know I am here, no matter what. You can talk to me. There is something else floating around in that mind of yours. I see it in your face. Don’t hold onto it, Cambree.”
“I won’t. I need to work some things out on my own for once. I need to feel like I can carry my own burdens, without someone trying to take that load from me. Everyone shelters me, or thinks I am weak. I don’t know if I can handle what has happened, but I won’t ever know unless someone tells me. I want to be a part of what is decided about Brent, I don’t want it decided for me. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I do. You are trying to become your own person, but in doing that don’t forget what family is for. There are no IOU’s in this family. All for one, and one for all,” she tells me proudly.
“Last time I checked, Valerie, we aren’t the Three Musketeers around here. For one, there are way too many of us, and second, I don’t see any of the men in this family wearing tights.” We are both laughing when Brielle walks in.
“Can I come to this party?” she asks looking at me.
“It is BYOB, so until you bring the right equipment, nope.”
“Until you turn twenty-one, I can’t,” she says.
“Yep, just like you.” I grin at her. “Good thing you weren’t at any of the parties at school, all those years of cheering and dance make keg stands a piece of cake,” I tell her. Semi-joking.
“Oh, wait until I tell Colby about this.” We all start laughing, knowing he will freak out. He still thinks of me at thirteen, but also anything I do, we tease him that Riley will do the same. “As long as you were being safe.” I know both she and Addison struggle with parental/sibling lines. They don’t expect me to not drink underage, fact of life. But they don’t necessarily want to hear about it.
“I was, I promise.”
Valerie stands. “I will leave you two, and go see what I can help with for dinner.”
Brielle adds, “Most importantly, keep Addison out of the kitchen.”
I can’t help but laugh. Valerie shakes her head at us. “Not nice, girls.” But it doesn’t work because she is fighting the laughter also. She has tasted Addison’s cooking and knows we aren’t joking. That shit could peel the paint off walls.
I look at Brielle knowing it is taking all her restraint to not jump right into what she came up here for.
“Did you need anything, big sis?”
“What is going on? What was that scene down there? You sure do have a flair for the dramatics.” I can’t help but laugh at her. I may even be crying from that statement.
“Cell phones? Orange jumpsuits? Any of this ring a bell? But I have a flair for dramatics.”
“I swear
you have the memory of an elephant, you always have. Seriously, spill it.” She is hopping around like a toddler doing the pee-pee dance.
“I don’t know what you mean. We have history, it bothers me he is here, now of all times. I don’t want him to feel obligated to be around.”
“That’s not fair,” she whines . . . yes, actually whines at me.
“I am not here out of obligation, I am here for you, even if you don’t need me or want me here.” I hear from his deep voice. I glance towards my door and see him leaning against it casually. Have you ever had that moment where you wish you had a superhero quality? Yeah, me too, and mine would be the power to fucking disappear right now.
“I am just going to go down and help with dinner. We are having your favorite, foot in mouth, you do it so well, and I hope I can do it justice.” If I didn’t think that bitch could take me, we would be having an all-out cat-fight right here. Instead, I do the mature thing and flip her off.
Max is just chuckling at our exchange. “Is it always like this?”
“Pretty much, depends on if Brielle has her weekend pass for leaving the insane asylum. That doesn’t always happen, and those are the pleasant weekends.”
Brielle is standing there with her mouth open. “I think I may have a tear in my eye, this is a proud moment. I have to go tell Addison, she will be pissed you are learning more from me than her.” She pumps her fist in victory as she races down the stairs.
“Welcome to my world. Please exit the ride to the left, and keep your hands and feet in the ride at all times.”
He is just grinning at me. Sad, he thinks I am joking. I stare at him with no amusement on my face. Maybe he will realize that this is calm for this clan. It is a wonder we didn’t go broke from all the therapy bills . . . oh wait, we are all like this because we didn’t have therapy.
“I am not joking, Max. Not even embellishing a little bit. I swear I was abducted at birth, and I just know my real family is out there, still searching for me. They are completely normal and sanity is something we haven’t had a lot of around here.”
He is dying laughing now. Bent over at the waist and doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. Why is this everyone’s reaction to my explanation for living with pure insanity? Do they not see I am the normal one?
Once he finally gains control of himself he says, “Camy, I hate to break it to you, but you are one of them. Tried and true. You can’t deny them, no matter how hard you try.”
Yeah, he gets flipped off, too. “I can’t help but pick up character traits from them, they raised me. What do you expect? It is classic nature versus nurture . . . and obviously in this case, nurture won out.”
He just shakes his head at me, disagreeing with me. “Back to this obligation comment.”
“We didn’t visit it to begin with, so there is no going back to it,” I evade.
“Well, let’s visit it.” Or not.
“Do we have to?” Oh God, I just totally did the Brielle whine.
“Back to the obligation thing,” he isn’t giving up.
I don’t know how he always makes me do what I don’t want to. “I haven’t really seen you for months, barely had communication with you, now in the last twenty-four hours we had an interrupted coffee meeting, you rescued me from being kidnapped, and you spent the night and drove me home. It just seems odd to me.”
“I will give you that; but remember, you stopped communication with me, I never stopped trying. You finally answered my text and agreed to meet me for coffee. And the correct term is date, not meeting. It was interrupted because once again, you jumped to conclusions and ran away. Also, let’s not forget the fact that I was supposed to be at UT with you, but you cut me out of that, too. Sometimes you hide so far in your head, I am surprised you can find your way out.”
