Page 15 of Lies in Promises
No shits were given about my inheritance. I didn’t need it, and I don’t have plans on touching it anytime soon. The one thing I constantly thought about was Bennett’s custody and how I was going to be ready to go back to him by my eighteenth birthday.
For months and days and weeks leading up to that day, I thought that, come my birthday, I would be ready, that I would get my shit together and be able to make my way back to Chicago.
But the closer the date got, the less ready I felt.
Then, I woke up one day two months ago, eighteen with a new responsibility I wasn’t ready for.
I wasn’t ready to go back to that life. I wasn’t ready to be Bennett’s sole parent. I didn’t even have to think about it.
So I got up that day and sent another email to Henry. I told him to give me two more months, to give me until the anniversary of the night I left, and I will do everything in my power to be ready.
But with each passing day, nothing I did would ever make me ready for that. Nothing would make me ready enough to face my past and give my brother a normal life.
So, I got in contact with Manuel and asked him what my options were.
And now, here I am, doing something I know my parents never thought to plan for. I’m giving up my brother.
“Okay,” Manuel says, “I will file the paperwork and get it over to Chicago. As soon as they are delivered to the address you provided, everything should be set. I will let you know when everything is done.” The words leave his mouth, and I try to comprehend them, but they are going in one ear and flying straight through. The most I can do is nod.
I can’t believe I did this.
“For what it’s worth, I think you made the right choice.” Manuel pauses, letting out a sigh. “For both of you.”
I respect Manuel, I do, but those are shitty words to say to someone after basically making their brother an orphan yet again.
But I don’t say that. I just give him another nod and try my hardest not to break down and storm out of here.
“Thank you, Manuel,” I say after a few minutes, finally finding a bit of my voice.
“‘I’m here for whatever you need, Robert.” He stands from his chair and walks over to me, holding out a hand.
I don’t hesitate to shake it, and I don’t waste another second sitting in this chair.
Everything is so clouded as I walk out of the building.
Nothing around me registers.
Nothing around me matters.
I’m so in my head, I didn’t even realize it’s raining until I trip and land flat on the concrete.
Bennett told me years ago that bad things happen when it rains, and I guess he was right.
I turn onto my back, not bothering to get up, and watch as the water falls from the sky.
I don’t know how long I lay there, but I don’t give two shits.
I’m pissed and fucking sad at my own actions. I don’t deserve to get up. I deserve to drown in the rain as long as it falls.
“Are you okay?” a voice asks, and it takes me a second to realize it’s the same voice I heard in the lobby, the one belonging to the set of brown eyes that had me breathing for the first time in my whole life.
I shift my head slightly, and as soon as I do, I meet the beautiful set of eyes once again. Just like in the lobby, oxygen flows through my body.
This girl is absolutely gorgeous.
And she is still here, outside in the rain, getting wet, when I fully expected her to be gone by now, only to become a forever thought.
I think it takes me a whole minute to find my voice.
