Page 36 of Resolving Rumors

“Yeah. They had to wonder where you got the investment funds.”

Dallas shrugged. “Funny thing about being me, no one ever asked where I got the money. I didn’t offer up any details either.”

“Secrets have a way of festering before they come to light,” I reminded him.

“Yeah, well they’re going to fester while I soak up some sun on a tropical beach for a couple weeks.” He managed to get some ice into a ziplock bag and then dropped it down over his knuckle while we talked. I grabbed a bag of frozen peas to put on my face.

“Not going to forget that you lied to me for two years,” Dallas stated as he moved to head back to my front door.

“Yeah? Keep that grudge in mind when your family finds out you’re a fucking billionaire and didn’t tell them.”

“I hope your nose hurts!” Dallas offered as he left my house and went back out to his motorcycle.

“Can you drive that thing with a busted up hand?” I called out to him.

“Fuck you. Fix my sister, asshole!” He revved his engine loudly, so he couldn’t hear my nonexistent response. A moment later, he was gone and I returned to my house to execute the next step in my plan. I had to upload a very personal article to the local newspaper.

Chapter

Twenty-One

VICTORIA

After I confessedeverything to my baby brother, he left town. No one in the family knew where he went, and it worried them all enough that I started to get phone calls.

It made sense, I guessed, since the last time they saw him, he had gone charging off after me to find out what was going on between his best friend and me. I couldn’t help but think he had done this disappearing act on purpose, though.

After the third text from a family member inquiring about Dallas, I finally called my dad and had him set up a family meeting. Thankfully, Dallas reached out to let me know where he was and that he’d be back once the family wasn’t acting like a bunch of “shitheads” to one another. His word, not mine.

I wasn’t sure if that was something I planned to say to my family or not, but either way, they deserved an apology from me - for real this time. They also deserved the truth of what was going on in my life. If no one wanted to talk to me after they knew the truth, then I would have to live with that.

My family,all of them minus Dallas, stared at me somewhat slack-jawed for far too long after I explained everything that had been going on.

“I don’t understand why you would ever think we cared who you loved.”

“Oh, I care. That fucker has a lot to answer for,” Houston finally popped off.

Austin remained quiet and held onto his wife’s hand. I had apologized profusely to the both of them, but my apologies were met with cold indifference. Even after I explained why I had gone off the deep end, they remained frigidly indifferent. I didn’t blame either of them for their response - or lack of one. I deserved far less than they were giving.

“I have it on good authority that Dallas already broke his nose and gave him two stunning black eyes,” I mentioned.

My mom harrumphed that. “Violence is never the answer.”

“Agree to disagree,” my father blurted out.

“What Dad said,” Houston chipped in.

My heart ached from being so close to my family while not feeling fully a part of them. I wouldn’t push for more than I had given over the past year and a half though. They all deserved better from me and I couldn’t expect to get more back from them, though I was surprised that Houston seemed to have my back in this.

NOTES: Has to explain to her family what has been happening in her life. Her mom leaves the room and comes back with the newspaper article (on her tablet) and asks: “I wonder if that is what this is all about?”

“You know,” Mom said as she stood from the circle of chairs we all occupied. “This does at least explain the article. At first, I thought he was talking about that awful girl, but I see now that he was talking about you.”

“What are you talking about, Mom?”

She grinned and left the room in search of whatever it was. While she was gone, Houston came over and gave me a hug. “I know that was hard for you, but I wish you had trusted us with all this a lot sooner. It might have made things easier on your relationship.”

“It definitely would have kept Justice from having room to push into your relationship,” My brother’s wife added. I still didn’t know Clea well - or at all, really. I nodded to her, though.

---