Harsh much! I don’t know why he is getting pissed at me; he fucked my pseudo-best friend and then never told me about it. He lied about his schooling and job, and somehow this is my fault. Before I can tell him exactly that, he says, “Don’t even go there. I didn’t even know you when I hooked up with Kamryn. It was a one-night thing, and since the moment I laid eyes on you, I wasn’t with her. If you would have let me explain then you would have heard all this. Now, you don’t have a choice. We met in Myrtle Beach right before I moved in with Mitch. I admit it; we fucked. I never lied to you about my past and lack of relationships. I never claimed to live a celibate life. I had no clue who you were, who she was, or what we would become. Think about it logically, Cambree. I had no clue any of this was going to happen, but the only thing I would change is sleeping with her. Because not only would I still have you, but I could have kept you fucking safe.” I didn’t realize how close he moved to me during his speech. I notice now because my breath is coming out in pants, I am so turned on by him, I don’t know if I can speak, and all I want to do is pull him to me and let nature take its course. I won’t though. I have to be smart about it this time. The close proximity to him will be straining, and I am asking myself if I could get physical with him and not have my heart attached. I know the answer to that.
He still doesn’t get the main thing is the lies, and the lies by omission. They are one in the same as far as I am concerned. “Max, I get that . . . all of that. But what you are missing is that it isn’t the fact you slept with her, while that in itself is something that would have stopped me from being with you, but the fact you both plotted to hide it. Then I asked you so many times about your job and what you were helping Mitch with, and why if you had a job you were going back to school. None of the answers you gave me were honest. I poured my heart and soul out to you about what I had found out about Brielle and our parents. You saw what that did to me. Hell, you held me when I broke down, and not once did you think to tell me? You knew what would happen if I found out. So not only did you lie to me and willingly deceive me, you hurt me worse by letting me get close to you and thinking you were someone you weren’t. I gave you my virginity. I even told you I loved you. Granted, you never said it back, but what did you think would happen when I found out? If you thought I would be okay with any of it, then you didn’t know me at all.”
I watch him processing my words. His chest is heaving and he looks mad as hell. He has no right to be angry. What was done to him? He had his cake, ate it and still had fucking left overs, so he needs to get some tissues for whatever issues he thinks he is entitled to. He doesn’t get to share in the pain he caused, because this is on his shoulders. I don’t care if I sound like a spoiled brat. He hid things and made me look like a fool.
“Nothing to say, Max? You couldn’t be honest when we were together, but you can sure as hell sit down there and decide my future with my sisters. The attack happened to me. I lived through it. I know who is behind it and yet when I asked you in the hospital, you told me to rest. Well I am asking you now, what is going to happen?”
Chapter 13
Max
She is so damn frustrating, but what is worse is that she is right. I have no defense.
“I hid it from you and deceived you because I was selfish. Is that what you want to hear? I knew if I told you any of it, you would have walked away before I had a chance. Call me a bastard, a liar, but don’t ever tell me I didn’t care about your feelings. I struggled every day with my decisions. I never wanted you to find out any of it the way you did, and I am sorry for that. We don’t have much on the case. It happened less than seventy-two hours ago. The wheels of justice are slow. What I can tell you is he is a sick bastard, but that is nothing you don’t already know. I want to kill him with my bare hands for hurting you, for continuing to hurt your family. I don’t fucking know what will happen, and it frustrates me. Is that what you want to hear?”
“No, you didn’t want me to find out at all. Be honest for once. You would have been perfectly happy to let me keep living in my bubble. God, how naïve I must have seemed to you. You need to remember not everything is in your control, and I can handle a lot more than you gi
ve me credit for.”
“Stop,” I tell her. I am so close to losing my temper, and I need to walk away. “You are pushing my limits on patience right now, and obviously we aren’t getting anywhere. You refuse to listen, and I refuse to keep going in circles.”
“I refuse to listen? That is a joke. You refuse to hear my words, because they are the truth, and you sir, wouldn’t know the truth if it bit you in the ass.” I was waiting for her to bust out with SIR . . . YOU CANNOT HANDLE THE TRUTH. She loves quoting movies.
“Fine. You want to be right; you win. I was wrong, I am sorry I tried to be more to you. I am sorry I had feelings for you and wanted to keep you safe, and explore what was between us. I am sorry for all of it. There, does that make you happy?”
She can make me lose my temper more quickly than anybody I have ever met. She can also make me want things that I have never wanted . . . a future, in a committed relationship.
“Screw you, Max. I don’t need your permission to feel the way I do. I don’t need validation from you that I am right. As a matter of fact, I don’t need a damn thing from you. LEAVE!”
I look at her and see I have pushed her too far today. I am a selfish prick. She just got out of the hospital, and I immediately jump into this conversation. I do what she asks. I leave. As soon as I hit the bottom of the stairs, all eyes are on me. I flick my hand up in a wave to let them know I am out of there. I barely make it to the door before Brielle grabs my arm.
“She needs space, I get that. I have never heard her that heated, and she and Dustin used to go at it. That is a good thing; you make her feel. I have to tell you I am a bit disturbed about what I overheard, but that is up to you to fix. One thing, later tonight, let her know you are still thinking about her. She is pissed and hurt, but she still needs that from you, only if you are serious about still caring about her. If not, walk away, do your job, but keep your distance.”
I find myself telling Brielle, “I am serious. How do I let her know I care and want to be here, even when she drives me crazy?”
Parker Sibling Series Box Set Page 39