Chapter 21

My momma didn’t raise no fool. A psycho, yes, but not a fool.

-Ghost’s secret thoughts

Ghost

It took my sister and Fender two and a half days to get to Mooresville, and the entire time, I was waiting for the next shoe to drop.

My parents would realize rather quickly that Audrey was no longer there.

Fender had taken his time getting Audrey here due to the massive amount of shit she needed to pack, and I’d spent the last two days worrying.

How the hell was I going to tell my sister that I was alive? That, all this time, I’d just been in hiding because our parents were assholes.

Audrey had been through too much. She’d experienced way more than what was fair. She was all sunshine and happiness before my parents used her so viciously for their own sick purposes.

Should I tell her that they were the ones behind her rape? Because they were. Agonizingly so.

I didn’t have the guy that did it. But I knew that the guy was a part of my parents’ organization. I’d never been able to nail down his identity, and it wasn’t for my lack of trying.

“You’re wearing a hole in the carpet,” Mina sighed from the couch.

“There isn’t carpet in here,” I pointed out. “It’s concrete.”

She gave me a solid glare, and my lips twitched in reaction to her fierceness.

“Ghost, can you help me with my math homework?”

“I thought school was out for the summer?” I asked, walking to the kitchen table where Sienna was sitting.

She had math papers surrounding her, and there was a bunch of what looked like gibberish scribbled on the pages.

I frowned.

“I have a tutor,” Sienna said by way of explanation. “I’m not very good at it, and my teachers thought it was best if I continued to study over the summer to help me next year.”

I looked at Mina, who was watching the two of us with a small smile.

“Sienna was barely passing her math classes before she finished second grade,” Mina answered my silent question. “Her teacher suggested that she continue through summer school, despite having passed the class. But since we moved, I thought taking her to a tutor might be better. She started tonight.”

“What kind of tutor?” I asked, somewhat alarmed that she would trust just anybody with our daughter.

“The kind of tutor that’s a licensed, reputable business,” Mina said reading my worry and moving to soothe it before it got out of control. “She goes to that place in the Heritage Shopping Center. I had Silas check them out.”

My lips quirked.

“That’s good to know,” I rumbled, then pulled out a chair. “Tell me where you need help.”

Sienna pointed to a problem.

“That’s easy,” I said. “What did the teachers tell you to do for this?”

It was a simple addition problem. The problem was that it had four numbers that she needed to add instead of just two.

“I just get flustered when I have to add up this many numbers,” Sienna said.

I took the pencil from her hand, and then split the problem in half.

“Add these two, and then add these two,” I instructed, pointing at each problem with the pencil. “Then, once you have the answer, take the answers and add those two up.”

I saw the moment it clicked, and her excited eyes turned to me.

“You are so smart!” she declared jubilantly.

I grinned.

“No, not smart. Just practiced. You’ll get there, baby,” I said, cupping her cheek with my hand. “Do those, and then call me back over here so I can check your work, okay?”

She nodded enthusiastically, and then dropped her head and started writing, adding numbers furiously.

“I’m fairly sure she needs glasses,” Mina said. “I’m going to have to take her to the eye doctor in the next couple of weeks, just to make sure.”

“Aunt Audrey!” Sienna cried, throwing her pencil down and running for the door.

The pencil rolled off the table, and then into my lap, as I watched Sienna hit Audrey with such force that it rocked my sister back on her heels.

“Gosh, you act like you didn’t just see me,” she teased. “It’s only been a few weeks!”

Sienna leaned her head back. “It’s been too long. Are you moving in?”

Audrey’s eyes went from Sienna to Mina’s.

“No, honey bunches of oats. I’m not.” She shook her head and dropped her gaze back down to my daughter’s. “I’ll be in town, though. You can come see me any time you want…”

Her voice trailed off as her gaze finally settled on me.

Her brows furrowed, and her eyes narrowed.

“Who…”

Then she froze as I stood.

