Wright Together, page 23
Bailey was comforting me. As if she had any idea what torment was going on in my mind. I couldn’t hold it back. Not anymore. My shell had cracked. And from the crack came a torrential downpour.
“I’ll have to call Wright Construction. They offered me my dream job, and I can’t work it remote.” I hiccuped. “I haven’t been on the job that long. They can…they can find someone new.”
Bailey frowned. “What dream job?”
“Piper and Blaire will have to fill my spot in the house. They probably know someone who needs a room. They take in people like stray cats.” I sniffled, scrubbing at my eyes. “It was nice to have friends though.”
“Friends,” Bailey whispered.
I nodded. “Yeah. I was on their soccer team. We were probably going to win the whole thing this season.”
“Eve…”
But I kept going. I couldn’t stop. Like a runaway train.
“And Whitt…”
Oh God, I couldn’t even say it. I had to say it.
“Well…I’ll have to break up with him.”
“What?” Bailey gasped. “Why? You could…you could do long-distance.”
I laughed. It was a raw, hoarse thing. “You don’t know Whitt. You met him once,” I said with another hysterical sniffle. “But you don’t know him. He’s…all control. And I walked away yesterday, saying I needed space to find you. Space nearly shattered his poor, precious heart. Moving away?” I shook my head. “He couldn’t take it, and he doesn’t deserve it. He deserves someone who will be there for him a hundred and ten percent, and how can I do that for him when I have to be here for you?”
And that was it, wasn’t it?
I had to be here.
Whitt had to be there.
It couldn’t work.
I sank onto the floor of my sister’s bedroom, resting my back against the wall. I dropped my head between my knees and cried. Not pretty crying. Just great, heaving sobs. Tears streaming down my face. My pain coming so quick and so fast that I couldn’t suck in enough air. In a matter of seconds, I was hyperventilating.
Bailey stood, paralyzed before me, fear in her expression. She’d never seen me like this. When she’d overdosed, I’d cried while she was in the hospital. She’d never witnessed it. I’d only shown her the strong, brave woman that I needed to be to get her clean. Now, I couldn’t hold back.
“If it looks too good to be true, it usually is. And Whitt and Wright Construction and this friend group—all of it—was too good to be true. I probably…probably”—I hiccuped—“never deserved it anyway.”
Bailey sank onto the floor next to me. Her face was hollow, and tears came to her eyes, too. “You deserve it, Eve. You do.”
“It doesn’t feel like it,” I said, clutching my chest. “Like my life was just getting so good. And now, that’s over.”
“I don’t want it to be over for you.”
“Yeah, well, I can’t leave you here with him, and I can’t bring you with me.”
Bailey opened her mouth and closed it. She looked down at the crescent moons on her wrist. Then the matching set on mine. And then she sighed, sniffled, and nodded. “I was high.”
“No shit,” I said with a tear-filled laugh. “I was there.”
“It’s just so hard.”
“Yeah, well, life is hard.”
“I wanted it to be easier,” she whispered.
“By doing drugs again?”
She shrugged. “Maybe.”
“That’s stupid.”
“Yeah. I was working so hard to get back to myself. And I still got that C in my summer class. Then, the volleyball coach said she didn’t think I should try out without talking to all the girls about it since I’d screwed up so bad last year. I couldn’t bring myself to do it. None of them understood what I’d gone through. The last thing I wanted to do was go before them and grovel.” She clenched her hands into fists and then released it. “Then, my anxiety spiraled again. I couldn’t handle it. I panicked. And then Trevor had some weed. We were making out, and I just thought a little wouldn’t hurt. It wouldn’t lead to anything else.”
“Until it did,” I said.
“Until it did.”
“I don’t want this for you,” I told her. “I want you happy and healthy and living your best life.”
“I want that for you, too. I love you, Eve. I just don’t know how to be who you want me to be.”
That sentence stretched between us.
Who I wanted her to be.
Not who she wanted to be. We were still at a point where the drugs were easier than dealing with her problems. She hadn’t figured out how to do that, and she needed help to get there. And I was the only one who could give it to her.
I took her hand, linking our fingers together. Our crescent moons slid together to make one moon.
“I got you,” I said, another tear rolling down my cheek. “No matter what.”
“Don’t give up your life for me. I’m not worth it.”
“Oh, Bails, you’re worth it. We’ll figure it out.”
Bailey laid her head against my shoulder. “Thanks, sis.”
I stroked her hair off of her face. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
33
Whitton
Still no text from Eve the next morning.
I sent her a message, asking if she’d found Bailey and if everything was all right, but it was left on Delivered. Either she wasn’t looking at her phone or she was ignoring me. I was going to go with the former. She was probably too busy.
I was making my morning coffee when there was a knock on my door. For a second, I was certain that it was Eve, and she would walk through the door, and all would be well.
I yanked the door open and froze in place.
“Dad?”
“Hey, Whitt,” he said with an unassuming smile.
