He leaned in. “When?”
“The day we came up for air.”
He grinned, but his thoughts turned back to his dad.
“They looked very comfortable together,” I said.
He leaned back in his chair. “So Declan and my dad are getting chummy.”
“I thought Declan didn’t like your dad.”
“Declan likes anyone who keeps him in drugs, alcohol and pus—” Brock grinned. “Chicks.”
“That explains why Declan is hanging with your dad, but what’s your dad getting out of it?”
“That’s a damn good question,” Brock said. And though I could see he was still thinking about it, he stood and pulled me from my chair and into the stacks.
If I had known then what would happen next, I would have never let him go.
Chapter Eight
Brock
A perfect storm is described as a critical end culminating from a number of negative and unpredictable factors. On paper, it doesn’t seem all that dire, but in reality, it’s devastating, life changing. The day of my perfect storm started like any other. Cedar was staying after at school to work on a project for her metals’ class. I told her I’d swing by and pick her up after my shift. We were going to watch a movie at her house.
Harry was working, both of us focused on the cars in our bays. I hadn’t seen Declan; I was avoiding him. I didn’t know what the hell he was doing with my dad, but I knew it wasn’t good. I wasn’t getting pulled into it, wasn’t going to let anything happen to ruin the life Cedar and I were so close to starting together. So when Declan appeared at the garage, I was on edge…waiting for the fucking other shoe to drop.
“You’ve been avoiding me,” Declan accused.
“What are we dating?” I shot back.
“You seriously picking a chick over me?” he asked, moving into my space.
I wasn’t taking the bait because if I did, it would only make Cedar more interesting to him. Because whatever else he was playing, he had always coveted what I had.
“She must have a golden pussy.”
My hands fisted, but I ignored him.
“Or maybe she likes sucking cock.”
I inhaled, my jaw clenching, my body bracing for a fight. For all I knew, my dad put him up to this, had someone getting it on tape, so he could have me arrested for assault…anything to keep me from leaving town.
“I got a cock she can suck. It’s not like we haven’t shared before.”
My punch broke his fucking nose. He fell back on his ass, shook his head to clear the stars then charged me. He got in a few punches. I got in more. Harry broke us up.
“Enough,” he roared. He grabbed Declan by the shoulder. “Get the fuck out of here.”
Declan wiped at his nose and leveled hard eyes on me. “You haven’t won.”
I hadn’t won? Oh, yeah, I fucking had. “You’re wrong,” I said.
He actually grinned when he said, “We’ll see about that.”
He walked out while I stood fuming, so getting the call from my mother, only minutes later, did not help my mood. Looking back on it, I shouldn’t have taken it. Hindsight being what it was, that was the string that, when pulled, set the rest of what happened in motion. It would be years and years later when I would accept that had I not taken that call, I wouldn’t have changed the outcome, just postponed the tragedy, one that would have likely hit me even closer to home.
Harry answered the phone. “It’s your mom.”
I heard the skepticism in his voice because, since I’d come to live with him, I hadn’t heard shit from either of my parents. I took the phone; we shared a look, before I said into it, “Yeah.”
“I need to see you.” It was the thread of fear I heard in her voice that weakened me, called to the very small part of me that wanted a relationship with my parents. Maybe not like what Cedar shared with hers, but something. I had plans with Cedar tonight. I wasn’t changing them so I said, “I’ll stop by tomorrow.”
“Could you come now?” Her voice broke before she practically begged. “Please.”
It hit me then. I wasn’t there. Had my dad started taking his rage out on her? My mom had never been a mom, but a man should never raise his fists to a woman. “I’m on my way.”
Before I even hung up, Harry questioned me, “You sure that’s a good idea?”
“She sounds scared.”
“Let me come with you then.”
It meant a lot that he offered, but I didn’t want to drag him into the bullshit that was the Callahan family drama. “I’m okay, but thanks.”
He didn’t like it, but he didn’t argue. “You need me, I’m a call away.”
“Thanks.”
I reached my car just as Dax and some of his brothers were rolling in. “Want to talk to you,” he said.
“I’m heading home. Think my mom’s in trouble.”
Dax said nothing, that hard gaze on me, just before he gave me a chin lift.
I second-guessed what I was doing, voluntarily going into the lion’s den, but when I reached home, my dad’s car wasn’t there. I pulled into the driveway then into one of the garages, the action so second nature to me.
When I entered the house, it was quiet. The lights weren’t on; the blinds were drawn. There was a smell to the place…stuffy; the morbid thought hit me that it smelled liked a tomb.
“Mom,” I called out.
No answer. I walked into the living room, saw the half-drunk bottle of wine on the table, an empty glass next to it, but my mom wasn’t there. What the fuck?
I called out again but was only answered with silence. Fuck this. I turned to leave and that was when I felt the sharp pain explode in my head, as my legs went weak and I dropped to my
