Page 9 of Stepbrother's Inheritance

"Yeah, that kind of stands out in my memory," I say a phantom pain flashing where it broke.

"I told you not to do it."

"You told me not to do it in such a way you knew damn well I would!"

"Me?"

"Yes you! You know I'd have done anything to impress you."

He covers my hand with his free one. Our eyes meet and everything is just the way it was before he left. There's no more distance between us. There's no pain, just us. The way it should have stayed.

"I know," he says.

"Why did you leave?" I blurt it out.

He stiffens then removes his hand from mine setting it on the table. His finger starts tracing that familiar pattern and his gaze breaks from mine.

"Do you remember what happened?"

I nod slowly. "Of course I do?"

"All of it?" he asks sharply.

"Of course I do."

I'd almost been raped. Ben stopped it. I remember it well, he carried me home that night. We'd been in my bedroom when dad came in and the two of them fought again.

Ben stares, something unknown behind his eyes.

"Why did you and my dad fight so much?" I ask to break the silence.

Ben shrugs. "I don't know."

I can see the lie. Ben's an excellent liar so what is he holding back from me?

"You two never got along. Soon as you became a teenager you and he were butting heads constantly."

"Your dad's an ass," Ben says.

"How can you say that! He treated you like his own son."

"Yes, he did," he says.

"And this is how you repay him?"

"Where is he now Vic? Why were you alone at Mother's house working? Why is he not taking care of that?"

I fall silent. Ben knows of my dad's struggle with alcoholism. He knows how much Meryl meant to him.

"Exactly. Why does it all fall on you? Isn't that the husband's job?" Ben's voice is sharp as he leaps to the attack.

"You have no idea how hard it's been on him. You're off gallivanting around living the play boy life. Different women every week. Thrill seeking all over the world. You barely made it back for her funeral!"

"I was there," he says through gritted teeth.

"You showed up hours before! What about the days leading up to it? What about the months before when she was sick? She only wanted to see you!"

I watch his jaw tense and untense, his hands clench and unclench. What is he holding back from me?

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