Page 101 of No Apologies
“Yeah. He and Lincoln got into a pretty big argument about it and before you ask, no, Link didn’t kick him out. Remy left because Link took advantage of you and he was pissed.”
“Link didn’t take advantage of me. I needed help and he offered.”
“He put strings on his offer, Colt. That’s the definition of taking advantage. He wanted something from you, to keep you tied to him and the family knowing full well we wanted out.”
“I had strings too. He couldn’t tell you or Remy.”
“Strings he was more than happy to agree to because it benefited him. With us in the dark you were even more indebted to him.” Cash swerved to avoid a huge pothole, “Look, I’m pissed you didn’t tell me. Remy? He never expected that kind of honesty out of you. Doesn’t think he deserves it probably, because he left. Remy’s pissed at Link.”
“Because they’re friends?”
“Because Link was supposed to look after us.” Cash snorted and Colt knew his face must have shown his disbelief. “He told me that himself. Link I mean. When he apologized for getting you hurt he said Remy asked him to keep an eye on us before he left town a decade ago.”
Colt scratched his head, “Why would he do that?”
“I don’t know. That’s part of the reason we’re here. I said it was time to come clean and I meant it… for all of us.”
Colt didn’t say anything to that because he wasn’t sure what to say. Instead he watched as a battered old trailer house came into view when they crested the last ridge. He’d honestly forgotten the thing was even out here on the land their family owned.
Decker’s twin brother, Duke, had moved it out here when Colt was still a kid. He hadn’t been very old but he’d understood enough to know Uncle Duke was out of prison on probation and Aunt Mary had kicked him out of the house. When Duke went back to prison it sat empty for years and years until his son took it over.
Joel had been in the process of fixing it up for his pregnant girlfriend when he died. Right after that, Colt had come out here and looked at it because he and Cash had needed a place to move to after graduation. Ultimately they’d decided it was still too close to Decker and from the looks of it as Cash slowly pulled the truck through the almost overgrown path to it, nobody had been out here since.
Nature was trying to reclaim the space. Weeds grew waist high in some places and vines had grown over one end of the trailer almost completely. But the slick black Challenger in the drive said somebody was indeed inside and the juxtaposition of the flashy new car and the junky old trailer made him uneasy.
Remy was living here? In this dump? On Bomar land no less? And when he’d had a cozy little setup crashing at Lincoln’s house in town only days ago?
Colt didn’t like the feeling in his chest and he knew what it was this time. Guilt. Again. Because Remy was living like this because of him. Remy had left Lincoln’s place because of him and he’d made it abundantly clear when his older brother first arrived back in town that he wasn’t welcome at their place. For Remy, it was this place or going back to Decker’s house.
That thought made him even more uncomfortable because until recently, that’s exactly where he would have expected Remy to go. And why not? The beloved first born son had never been beaten or abused, never been ignored or neglected. He would have been welcomed home with open arms but if he’d gone to see their parents even once since he came back to Old settlers, Colt didn’t know about it.
Remy didn’t talk about their parents. Since Colt didn’t either, he’d never bothered to ask why that was. Now, seeing this, seeing the squalor that Remy had chosen to live in instead of going home to them, he felt that niggling doubt in his mind again, the one that said maybe he didn’t know his brother at all.
Cash pulled the truck to a stop next to the Challenger and sighed, “You okay with this?”
“Not like you gave me much of a choice.”
“I’m giving it to you now. You say the word and we’ll talk to Remy about Skylar and what happened the night you were attacked. We don’t have to ask him why he left. Your call.”
“No. It’s okay. I think it’s time we knew the truth.” He ran a still shaky hand through his hair, “It’s past time.”
A dark shadow appeared behind the screen door and a shiver of dread went down Colt’s spine. He had to consciously remind himself that it wasn’t Decker. But damn if his older brother didn’t look like that fucker.
Remy opened the screen and walked outside, squinting at them as he wiped his hands on a rag. He was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans, ripped at the knees, and a white muscle shirt. With his tall, muscular build, dark hair and eyes and casual outfit, he was nearly the spitting image of the Decker that had tried to destroy Colt in his younger years.
Remy raised a hand to shield his eyes and a grin split his face. Colt relaxed instantly. Decker had never smiled at him. Not once. Not unless Colt was lying on the ground in a pool of blood or vomit and even then it had been more of a sneer. That smile belonged to his brother alone.
“Well hell, ya could’ve called. I ain’t exactly set up for visitors yet.”
Cash stepped out of the truck, “We ain’t visitors. We’re family.”
“Shit.” Remy drawled as his gaze cut to Colt climbing carefully out of the truck, “How you feelin’ little brother?”
“I’ve been better.”
“That drive out here is rough as hell.” Remy shot Cash a look that they hadn’t seen in ten years, all big brother sternness and reprimand, “If you’d called I would’ve come to you in town. Could have saved you a trip and Colt some soreness.”
“Wasn’t time.” Cash only shrugged.
