by Cora Brent
“Thanks, princess. Always my hero.”
My dad said things like that all the time. He meant them too, always trying to let me know how much he appreciated my help. He was a good guy.
“You’re welcome,” I told him and rubbed my arms. They were covered with long sleeves despite the summer heat. Roe caught me doing it and gave me a sharp look that turned to pained sadness. I stopped. No one else noticed. Even if they had they wouldn’t have thought anything of it. I was proud of that in a way, sick as it was. It was a terrible talent, being able to hide awful things from the people who loved you.
Con still wasn’t answering his phone. Roe hung around until the light started growing soft, then reluctantly packed up her car. For all the luxury that awaited her, Roe was never excited to go home. Before she climbed behind the wheel she turned to me and opened her arms.
“Better days are coming,” she said in my ear as she hugged me tight.
I hugged her back. “For both of us,” I promised.
She pulled away and looked straight into my eyes. “You know, if there’s ever anything you don’t want to handle alone, I’d drop everything and get here.”
Roe didn’t say things like that just to say them. The biggest bank account on earth couldn’t buy that kind of loyal friendship.
“I know,” I said. “But I’m fine. I swear.”
She glanced over at the empty silence of Con’s house. “Be careful among those Gentry boys,” she warned with a wink as she ducked into her car.
I waved and then stuck my hands on my hips. “Maybe they should be careful around me.”
“Thanks again for my crystal.”
“You need to hang it in your bedroom window. Remember the legend; if you catch a rainbow in your palm all your dreams will come true.”
“Love you, sis!” she shouted as she pulled away. Roe didn’t have any blood sisters and had decided at least a decade ago that she would adopt me into the role.
I was still standing by the curb when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I whipped it out with a smile, expecting Conway, but instead it was a text from Courtney Galicki. She pretended to be more of an airhead than she really was and was always too quick to gossip, but she was okay. She’d been hooking up with Stone on and off for a while now and that made me feel a little sorry for her because she obviously liked him more than it was healthy to like Stone Gentry.
I stared at the words on my screen but they didn’t make sense to me. Actually, they did make sense, but it was a bad kind of sense. I didn’t have the patience to be texting back and forth about something like this so I called Courtney directly. I listened to the breathless story she told me.
By the time I hung up I was silently cursing the boy next door.
CHAPTER SIX
CONWAY
We were quite a pair of lucky bastards.
Gaps made sure we knew it. I could tell he felt bad even as he was hauling us in. About a year ago he started coming around the house, spending a lot of time with our mother. She used him for an ego boost and some fancy restaurant dinners before dropping him like bad meat. But Gaps wasn’t the sort to hold a grudge and he always nodded in our direction when he saw us around town.
Apparently the family connection went deeper than a short affair with our mother. He stopped by our cell, explaining in hushed whispers how he was still buddies with the legendary Deck Gentry and had promised to keep an eye on us.
Stone raised an eyebrow at that and we’d glanced at each other with an unspoken acknowledgement. It was another piece of evidence that we were fathered by one of those wild desert Gentrys instead of the steadfast Elijah. This wasn’t the time to start musing over that possibility though. Not when we were behind bars, our stomachs growling and our pulses racing.
Gaps told us a little small town nepotism could come in handy sometimes. He had a relative who was a judge and Deck was owed a lot of favors for things I couldn’t begin to guess. All that added up to a break for us, as long as someone showed up at the Emblem jail with a stack of green paper. I almost despaired over hearing that because even if my mother had the money I doubted she would part with it for our sake.
It turned out she wouldn’t need to. Even though Gaps hadn’t been able to reach Deck, he’d talked to Cordero, one of the triplet cousins I barely remembered. They’d lived way out in the desolate hinterlands of outer Emblem, where most of the Gentrys had squatted and lived and died for generations. There were still some left; chronic troublemakers who had made our last name a local curse. Cord and his brothers, Chase and Creed, had famously run out of town the first chance they got but their parents remained. I saw them sometimes – ruined Maggie and violent Benton. If rumors of our parentage had ever reached Benton’s ears he never showed it, thank god. Everything I’d ever heard about him pointed to a brutal man I’d rather not know.
