Page 16 of The Engagement Party

He continued in a voice devoid of any emotion, any life. “I didn’t know, but... she was... She groomed him. Flirted with him. Slept with him. We were fifteen when it all blew up.”

Sierra regretted ever wishing for him to open up.

“That’s awful,” Ruthie whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

But it was worse. So much worse, and Sierra braced for the punch line.

Mitch nodded. “Then my mother and Tyler—the guy in the trunk—killed my dad.”

Chapter Thirteen

Alex

Alex took advantage of the stunned expressions and unusual silence and ushered everyone back to the house. Cassie was right. That note...what the hell!

One possible explanation rocked him. Maybe someone had discoveredhissecret and this was just a warning shot about things to come.

Standing out there, in the open, made them all targets. The adrenaline racing through him told him to move, so he bolted and dragged them with him. He aimed for calm and reasonable as he stepped onto the house’s side porch. They all crowded there, huddled around the two lounge chairs and a small table as anxiety pinged off them, cutting through their heavy breathing and panicked mumbling.

Alex used the opportunity to mentally rally the troops. Unleashed fear would paralyze them, and they needed to be able to work this out with as little collateral damage as possible. “We can’t go anywhere tonight. It’s high tide. We’re losing light. Let’s get inside and calmly talk this through.”

Sierra stared out at the water. “How deep can it be?”

“Good question.” Ruthie inched closer to Sierra’s side as she talked. “A car drove through it.”

“Okay, stop.” Cassie let out a long, labored exhale that suggested her nerves had reached the snapping point. “That’s enough.”

“You know what, Cassie?” Sierra’s shoulders fell as she looked away from the water and back to the group. “I get that you’re used to being in charge, but we don’t work for you. I barely know you, so stop issuing orders.”

Will snorted. “You might as well tell her to stop breathing.”

Alex thought the same thing but was smart enough not to say it.

“When did this mess become about me?” Cassie reached for the door, likely wanting to escape the pile-on.

“It’s not. It’s about me. My messed-up family.” Mitch touched Cassie’s arm and she stopped trying to wiggle away. An unspoken conversation, a feeling, something passed between them because Cassie nodded and moved back. She balanced against the railing as Mitch shifted to stand in front of them all.

Sierra’s pinched expression didn’t ease. “Mitch. You don’t need to—”

“Ruthie has a right to know.” He hesitated but eventually pushed the words out. “My mother lied to Tyler and said Dad was abusive. Won Tyler over with sex, affection, and promises of a future.” Mitch stopped again but started before anyone could say a word. “They then hatched a plan to kill Dad. They shot him in the driveway one night when he came home from work.”

“I really am sorry,” Ruthie said in a strained whisper.

“My mother told the police someone followed Dad. That it was a road rage incident turned lethal. Something similar hadhappened in the area months before and been all over the news. I guess she patterned her excuse on that.”

Alex knew the story because it had garnered a huge amount of attention in the years after the murder as Mitch’s mom went to trial. Before Alex got on campus, before he ever knew Mitch, Alex had been sucked in by the spectacle. He’d laughed and made jokes with friends about their hot teachers as every horrible fact, every intimate detail, hit the internet and got repackaged and replayed on late night talk shows and comedy specials.

Then, years later, whispers had raced around campus.The kid with that crazy sex-starved mom got accepted on some scholarship.Alex could admit he’d been intrigued but the amusement ended freshman year when he sat next to Mitch in a required history class. Mitch had taken a couple years off before college, so he was older but didn’t seem like it. He was tough on the outside but vulnerable. He kept to himself, using the quiet as a shield.

Journalists tracked Mitch down on campus and approached him about a true crime documentary. A few anything-for-a-buck types tried to take Mitch’s photo for a where-are-they-now retrospective. The boy who testified against his mother. Alex saw the toll being involuntarily famous took on Mitch five years after his dad’s murder. The need to protect kicked in during that class and never wavered.

But Alex didn’t see how making Mitch regurgitate the worst moments of his life answered any questions today. “That’s enough. Sierra’s right. You don’t have to relive this.”

“He kind of does.” Will rushed to fix his mess after Ruthie smacked his arm. “What? I’m not saying he killed Tyler. None of us is.”

“Of course he didn’t.” Sierra’s voice shook as she launched the comment like a warning shot, daring anyone to disagree.

Alex had only eased up on his protector status when Sierra came into Mitch’s life and took over the role. She and Mitch met on a hotel landscaping job when they both worked for other people. Mitch once let it slip that he heard Sierra laugh and was stunned by how free it sounded. After that, he tried to work near her so he could hear it again, all while pretending to ignore her. Lucky for him, Sierra saw the awkwardness as the cry for attention it was. Quietly and without debate, but very effectively, she created a shield around him and gave him a safe place to be himself.

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