Page 44 of Give Me Redemption

“Stay,” he repeats.

“Okay,” she replies, folding her lips in and retaking her seat.

“You sure you want her to hear all this?” I ask. “You want Harrison to see the ugly side of this fucked-up family? To see that my brother is a fucking nutcase? What the hell are you thinking bringing her here?”

Bryce lifts his chin. “She needed help. I helped her.”

“You helped her?” I ask sarcastically. “You helped her do what? Get clean for a month before she steals from you and disappears?”

“She wants to change,” Bryce says, standing his ground, his voice low and steady.

I laugh once. “Change.” I scoff. “The only thing that woman changes is the drug she’s using for the night.”

Bryce’s jaw tightens, but I don’t give a shit if my brother is mad, because I promise I’m madder. He’s crossed the line with this shit. He’s helping this woman. The woman who basically killed our father and gave us up with a single signature. I feel like I don’t even know him right now.

“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here,” Mary says with tears in her eyes.

My body shifts to her. “Oh, I know you’re here. I can feel the weight of you in this room.” I walk closer and lower my voice menacingly. “I remember who you are, Mom.” I stare at her, my body eerily calm on the outside, but my breathing raged, because on the inside I’m going crazy.

“Jace,” Bryce says in warning.

“Don’t fucking Jace me,” I spit, turning around to face my brother. The liar. “How long has this been going on?” My eyes go back to Mary, and I look her up and down, taking in the fact she’s gained a pound or two. Her hair’s been washed, her clothes aren’t dirty, and she isn’t dressed like a street whore. “She’s clean. So what? Over a month now?”

Bryce’s jaw is so tight it looks like it could crack. “She’s been here for a few weeks,” he says.

“A few weeks?” He’s kept this from me for a few weeks? The whole time I’ve been back, he’s been keeping her locked up here in his house? Doesn’t he remember who she is? What’s she capable of doing?

I walk away from Mary and stand by the island, crossing my arms. “And when were you going to tell me?”

Bryce sighs and leans back on his heels. “She needed to get better before you saw her.”

“You act like we didn’t grow up in the same house, and I’m not a little boy anymore, Bryce. I don’t need closed doors and loud music.”

Bryce looks down.

Yeah, I remember it all, brother.

“How long have you known where she was?” I ask him.

He doesn’t say.

He thinks he can keep me in the dark about this. He thinks I’m still a little kid who needs all that protecting shit. Does he have any idea what I’ve been through? I’ve seen so much shit, so many horrible things. I’ve lived through them all, and he thinks our mom being fucked off heroin is going to affect me?

If I wasn’t mad before, I am now. Rage shoots out of me, and I slam my palm down on the island. “Answer me, dammit.”

“A few years,” Bryce says.

I nod with a sadistic smile. “You’ve kept this from me for years?” I push off the counter. “You’re my only one.” I walk up to my brother and jab a finger into his chest. “You’re the one person I tell everything to and who I expected to do the same to me.”

Bryce’s hand comes out of his pocket, and he grabs mine, stopping me from stabbing him again.

“You lied.” I snatch my hand away.

“Stop,” Bryce says. “I’ve never lied to you.”

“No, you’re right,” I seethe. “You just chose not to tell me.” I shoulder-check him as I head for the door, yanking it behind me and slamming it so hard I’m shocked it doesn’t splinter.

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