Stone and I practically leapt out of the cage as soon as Gaps unlocked the door. He told us to keep quiet and ushered us out the back way, where there were no curious staff or visitors to wonder why we deserved such a quick, unofficial release.
They were waiting for us. The triplets. I remembered them as being larger than life; three rowdy teens who didn’t give a shit about rules or reason. The men who waited for us now were serious and almost parental. They checked us out, raised eyebrows at each other, and smirked. After all these years I felt something like awe, being face to face with them again.
“Shit,” I blurted out, “it’s the famous triplets.” I moved in to shake their hands even as Stone stood silently back. “How the hell are ya?”
The one who was covered in tattoos and had already confirmed that he was Cordero thought I was funny.
“Famous,” he exclaimed. “Hey guys, did you know we were famous?”
I couldn’t help it. The hero worship was setting in. When Stone and I were little we used to pretend we were the Gentry triplets. We were forever rotating which one and it never seemed to occur to us that we were one brother short of the trifecta. I poked Stone in the side to shake him into remembering but he just scowled at me and jerked his head like he did when he was showing off that he didn’t care about a fucking thing.
“It’s true,” I told them. “You’re legends in the stuffy halls of Emblem High, even after all these years.”
Chasyn, the last one to shake my hand, snorted over that. “All these years. Such ancient history. Predates electricity.”
I couldn’t tell if he was really offended or not.
“Yeah,” I finally said, just because I felt like I needed to say something.
Creedence, the big guy, snapped his fingers at us. He was the one who seemed the least excited to be here. No wonder. I knew they lived somewhere up in the valley outside Phoenix and they probably had far better things to do with their Friday night than drive all the way down here for the sake of two kids they hadn’t seen in a decade.
“Let’s move out,” he said with all the militant command of a drill sergeant. He stepped aside to say a few words to Gaps, who glanced at a fat envelope in his chubby hands and nodded before clearing his throat and looking our way.
“Don’t do this shit again,” he warned, and even though I didn’t have anything against Gaps I couldn’t help but feel laughter bubbling up. Some men were born with the aura of authority and the rest weren’t. Gaps wasn’t. But I tried to be serious when I answered.
“Of course not, Officer. We’re sorry. I don’t know what we were thinking. Stone, do you know what we were thinking?”
“Sure,” said Stone easily. “I was thinking about how much hot ass I was gonna get out of this.”
I shot him a look. No good would come out of mouthing off right now. “He didn’t mean that.”
My stupid brother kept right on going. “Yeah I meant it. When girls get close to trouble they just can’t seem to keep their tits contained. Hell of an incentive.”
“Shut the fuck up,” I hissed with a quick glance at Gaps, but Gaps was shaking with silent laughter.
/>
“Gentrys,” he chuckled, then told our cousins they were free to do with us as they pleased.
Stone, the perennial moron, shook free of Creed’s firm grip and decided to get a parting shot in at Gaps by lying that our mother was hoping he’d start coming around again. Gaps looked all sadly hopeful for a painful moment before Stone started laughing.
“That was fucked up,” I told him.
Stone grabbed me around the neck. He was too damn strong. “Did I hear you tell me to shut up in there, you little puke?”
I’d had about enough of my brother’s cynical company so I answered by head butting him against the side of the jail.
“Fucker,” Stone howled, trying to get under my armpits so he could throw me off.
“Dick breath,” I growled and took aim again.
Creedence lost his patience and tore us apart. He’d make a much more effective cop than Gaps. I was secretly pleased when the guys insisted on driving us home. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to them yet. Chase even got his way over cranky Creedence and arranged for us to stop and get some of those gut-busting cheeseburger hot dogs always on the heater at the gas station.