I stared at him in disbelief. I’d gotten the texts that he was coming into town. He’d messaged, asking to see us all. Despite the fact that I’d already said that no one else wanted to see him, he’d still shown up on my doorstep.
“What are you doing here?”
“Didn’t you get my message last night? I decided to stop by to see you.” He grinned broadly. “How’s Jordan and Julian?” When I said nothing, he quickly added, “And West and Harley?”
I blinked. This couldn’t be happening. I didn’t have time or energy for this.
“But what are you doing here?”
He tilted his head in confusion. “What do you mean? I wanted to see you.”
“I told you that no one wanted to see you.”
“Sure. That doesn’t include you though.” He clapped me on the shoulder. “We’ve always had a good relationship.”
I took a step back, forcing him to drop his hand. “Have we?”
“Of course.”
“Why do you think that is?”
“Because you’re the sensible one,” he said with a laugh.
My dad had no idea what he was talking about. He thought he was legitimately paying me a compliment. Because I was the pushover that wanted his company so desperately, wanted his attention and affection so bad that I’d do anything to have him in my life. Despite the fact that he’d only ever given me scraps my entire life. He might have put me on the right trajectory, but that didn’t make him a good dad.
Eve had been right. I’d given him a million chances, and I was still at the bottom of the barrel.
“I’m starting to think I’m the only one without sense.”
He frowned. “What does that mean?”
“Jordan and Julian don’t want to see you. Harley is completely no contact. West is only talking to you because I begged him to when Cosmere went big. And he’s so go with the flow that I don’t think he even cares as long as he can continue to play the keys. But me…I wanted this relationship.”
“Well, here I am,” he said, opening his arms.
“But I don’t anymore.”
His face fell. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t want a relationship with you anymore. You don’t care about anything but yourself. You want us all to forgive you for something that is unforgivable. Let alone the fact that you haven’t done anything to earn our forgiveness. You just want to feel better about the shitty person that you are.”
His jaw dropped open. For a split second, I watched his genial mask slip and the cruel businessman appear. The narcissist that I knew he was. “All I want is to make things right with all of you.”
“On your terms,” I interrupted.
“I’d do it on your terms, if you gave them to me.”
“Our terms are to leave us alone and let us figure it out.”
“Those aren’t terms,” he said, bristling. “That’s not having any of you in my life.”
“Whose fault is that?”
He pursed his lips. “So, you’re just going to punish me forever?”
“No. We’re not punishing you. We’re setting a boundary. We’re saying that what you’re doing right now isn’t acceptable.”
“That’s the same thing.” He waved his hand. “A boundary is just another punishment.”
I forced out a harsh laugh. “Only someone who needs a boundary sees it as punishment.”
My dad sputtered at that assessment and launched into a gaslighting critique of my judgment. But at this point, I was too frustrated by my weekend to deal with him. He’d never learn. That was something he’d proven time and time again. He did things for his benefit and his benefit alone. If we fit into his schemes, then he included us, but never what we wanted or needed. I was tired of being a pawn in his endless game. I was ready to take myself off the board.
“Go home,” I said, cutting him off. “Make yourself the victim all over again. We’re in the wrong. Always. Always. Whatever you have to tell yourself. But it’s not my problem anymore. Just go home.”
Then, I closed the door in his face. He banged his fist on the door twice. I leaned back against it and waited for him to leave. I knew I’d have a bunch of texts and calls, railing against me for asserting myself. I had a pit in my stomach at the thought of it all. And before it could happen, I blocked his number.
A weight lifted from my shoulders the second it was done. Owen Wright was out of my life. He wouldn’t get another way back in. He’d try—I knew that much—but it wasn’t like he was suddenly going to go to therapy and become self-aware. So, it wasn’t my fucking problem.
I waited until he retreated to his rental car and drove away before moving from my position. It was finally over. I never would have gotten there before Eve. I wanted to call her and tell her what had happened so bad. I even pulled my phone out to do it, but at the same time, I didn’t want to cross her boundary. She needed space. She’d let me know when she was ready to talk.
Instead, I found a text from Colton waiting for me. It was a picture of him sweeping at the lake house. He was flipping the bird at me.
Despite everything, I laughed. What a little shit.
How’d it go?
👎
Yeah, I’d expected that. Jensen had been relieved that I’d gotten him home safe. That didn’t mean there weren’t consequences to Colton’s actions. Consequences he likely deserved after the shit he kept pulling.
Need any help?
dad said no help
I can deal with Jensen.
good luck with that boss
Maybe it was overstepping my bounds, but I felt responsible for Colton after everything he went through. He’d wriggled his way into my life, and I didn’t want him to suffer alone. Plus, I couldn’t sit around here all day after what happened with my dad and wait to hear from Eve. Some physical labor might help.
So, I changed into jeans and a T-shirt and headed back out to Ransom Canyon for the second time in so many days.
The house looked worse in the light of day. A half-dozen large black trash bags were already full to bursting on the front porch. I hadn’t even noticed the outside when we drove up last night, but the lawn was littered with trash—beer cans, plates, toilet paper. Glass glittered from the deck surface. Another window had a hole in it the size of a baseball. Had someone put their fist through it?
