Page 43 of The Best of Us

“Excuse me?” He made a timeout cross with his arms, hitting his wrists together twice. “No way, bro.”

So, I was back to being his bro now, great.“The Sicilians won’t bother you since you’re under my family’s protection, but I don’t know anything about Jamie or his boss.”Looks like you’ll be able to fill me in.“How much did you hear up there? Anything about their deal?”

“I was barely there before you showed up. I didn’t hear shit.”

Good.“Regardless, I can’t leave you two by yourselves in case someone decides you’re a threat.” And, selfishly, maybe I wanted them to move in. “What if something happens to your mother because of what went down tonight?”

He cursed. “Fine. I’ll go with you if you promise we won’t tell Mom what happened.”

I fake-laughed. Or maybe it was real, and this kid just had me losing my mind. “Right, and tell me how we’ll convince her you need to move in with me, then?”

“Ease into the truth, at least. My mom will freak. Never let me out of her sight again. And then she’ll lose her job because she won’t leave me alone.”

“She has every reason to be upset and worried. She’s your mother.” I gestured to the SUV. “Get. In. The. Damn. Car.” I borrowed Hudson’s love of punctuating words. Now felt like the right time.

Of course, Colin swore again—like a sailor, in fact. But he was finally doing what I asked. He slid into the backseat of the Suburban. I sat next to him and slammed the door closed.

Once we were farther removed from the scene of the crime, I looked down to see evidence of blood on my clothes. I didn’t want to face Juliette like this.

“I need to change and grab my car,” I told my sister.

Hudson looked back at me, then over at my son.

I know, I know.

Izzy wordlessly pulled onto the road, shooting me a concerned look in the rearview mirror. I kept quiet and closed my eyes because what could I possibly say?

Chapter12

Constantine

Once we wereat the security office in Chelsea, Izzy wasted no time cornering me in my office upstairs while Hudson babysat Colin.

“You have a son?” she whisper-cried, eyes wide as she closed the door to my office.

I went over to my desk, planted my palms on it, and hung my head.

“Sonnn.” Shock stretched out the word.

At the feel of her hand on my back, I twisted my head to glance at her coming up alongside me.

“It’s a long story, but he’s the kid who stole my wallet on Wednesday. I didn’t know about him.”

“Wait, his mom never told you?”

My shoulders collapsed at the accusation in her words. The last thing I wanted was her to be mad at Juliette.

Pushing away from my desk and turning toward her, I gave her the highlights reel, failing to clue her in on what a lasting impact Colin’s mother had made on my life since we met.

At the end of my recap, Izzy covered her mouth, tears in her eyes. “Are you okay? I’m just . . . I’m so sorry.” She threw her arms over my shoulders and buried her face against my neck.

I held her, and something inside me broke. Wide fucking open.

“When I was tortured that time . . . I asked him to kill me.” I’d never spoken those words out loud, not out of agony, but out of shame. Not a soul knew, not even Hudson. “What happened to me then,” I went on, “pales in comparison to how I’m feeling now.”

Her chest shuddered against mine as she kept hold of me.

I pulled away from her but couldn’t meet her eyes. “It hurts. It hurts so fucking much,” was all I could get out before dropping to my knees, surrendering the way I had after that man broke me years ago and had me wishing for death.

---