Cordero was quiet and mild-mannered. He was friendly but didn’t seem to know what to do with us. Creed made it clear he was just going to grumble all the livelong day. But Chase was cool. He asked us questions and listened to the answers. A high school teacher with a beautiful longtime girlfriend he adored, he was funny as hell and didn’t seem put out at all by hanging around with us.
Creed pulled into the station beside a gas pump and Cord hung back with his brother while Chase followed us inside the tiny convenience store attached to the gas station. He bought us whatever we wanted and we all staggered out the door loaded with junk food and soda.
“Hey, it’s the Jailbird Gentrys!”
“How was that hard time, boys?”
“Looks like they’re having some trouble walking.”
There was a crowd of them. The Cortez brothers were hamming it up with a gross pantomime of prison rape. Courtney and her idiot gal pals were squealing and waving. Then Erin came running out of the darkness. I pushed my food on Stone and held my arms out, feeling bad that I hadn’t had a chance to let her know what was going on. Obviously someone had though. She wouldn’t have been hanging out with that crowd otherwise. Erin didn’t have much tolerance for our pranks and that had always widened the rift between her and Stone. But as she ran toward me, her long hair swinging behind her, there was nothing in her face but relief and happiness.
She jumped into my arms and wrapped herself around me. “I missed you so much,” she whispered breathlessly. We hadn’t seen each other since last night and since she lived right next door it wasn’t often that we went a full twenty four hours without a kiss.
“I missed you too, baby,” I told her, now pissed at myself for doing something so stupid that I’d risked causing her a moment of worry. I found her lips and made them mine, blocking out all noise and light as I kissed her with all the passion I could spare. Let Stone and the others laugh and scoff. I knew everything about this girl and she knew everything about me. More than anything, I knew what was real and what wasn’t. Erin was real.
She was shy when I introduced her to my cousins. She would have heard of them since I wasn’t lying when I said the Gentry triplets were legendary. But I doubted she’d ever met them before they left Emblem. I caught Stone’s questioning look when Erin mentioned that she was trying to get me to go with her to Arizona State next year. We hadn’t really talked about it, and sometimes I didn’t know if I was the type who was really cut out for college. But if it meant making Erin happy then I would at least try.
Stone recovered right away and made a crack about joining us in the world of higher education. Erin snapped back at him and then the two of them had a few harsh words for each other until Stone narrowed his eyes and started advancing.
“I don’t drag Con into jack shit, sweetheart. Your golden boy can manage his own life, no matter how much time you waste trying to convince him otherwise.”
That got me riled up enough to interfere.
“Hey,” I warned, glaring. “Knock it off, Stone. You don’t mean it.”
Stone cocked his head and gazed at me flatly. “I don’t mean it,” he shrugged.
The triplets dropped us off at our house. There were no lights on, which was a relief. The last thing I was in the mood to deal with was a lengthy tongue lashing by our loving mother. I knew I deserved it. I just wasn’t in the mood for it.
Stone jumped out of the truck first and said something to the triplets that I didn’t catch before he ambled over to the sidewalk and waited.
I held Erin’s hand as I walked over to the side of the truck. I wanted to let the brothers know how much we appreciated the fact that they came down here for us. I also wanted to let them know that I wouldn’t mind seeing them again. I cleared my throat, feeling weirdly nervous. “My brother’s not really good at gratitude but believe me, we’re both glad you showed up.”
“Not a problem, man,” said Cord.
“You get those grades up,” Chase called from the backseat. “Next thing I want to hear about you is that you’re heading up to Tempe.”
I grinned. “I will.”
And maybe I would. You never know what the future could hold.
Creed leaned out of his window suddenly. “Stay out of trouble,” he said gravely. “Don’t do anything you can’t undo.” He jerked his head at Stone. “That goes for you too. I know you heard me.”
“I heard you,” Stone answered.
As soon as the brothers pulled away a light came on at Erin’s house. Mr. Rielo’s tired figure filled the doorway.
