Page 45 of The Keeper
As earnest as Mack was in his speech outside, I truly don’t want to take the time to sort through the muck of my past. It’s easier to shove it away and focus on something else.
I stroll into the kitchen and pull the orange juice from the fridge. As I drink down half of the glass, I hear the door slam closed and harsh, booted footsteps in the entry. I continue staring at the fridge, unwilling to look at my brother as he enters the kitchen.
“Please tell me you’re not totally fucking up your life,” are not at all the words that I expect to come out of his mouth.
My eyes whip to his.
“Excuseme?”
“You heard me. Tell me I didn’t see you out there with your coach, who bangs everything in sight. Tell me you are not risking your scholarship and place on the team for that piece of shit.”
His hands are gripping tightly to the kitchen island separating us, his eyes piercing me with a stare so intense and laced with frustration that I have a hard time not looking away. His tone is oozing with a bitter nastiness I don’t think I’ve ever heard from him before, or at least definitely not aimed my way.
But his comments fuel me.
“You wanna start throwing stones, Jer? I suggest you take a nice long look at the glass houseyoulive in first.”
He scoffs.
“This isn’t about me, Rachel. This is about you and whatever you think you’re doing with Mack.”
I set the glass of orange juice down on the island as delicately as I can, mostly because I don’t want to risk chucking it at Jeremy’s stupid face. I lay my hands flat on the island, staring at the granite and willing myself to a calm place.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about. So don’t you dare crawl up on the high horse you think you deserve to be on and begin to judge me.”
“Rachel, you are making a colossal mistake. You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”
“Jeremy, you need to quit while you’re ahead. I don’t want to hear your…”
“Do you know about his time in a mental hospital?”
I take in a deep breath and flick my eyes to his in shock.
“What?”
“The guy is fucking crazy, Rachel. The Chicago team released him from his contract at his request when he was institutionalized.”
My insides are warring with my mind, but I know Jeremy is just baiting me. Mack went through a lot after the accident. It isn’t our place to say he’s crazy. We don’t know what that time was like.
“When he finally got back on his feet after the accident, he started fucking any pussy that walked his way. I’ve never seenanyone go through women the way he did. This one time, he was out here visiting his sister, and he had a threesome with two strippers.Atthe strip club. It wasn’t even in a private room.”
I suddenly feel sick to my stomach and I lean on the island for support.
“He was doing drugs and drinking like a fucking fish. And then he was thrown in the loony bin.”
“If you think so poorly of him, why did you help get him the job at Glendale.” My tone is short, my teeth grinding together as I get out one question.
But I can’t help the million new questions cropping up in its wake.
“We’ve known each other for a long time. I thought it would be a good fit, something to help him get back on his feet. But if I had thought for evenonesecond that you and he would have started something up, I never would have told him a thing about it.”
I glare at Jeremy. I’m upset at hearing about Mack’s history on top of what I’ve already heard. But right now, my anger with Jeremy is taking precedence.
“You have a lot of nasty things to say about someone bed hopping. Like I said, Jer. You shouldn’t judge when you’ve got your own shit to shovel.”
He rolls his eyes and my temper flares further. “My life is different.”
“Why?!” I scream.
