That's how Ben had ended up here. Drinking and driving. They'd told him for years to stop but he didn't care. He'd been arrested several times but somehow, he'd always get his license back. Then when he didn't, he'd drive anyway, railing against "the system" and saying that no one was going to tell him that he couldn't drive. Eventually, he'd hit someone while driving drunk and they'd died. He'd been sent here.
Now he wanted out.
Knox was against it. His father wasn't capable of remorse for his actions. He'd never had any before. He didn't learn from his mistakes. He didn't empathize with others. He was a goddamn sociopathic narcissist, and this was the best place for him.
Randy slapped Knox on the back again. "Come on, let's go join the others. Mom's been talking about you all day."
"I highly doubt that."
Alexa had never seemed all that fond of Knox when he was growing up. He'd lost count of the times she'd told him to leave the house and not to come back until bedtime. Apparently, he gave her a headache.
Now as an adult, he didn't think that was the case. He was pretty sure it wasn't him that did that. It was the gin. That was her drink of choice because she thought others couldn't smell it on her. She was wrong.
"Is she here with Rock?"
Rock was Alexa's man friend of sorts. They'd been together for many years, and he seemed to drift in and out of her life whenever it suited him. Knox had known him since he was twenty but he still didn't know the guy's real first name. Everyone called him Rock.
Randy didn't have to answer the question because Knox could clearly see his mother and her shady boyfriend standing in the corner of the large room. At seventy Alexa looked a decade older, lines deeply embedded around her eyes and mouth, and Rock didn't look much better, although he still had a few pounds of muscle packed onto his large frame.
The better question was why Alexa was here at all. She and his father had been divorced for years. Ben was on his fifth wife, a lovely woman named Patty who was also in the room waiting for the hearing. If asked, Alexa would say she was here to support her children, but Knox had a gut feeling that she'd never quite got over her first love.
His older brothers Cal and Roman were talking to Rock and Alexa, but Roman excused himself and hurried over to Knox.
"You made it. We were beginning to worry about you."
I drove slow because I didn't want to be here.
"To be honest I'm still not sure why we're all here anyway."
"To show support," Roman replied quietly. "That we believe in Dad's rehabilitation."
"But I don't believe in it and if you're honest, you don't believe in it either."
"People can change," Randy argued, also keeping his voice low. "Everyone deserves a second chance."
"I wholeheartedly agree," Knox said. "But how many chances has Dad had? About a million? He's blown through them all and doesn't give a shit."
Cal joined the group, a scowl on his face. "Then why are you even here then?"
Sadly, his brother took after their father. Women, booze, gambling, and who knows what else. Cal was the center of his own universe and everyone existed to simply orbit around him. Knox kept his distance as much as possible. His brother destroyed pretty much everything around him without a thought or care in the world.
"Because Randy asked me to be here," Knox replied evenly. "I'm here for him, not for Dad."
That scowl didn't budge, only deepening. Cal jerked his head toward Alexa. "What about Mom? Aren't you here for her too? This has been really hard on her."
Knox was used to being the black sheep of the family. The scapegoat. Everyone blamed him for whatever was going wrong in their life even if he was a thousand miles away. Cal, on the other hand, had always been the golden child. He'd never done anything wrong in their parents' eyes.
Knox's gaze traveled to his mother who had lit a cigarette and was sitting in one of the metal folding chairs. "I can see that it's been hard on her. I can also see how she's handled it. Her face is bright red from the gin."
"It was just one to help calm her down," Cal said, but Knox had already brushed past his siblings and walked up to his mother.
"You can't smoke in here, Mom. This is a no smoking building."
Her eyes narrowed and she swayed slightly in her chair, not answering right away as if she had to figure out who the hell he was before she did.
"It's just one cigarette," she finally said. "It's not hurting anyone."
Rules were always for other people. That's what Knox had learned from her and Ben when he was growing up.
"For Christ's sake, put it out before they march you outside," he growled. "For once, can't you just do what you're supposed to?"
Rock stepped forward. "Your mother–"
Knox didn't give a shit what Rock thought.
"Just put it out. You can smoke later."
Stomping away, Knox didn't spare a glance over his shoulder. This was why he didn't spend time with his family.
"I see you're your usual charming self," Patty said as she joined him, giving him a hug.