I parked my Lexus next to Jensen’s pickup out front. I was nearly to the door when Jensen came outside.
“Did he call you?” Jensen asked.
“Text.”
“I told him he had to do this alone. Sorry you drove all the way out here.”
“Oh yeah, he told me.”
“Then, what are you doing here?” Jensen pushed the door closed behind him, shielding his fifteen-year-old son from our conversation.
I shrugged. “You know, I really don’t know. Except that I feel responsible for the kid and I want to help.”
Jensen looked skeptical. “He should do all the manual labor alone.”
“Probably. I could stand by and make fun of him while he works, if you prefer.”
Jensen cracked a smile, the first break in his veneer. “I’d pay you to do that.”
I snorted. “I’d do it for free, man.”
He stepped off of the front porch, as if giving up guarding his youth from getting out of his consequence. We walked back to the cars, and he leaned against his truck, tilting his head back. “Have kids, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.”
“Could be worse.”
Jensen’s head popped up. “How?”
My mind went to Bailey. The vivacious youth that Eve thought the world of. The one who had overdosed last year and was missing this year. There were many more worse off than Colton Wright being a rebellious dickhead.
But I didn’t say any of that.
“You love him and want what’s best for him. So, no matter what he does, he has you to fall back on.”
“Yeah,” Jensen agreed. “I wish he wouldn’t use me quite so literally as a cushion.”
“He’ll learn. We all did.”
“When I was his age, my mom was dead, and my dad was a raging alcoholic. I was raising my five younger siblings and holding the entire family together by the skin of my teeth. I had Colton too young and took over the company too young.” Jensen shook his head. “He has no fucking clue how good he has it.”
I nodded and clapped him on the back. “The consequence of trying to give your kid better than you had it.”
Jensen chuckled. “I suppose so.”
“My dad is a dick, too,” I told him. “If it makes you feel any better.”
Jensen clenched his jaw. “Well aware that Owen is a singular brand of asshole. I don’t know how he raised so many respectable children.”
“Breaking the cycle,” I told him. “Also…it probably helps that he didn’t raise any of us. We can thank our moms for that.”
Jensen sighed. “Is that where I went wrong? I left Colton with Vanessa.”
“Maybe,” I said honestly.
He nodded, accepting his fate. “Well, that won’t be the case any longer.”
“Keeping him here?”
“At least for the school year.”
I nodded. “How’d he take it?”
Jensen’s laugh cut like a razor. “Go ask him.”
“I’ll do that.” I clapped him on the shoulder again. “You’re doing the best you can.”
“Thanks.”
I left Jensen to mourn the decision he’d had to make with his son. I was sure it wasn’t going to be easy to have a sulky teenager in the house with his two young kids. But I had a feeling it was going to be the best thing that ever happened to Colton. Whether or not either of them knew it yet.
I headed inside to find that the living room and kitchen had been cleaned of trash. It still needed a thorough scrubbing, sweep, and mop, but it was a start.
“Hey,” I said, finding Colton on his phone at the open window that led to the back deck.
He stuffed his phone back into his pocket. “Hey, boss. I wasn’t on my phone.”
“I didn’t see anything.”
He breathed out. “Bet.”
“Heard you’re going to be here this year.”
Colton’s face went dark with rage. “Sure am.”
“Look on the bright side.”
“What fucking bright side?” he snarled.
“You get to keep playing on the Tacos.”
Colton shrugged. “I guess.”
“And you can continue to be my intern. I bet we can even pay you.”
He huffed and said nothing.
“Well, either way, you have two options. I can either help you put some of this away or make fun of you while I watch you do it.”
“Dick,” he muttered under his breath. But a ghost of a smile came to his lips.
“Make fun of you it is,” I said, pulling myself up onto the kitchen island and gesturing to some food on the floor. “You missed a spot.”
Colton shook his head at me. “Come on, boss. Help a bro out.”
So, I slid back off of the island and helped him. With the two of us working together, we made much faster headway on the disaster that was the gorgeous lake house. Halfway through the day, Jensen brought us pizza, and a window company came out to look at what needed to be done. We ate pizza on the deck and watched them work.
“Not much left,” I said, finishing off a third slice.
Colton had seemingly devoured an entire pizza in a matter of seconds. Lord help Jensen with the bottomless stomach of a teenage boy. “Just upstairs.”
“That’s all you. I’m not touching whatever is growing in that toilet.”
Colton wrinkled his nose. “Yeah. Fuck people.”
I laughed. “You threw the party.”
He rolled his eyes and returned to work. I stood to follow him but stopped when my phone started ringing.
My eyes nearly bugged out of my skull when I saw Eve’s number pop up. “Eve, hey.”
“Hey,” she said.
“Did you find Bailey? Is she okay?”
“Yes. I found her. She’s here with me now.”
“Thank God,” I breathed. Relief flooded my chest. “I was worried.”
