Epilogue
Smith
“When is the last time we sat around like this? Drinking whiskey while the chicks are in bed.” Jacks passed me the now-half-empty bottle, a nostalgic grin on his face. “It had to be before all the kids were born.”
We were sitting in the large music studio, the one that we’d built by the shared pool house. We’d come here tonight after dinner, fiddling around with our instruments and playing some old tunes. Now we were sitting, sharing a bottle of whiskey Luke had found under the couch.
I took the bottle, took a pull, and sent it on down the line to Luke. “Speaking of the kids, I wanted to talk to y’all about something.”
“Man, we’re really sorry about what Evie went through.” Dash shook his head sadly. “I can’t imagine what that must have been like for all of you.”
It was the worst day of my life so far, and I’d had some bad shit go down over the years. Nothing compared to seeing Evie in that hospital bed. It was gut wrenching. Hearing what happened to her was beyond heartbreaking. I wanted to hold my daughter and murder that asshole that dared to touch her.
“Have you heard anything back from the detectives on her case?” Dash was right with me; we wanted Collin to pay to the fullest for what he’d done.
“He’s been arrested, but he made bail. He’s father is an attorney in Dallas, so the cops are making sure they are doing everything exactly by the book.” The detectives on Evie’s case said they last thing they wanted was for Collin to get off on a technicality. “Evie is a strong girl, stronger than she thinks she is. She’ll make it through this.” Not only was my kid tough in her own right, she had Nick in her corner, who I trusted wholeheartedly. I was trying really hard not to blame myself for her addiction problems. Genetics and all that.
What stung the most was that I felt like I’d been careless. I should have seen the signs. I should have asked more questions. I should have been on top of things. And that thought had only been amplified by what I’d overheard earlier tonight. Things needed to change around here, and they needed to start now. “I think we’ve dropped the ball, big time.”
“Hey, man, don’t beat yourself up like that. Evie was living up in Dallas, only telling you guys the good parts. It’s not all your fault that—”
“I mean all of us, numb nuts.” I shoved Jacks to the side, making some of the whiskey spill out of the bottle. “We’ve all dropped the ball.”
“Like how?” Luke made a face, like I was crazy. “We have good kids, man.”
“I’m not saying we don’t.” I shook my head.
Dash leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest. “Then what are you saying?”
“I walked in on Evie and Beau talking tonight before dinner. I heard them say that they should let us in, ask for our help.” I swiped the bottle from Jacks; he’d had enough. “Look at what’s happened in the past couple of years. We found out about Halen and Beau, how they had a secret relationship and a miscarriage right under our noses. Cash slept in Halen’s room for months and no one noticed. All the kids knew, but we didn’t.” I pointed at Jacks, holding up two fingers, ticking off my points. “Then Landry gets pregnant and hides who the father is from us, but Beau and Halen knew she was with Brody.”
Luke winced. “Jacks man, your kids are out of control.”
“My kids?” Jacks chuckled, like Luke had told a hilarious joke. “There were pictures on the Internet of your son having sex. Sex, dude.” He shook his head. “Cash is living large with a great girl, and Jett is literally the most charming kid I’ve ever met. But Crue is a damn disaster.”
“Says you, the biggest man whore in all of rock and roll.” Luke rolled his eyes.
“You are all missing the point I’m trying to make here.” I snapped my fingers between Jacks and Luke before their little side discussion could go any further. “Evie, sweet innocent controlled Evie, hid a pill addiction. And the only reason I found out about the attack was because Nick called me. Nick. Her boyfriend we also didn’t know anything about.” I looked at Jacks. “But Beau knew about him.”
“There goes Jacks’s kid, in the middle of the trouble again.” Luke was smiling, loving that he got to keep giving Jacks shit.
“I hate to throw my own girls under the bus here,” Dash shrugged, “but I get what Smith is saying. Avory seems to be down about something, but she swears she’s fine. And Marley? Y’all, I’m kind of scared of her.”
“Oh, me too.” Jacks nodded, lips pursed.
“One hundred percent, man.” Luke chuckled. “The only person who doesn’t seem to give that girl a wide berth is Jett.” He sighed. “Which probably means they’re in cahoots for world domination.”
“It seems to me that the only people being kept out of the loop when it comes to all these kids is us. They tell each other everything, and they have each other’s backs. But they’ve become so damn good at it that we have no fucking clue what’s what anymore.” I leaned back in my chair, having finally made my point.
“Remember when we moved out to this compound? At first it was only Halen and Landry. We wanted them to be so close, like sisters.” Dash smiled at the memory of our girls, Landry helping Halen learn to walk so vivid in my mind. “And then Beau came along. Evie, the twins…all of a sudden we were surrounded by kids. It was so fun watching them grow up together, watching them become friends.”
“You’re right man, we loved how close they were. We loved watching them stand up for each other and look out for one another.” Luke laughed quietly. “I guess somewhere along the way we all took a step back.”
“Their problems used to be small, petty. The twins fighting over Xbox controllers and Landry staying out past curfew.” Luke met my eyes. “Their problems are big now. Their problems could have life-altering outcomes.”
I nodded. “Their problems are big now.”
Jacks tossed the almost empty bottle in the trash. “So what do we do about it?”
“Mace is the strictest parent I know, should we call him?” Luke raised his eyebrows. “Cash said he does like bed checks and stuff at the hotel.”
“We are not calling Mason Maxwell for advice.” Dash wrinkled his nose, showing his distaste for the suggestion. “We’re older than him, and we’re his fucking bosses.”
“You got a better idea? Cameras? GPS tracking? Lie detectors?” Jacks looked longingly at the trashcan, like he was hoping the whiskey bottle would hop back out magically full again. “Bars on their windows?”
Luke scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Hey, my kids are grown and doing real fucking well.” Jacks held his hands up. “I was merely trying to help you assholes out.” He pointed to Luke, Dash, and me.
“Well. The kids seem to confide in each other, so maybe we should divide and conquer?” Luke cleared his throat and started again. “We need to make sure we’re questioning each individual kid. Our problem has stemmed from the fact that they band together like tiny warriors. So, we spend time with each kid, asking questions.” He shook his head, looking incredulous that we were having this conversation. “They’re bound to slip up at some point.”
In all honesty, I thought we had a better chance with the GPS trackers. Our children had years of experience living their lives without our knowledge and interference. If it hadn’t been for Nick, I’d have never known what Evie was going through. And if it hadn’t been for Landry puking all over the dinner table, who knows when she would have told us about the baby? And Crue? We’d been sent photographic evidence, along with gifs.
“It’s a good place to start, I suppose.” Because really, it was all we had. The eight of us parents had the fight of our lives ahead of us, and suddenly I was exhausted. I got to my feet. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go home and make sure all my people are present and accounted for.” Not that I thought either of my girls were the sneaking-out type.
Jacks sent me a small smile. “If I were you, I wouldn’t bother checking Nick’s bed.”
“Why?”
Dash winced. “Really, man? You know Evie is in there with him, right?” He looked at his watch. “Yeah. They’ve assumed everyone is asleep…they’re doing it.”
I pointed at Dash. “Shut up, man. That’s not funny.”
Luke shook his head sadly. “No one’s joking, bro.”
The RiffRaff Records saga continues with another Devil’s Spawn story