Page 31 of Cruel Love

I’d already sensed that and wasn’t concerned. She didn’t stand a chance. “What’s your problem with Aspen?”

“I…” He shook his head and then sighed. “Nothing, really. She’s just there, and everything is so complicated. You lying to Tracey over the summer”—he gave me the finger—“was a dick move.”

Pain sliced through my head as the memory slid back into place. That had been happening in small bursts. And despite the mind-numbing headache that heralded these occurrences, I welcomed the return of what I’d lost. It gave me hope.

I shook off the discomfort of remembering. He wasn’t lying. I had fucked with his relationship. But with the memory of committing the lie came the reason behind it.

I shrugged. “I’m sure you got me back for it. Grandad knows about Aspen. And Tracey was a leech. You know you’re better off without her. But what does your attitude problem have to do with Aspen?”

“Nothing. I don’t know.” He squeezed his eyes shut then let them pop open. “Hey, wait a minute. I didn’t tell Grandad shit.”

“I don’t remember everything, but I know I wouldn’t have told him.” My amnesia put me at a considerable disadvantage. “But I never even told Mom, from what she said, and we both know I would tell her before him every day of the week.”

“True. He probably did something sneaky.”

“I have no doubt. He demanded that I tell Aspen to abort our kid, saying she was trash and I needed to stay away from her.”

“Fuck.” Shane ran his hands through his hair, making the dark strands stick up at odd angles. “I’ll talk to Aspen and iron things out between us. I said some shit to her I shouldn’t have.”

“What did you say?” I clenched my own fists. I wanted more than anything to go three rounds with him, but that was be stupid. My brain was still oatmeal.

There was that guilty grimace again. “Not too much, just that you weren’t worth her time and not marriage material. I think. I don’t remember word for word, but something like that.”

That wasn’t too bad. “What about the other lies, Shane? You haven’t told me why you went missing for months before the accident.” More memories were coming back, or maybe I hadn’t forgotten feeling abandoned by my twin brother there for a while.

“It’s Dad.”

No. I stood and started to pace. I couldn’t believe it. That asshole had no business trying to get back into our lives. I couldn’t even process Shane in the same equation with him. It was a damn good thing that my legs were back because I couldn’t sit anymore, not with Shane talking about that piece of shit. “What about him?”

“He was injured in the accident too.”

I stilled, looming over him. “What are you talking about?”

“I’ve been spending a lot of time with Dad, and there are things you should know.”

“I don’t care about him. The guy abandoned our mom when she was pregnant with us. He didn’t give her a dime of child support, and anytime we needed extra money for football that Mom didn’t have, we had to kiss Grandad’s ass, which is exactly how we ended up here.” I swept a hand back and forth.

“Yeah, I know that, but—”

“You had better hurry up and tell me why he was involved in the accident that stole five fucking years from me.”

“I brought him to the fight. He was driving.”

“There was no way I would have gotten in a car with him. What else aren’t you telling me?”

Shane blew out a breath. “After the fight, I was going to tell you everything, but you got mad and tried to punch me. I ducked. You hit Aspen instead.”

I stumbled back, and Shane jumped up and wrapped a hand around my arm. I jerked it free, growling. “I’m fine.” I couldn’t process that I’d hurt her. It was too gut-wrenching. So I decided to go in for the kill on the other issue.

“You need to see Dad,” Shane pleaded. “Just listen to his story, and you’ll understand that everything isn’t the way we’ve always been told.”

“You’re kidding, right? How many times do you need to be reminded that our asshole Dad abandoned Mom when she needed him most?”

“What about what Dad was going through?” my brother shouted.

I snorted. Fuck that. “You’re already betraying Mom for the both of us. Why would I make things worse for her? She’s the one who stuck around and worked herself to the goddammed bone every night so we had everything we needed.”

“I know. Mom’s incredible. I’m not trying to belittle anything she’s done, but there’s more to what happened when he left. And… after. It’s a big deal. Trust me.”

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