“Erin,” he called with a trace of irritation. “Say goodnight now.”
Erin’s little sister Katie appeared in a pink princess nightgown. She giggled and waved.
Erin kissed me quickly on the lips, looking embarrassed. She would hate this, being responsible for making her father worry and wait up for her. I hated it too. If I hadn’t been so hell bent on proving I could be a bigger badass than my brother then the night would have been a lot more peaceful for everyone.
“Good night, Erin,” Stone called with mock sincerity. I scowled at him. He needed to stop doing that, putting such a sarcastic show. It wasn’t a crime to care about people’s feelings.
Erin whirled around, glared at him for a long, silent moment, then followed her father and sister into the house.
Stone chuckled and prodded me toward the front door. “You have your key? I didn’t leave the window open.”
“No.” I kneeled on the bed of river rocks underneath the kitchen window and started turning over their smooth egg shapes until I found what I was looking for. Stone was right there, swiping the key as soon as I had it in my hand.
“At least we won’t have any unhappy middle aged people waiting up for us,” he said lightly.
No one besides me would have caught the edge beneath his words. Stone had a tough skin but he could be hurt. I knew that. I remembered the look of grief in his eyes as he watched the cuffs circle my wrists and the way he’d reached for me in the back of the police cruiser. A big brother, trying to comfort his little brother. I clapped a hand on his shoulder, feeling affectionate.
“At least there’s that,” I agreed.
We were both wrong though. The kitchen lights were dark but the room wasn’t empty.
“Welcome home,” she snapped and flipped a switch.
I rubbed my eyes, briefly blinded by the glare and when my vision cleared my mother was giving me her best impression of a fire-breathing dragon. She’d probably been sitting at the table for a while, judging by the nearly empty bottle of red wine in front of her.
“Hey, ma,” Stone answered gleefully and kissed her dry cheek before heading out of the room.
My mother slammed a palm on the table. The bottle of wine fell over.
“Get back here, Stonewall!” She was bre
athing fast, like she’d just run a fifty yard sprint. Anger could do that I guess, take your breath away. And this was about as angry as I’d ever seen her. No matter how big a guy gets there’s something uniquely cringe-worthy about standing underneath the cloud of your mother’s fury and waiting for the storm to break.
She waited until Stone had quietly rejoined my side. No one noticed when I reached out and righted the fallen wine bottle. A red puddle bled off the edge of the table and dripped silently on the floor.
“I’ve had it,” my mother hissed with venomous finality. She pushed herself to standing position and even though she was nearly a foot shorter than either of us it seemed she was ten feet tall as she said terrible things. “You know what it’s like for me? To break my back every day keeping a roof over your heads, trying just to get through another fucking shift at the pharmacy so I can go back tomorrow and do the same thing? There I was tonight, feet aching, head throbbing, watching the clock and praying it moves just a little fast when Ginny Brant comes running in to tell me that my sons, my sons, have been arrested for stealing a car, racing it like maniacs and then crashing into a canal.” A string of saliva shot out from her lips and collected on her chin. She wiped it away angrily before continuing. When she did she practically choked on her own words. “You’re no good, either of you. The worst of the Gentry blood is too thick. No effort to give you a decent life is going to change that. I tried. Elijah tried.” She shook her head miserably. “I should have known better.”
Stone sighed with exasperation. “For god’s sake ma, it’s not like we’re serial killers. We do dumb shit sometimes and we’re sorry.”
My mother sniffed. “You don’t care who you hurt.”
“I’m sorry,” I said quietly and her eyes snapped sharply to me.
“You especially,” she whispered. “There’s nothing worse than what you come from.”
“We come from here!” Stone yelled. “We come from you!” He raked a hand through his hair, muttered a curse and then slumped against the counter. The tears in my eyes were unfamiliar. I cried about as often as I played chess. In other words, just about never. But even that was more emotion than Stone was ever willing to part with. It hurt, seeing him on the verge of breaking down, and knowing it was all my fault.