Page 41 of Kings & Chaos

“Neo told us you remembered,” he said quietly.

I took a deep breath and exhaled the secret. I hadn’t told Rock and Oscar about my dream. I didn’t know if it would bring stuff up for them, more bad stuff that I didn’t know about.

All I could see were their small forms next to me in the hall, their eyes mirroring the fear I’d felt when Neo’s dad had grabbed my arm.

“It was fucked up.” And then, because as long as we were in confession mode, I had the sudden urge to say the thing that had been haunting me, I added, “And I’m assuming it wasn’t the only time, probably not even the worst time.”

“No.” His voice held the weight of sorrow, and my heart broke a little thinking about anyone hurting him.

Hurting Rock.

And yes, hurting Neo too.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“Hey.” He turned me to face him and pulled me away from the edge of the cliff. “You havenothingto be sorry about. You were a fuckinghero, and you were just a little girl. No one had ever stood up for Neo like that, not even me or Rock. We’d all been too scared of his dad.”

“You were just kids,” I said.

“Didn’t stop you,” he said. “And after that, we got braver. We started fighting back, even though it meant things got worse for a while.”

“Doesn’t sound like something you should be thanking me for,” I said bitterly. They’d been suffering — abused — and the rest of the family, myself included, had just stood there and let it happen.

“It is,” he said. “We stopped being victims that day. We started figuring out how to work together, how to fight the boogeyman. And then, he wasn’t the boogeyman anymore, just an abusive asshole who got off on hurting people that were smaller and weaker than him. Eventually he learned he couldn’t push us around. Not physically anyway.”

“Was your dad… like that?” I asked. “Was Rock’s?”

“My dad never hurt us physically,” Oscar said. “He had other weapons. Shame, mostly. And pawns like my mom, and my brother before he died. Rock’s dad… he was more unpredictable, especially when he’d been drinking.”

“I’m sorry.” I felt like I’d be saying it — trying to prove it — for the rest of my life.

He shook his head and stroked my cheek with his thumb. “They’ll get what’s coming to them. All of them.”

The words sounded ominous, like an incoming storm, but I didn’t have time to ask what he meant because a second later, someone cut the music and Neo’s voice rumbled over the crowd.

“Gather round, fuckers.” His voice was commanding, a king ordering his troops to the front line. “Time for game number two.”

Chapter15

Willa

“Where have you been?” Claire whispered when I joined her, Erin, and Quinn.

“Just talking to Oscar,” I said.

He’d headed to the front of the crowd to stand with Rock behind Neo.

“You okay?” Her brown eyes were filled with concern.

I nodded. “I’m just in a weird mood. I’d rather be home watching something in my pajamas.”

Neo’s story wasn’t mine to tell.

Her mouth turned down in a sympathetic frown and she reached for my hand and squeezed. “Maybe you can get the Kings to take you home after this.”

The quarry parties were legendary at Aventine, but that was mostly because they were venues to announce the game. The Kings hardly even drank at these things. They were too busy prowling the perimeter of the bonfire like the Secret Service.

Neo stood at the front of the crowd, waiting for the stragglers to join and the people still talking to STFU.

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