Page 35 of A Twist of Fate

“She wouldn’t even speak to us or come to the funeral,” Ever lamented.

“I wonder why?” Yeah, I was being a bit of an asshole, but still, I was tired of the way these people functioned. Their selfishness was what pushed Ever away from her family to begin with. The fact that she would behave in a manner even close to that astounded me. “I wouldn’t speak to a single one of you fuckers either had you treated me like the trash brought in clinging to your biker boy while she lie there trying to heal from having her baby sucked out of her fucking body. She had to call us! She had no one else close by then. I wonder what Toby would think? Gretchen should have had his family there wrapped around her, sharing y’all’s grief, and instead she had to call her coworkers.”

“You’re right, Kane.” Ever’s shoulders shook as she spoke. “I already know everything you’re saying, and I can’t go back and change anything. If that were possible, I’d try. I was so lost in my own guilt because I hadn’t fixed things with Toby yet, that I didn’t even think about Gretchen again until my dad got angry about her not showing up to his funeral. It never occurred to me that she wasn’t there. I know that makes me a horrible person, but you have to remember, we didn’t know until that day. They hid their relationship from me. You expected me to remember that they were together in my time of grief, but I only had about an hour to even digest that they were an item before I found out my brother was dead and I wasn’t going to get the chance to rebuild my relationship with him.”

“Ever, you don’t have to…” Zeke tried to tell her, but she didn’t allow him to finish giving her an out.

“No, I need him to know this. I would give anything to go back to that day and do things differently, because you are absolutely right. She deserved so much more than we gave her, and I have no doubt Toby is ashamed of all of us for forgetting about her.” She sighed. “When she’s ready, I’d really like the chance to offer a real apology to her for that.”

I simply nodded my head as Sully yelled out for me. “Yo, Kane! Your appointment is here.”

“I’ll let her know.” It was the best I could give her. I knew they’d spoken a few times since Anna was hanging out with Gretchen pretty regularly, but the tension was still palpable between the women. They needed to work that shit out, and I couldn’t keep being the go-between stopping that from happening. I knew that too. We were all guilty of perpetuating their hurt.

Chapter 12

Always There

Gretchen

Before I could even head downstairs, Zeke came up and knocked on my door. “Mind if I come in and talk for just a few?”

I wasn’t going to deny him entry. Despite the fact that he owned the place, he was always a really good friend. “Sorry for the drama I caused.” He swished my words away with the flick of a hand.

“Your response was understandable, Gretch. I actually came up here to let you know how Kane just let Ever have it.” That was a bit of a shocker. Kane always had a thing for her so I couldn’t really see him fussing at her about anything. He went on to give me a blow-by-blow rehashing of what went down between Ever and Kane downstairs.

“Good!” I finally told him.

“Really, Gretch? I thought you were better than that?”

“Better than what? The people who abandoned me?”

“Do you really see it like that? Do you think Toby saw it that way? Toby was the bright spot in their lives. They didn’t know about you until the accident. I know that’s a tough pill to swallow, but you and Toby created that outcome, not them. You expected them to remember a stranger in the midst of their grief?” He threw the words at me. “Don’t forget, I was there at the funeral when they wondered where you were. I remember you couldn’t be bothered to show up because you couldn’t stand to be around them. The blame doesn’t lie solely on the Brother’s family, as Kane just made it seem to Ever.”

“I wasn’t a stranger to her!” Gretchen shouted.

“No! You were the girl that proved the rift between her and her brother was never fixed, and couldn’t be.”

“What?”

“Seriously? I need to spell that shit out for you? You were here. You saw the devastation Ever carried with her day in and day out. Toby never tried to fix things with her. Maybe it’s because he felt too guilty about his own actions. Maybe it was because he was so far up your ass that he didn’t realize he needed to be spending time repairing his relationship with his sister, rather than keeping a secret from her that might ruin things between them further.

“You played your part in that. You kept that secret and kept his attention. I’m not deaf, and I know you aren’t either. You heard her complaining and crying in here about how Toby was never around or available. You heard her bemoaning the fact that she could never repair their relationship because he was always off on secret business. Except, you also knew there wasn’t any secret business. It was a secret relationship that cost her the ability to make amends with her brother and form a bond again. Then it was too late, and she realized you were the problem all along. You were the person lying to her. You were the person keeping her brother from her. You were the reason she never got to repair that relationship. You aren’t the only one who carried guilt, hurt, and anger away from that accident with you. The difference is, she still tried to do the right thing while you continued to push her away.

“Kane thought Ever needed a wakeup call. He’s too blinded by the feelings he has for you to see the other side of the bullshit he just heaped on her shoulders. I’m not wearing his shoes, I see things clearly from both sides. You have the right to grieve, Gretchen. You don’t have the right to blame people who weren’t responsible. You don’t have the right to make them the bad guys in your life because when they did try, you pushed and ran. That’s on you, not them.”

As Zeke was leaving the apartment, I heard voices outside on the landing. “That was a bit harsh, wasn’t it?”

“You think the way you approached Ever just now wasn’t? You thought Ever needed a wake-up call? Well, so did Gretchen. You’re not helping her by pandering to her misplaced anger, Kane, and I sure as fuck won’t let you make Ever her whipping girl. Pull your head out of your ass – or hers – whichever one you have it lodged in.”

Kane didn’t come back to my apartment after words were exchanged with Zeke. Instead, they both took off, and I was left to sit there and think about everything that had gone down. I knew he was right. Still, a small part of me remained giddy that Kane had chosen me to champion instead of Ever. The other part of me didn’t necessarily enjoy the fact that I got off on that a little bit. It wasn’t that I disliked Ever. All the shit she had been through made me hurt for her. The truth was, I’d spent so long being invisible to Kane because of his crush on her that it just felt nice to finally be the one who he finally saw. Maybe that made me a horrible person, but it had been a good long while since I felt the warmth that bloomed in my heart when he chose me, and I didn’t want to let go of the feeling just yet.

Chapter 13

As the Crow Flies

Kane

Crow moved in close to me where I was wiping down the bar in the clubhouse. The bastard tipped his glass over allowing the dregs of his drink to spill out all over the space I had just finished wiping up. He grinned at me, but it wasn’t a playful, ‘I’m hazing you,’ grin. No, this was a sadistic, ‘I’m coming for you’ type look.

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