Her purse, that was clenched in her hand, fell to the floor.

Fender came up behind her.

“Remember what I said when I told you there was more to this than you know?” Fender asked her casually. “Well, here is where you need to listen to everything and not interrupt until you know the entire story.”

Audrey’s gaze never left mine.

I knew she couldn’t figure out that she knew me. I didn’t look the same.

“I’d know that curly hair anywhere,” she whispered.

I frowned.

She knew me by my hair?

“You’re dead,” she whispered.

I shook my head. “Not dead. Our parents…”

I started to say, and she held her hand up.

“Did they have you all this time?”

I shook my head. “No. The first year, yes. After that, no.”

“So you’ve been free of them for five years?” she asked carefully.

“Essentially,” I said. “But there’s more…”

Her hand cracked where it made contact with my face, and I heard Sienna cry out in surprise.

“Hitting isn’t nice, Aunt Audrey!” Sienna said, insinuating herself in between me and her aunt.

Mina was there in a flash, pulling her away, and saying something so softly to her that I couldn’t tell exactly what was said.

Sienna disappeared after she’d asked her to go to her room for a little bit.

Thank God.

This was about to get ugly.

“All this time, Tunnel,” Audrey’s voice cracked. “We thought you were dead.”

I lifted my hand, and she batted it away before it could touch her.

Then she abruptly turned, and glared at the man at her side. “You promised me I would be happy.”

My brows lifted, as did Fender’s.

“You’re not happy that your brother is alive?” he asked carefully.

Her jaw ticked.

“I’d be happier had he told me when it first happened that he wasn’t dead…” she pointed out to him.

I looked over at Mina.

She nodded her head.

Then I started to explain my actions. Why I did what I did.

And by the time I was done, she was looking at me like I was a broken doll.

“Oh, Tunnel,” she whispered brokenly. “There’s more, isn’t there?”

I debated whether to tell her what else I knew, but I decided that right now wasn’t the best time.

Not when she just found out that I was alive.

Maybe when she was settled and this thing with our parents was over, then I’d give her the rest of the details.

But right now, knowing that she was worried about me, and for me, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t bring any more sadness to her at that point.

“There’s more,” I agreed. “But I’m not ready to talk about it right now.”

What I had told her was enough, it was enough to break any man. But it wasn’t everything. Hell, there was probably more that my parents had done that even I didn’t know about. They were just that awful.

It took her a few long seconds to process it and come to a decision, but as soon as she did, she launched herself at me.

“I missed you so freakin’ much,” she cried softly into my shoulder. “I’m sorry for hitting you.”

I pulled her into my arms and held her tighter.

We stayed like this for a long time. So long, in fact, that when I looked around the room, it was empty of both Fender and Mina.

“I think Fender’s eating my tamales,” I whispered into my sister’s hair. “Do you want to go see?”

She started to chuckle and then slowly extricated herself from my arms.

“The tamales were always your favorite, not mine,” she told me. “My favorite is still her tortillas.”

I grinned. “I think she’s making fajitas. You’re in luck. The tamales were just for me.”

She rolled her eyes and led the way into the kitchen.

I found Fender at my kitchen table. Luckily, not eating my tamales.

“These are the best tortillas I’ve ever had in my…” Audrey snatched the still-warm tortilla straight out of his hand.

“That’s mine,” Fender grumbled.

I could do nothing but laugh.

“Where’s Sienna?” I asked Mina as I sidled up to her side.

She looked up at me.

“I gave her my iPad and let her do what she really wanted to do all along,” she answered. “She’s in my bed watching Monster High.”

I took the opportunity to pull her into my arms.

“I think I missed this most of all,” I whispered into her ear.

She raised a brow at me in question.

“This. Having you here. Sienna. Audrey. Even Fender. It feels like I’m finally home.”

She raised her hand to cup my cheek. “You are finally home.”

I leaned down and took her mouth.

She was right. I was.