Becca
“He’s gone?” Tears welled in my eyes as I tried to digest Dad’s words. “He’s really gone?”
Evan slid his hand over my mind, squeezing gently, a reminder he was right here. Even after everything, Evan was here.
When he and Dad had entered my bedroom to wake me, I knew something was wrong. Dad had aged ten years, the lines around his eyes deeper than ever. The sight of them standing there made the hairs on the back of my neck electrify, and I’d started shaking involuntarily.
“He’s gone, sweetheart,” Dad said again. “Darryl O’Hare shot him after he tried to take Kendall.”
“W-what? I don’t understand.” My thoughts were forming a hundred a millisecond, the pieces of the puzzle too many to put back together.
Dad moved to the foot of the bed but remained standing. “When he left you at the plant, we think he went over to the O’Hare’s. He has a fixation with his sister; he always has. From what Mac managed to get out of his source at the station, there was a fight. Kane tried to coerce Kendall into leaving with him, and Darryl went crazy and shot him. He died on the scene. Mr. O’ Hare has been arrested.”
My mind was still reeling from the past twenty-four hours. Kane Larson was Kendall’s brother. Her secret mentally unstable older brother. Evan had tried to explain it to me, but my head still hurt from the fall and battered face.
“He’s gone? He’s really gone?” I sobbed.
“He can’t hurt you anymore.” This time, Evan spoke, shuffling closer to me.
Kane was gone.
I should have felt relief—I was relieved—but I couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit sad for him. He was sick. Confused and broken. Even after everything, I hoped he’d finally found peace.
“I’m so sorry, sweetheart.” Dad’s voice cracked, his eyes filled with so much regret I felt it in my soul. He didn’t speak again, but I heard all the things he wanted to say.
He was sorry for bringing Kane into our lives.
Sorry for not protecting me.
Sorry for bringing me to Credence.
Sorry for the webs of lies and secrets that had been my life for the past eight months.
“It’s okay, Dad. It’s over now.”
He gave me a weak smile and left the room. I snuggled closer to Evan as I tried to make sense of everything.
“Are you okay?” he whispered into my hair.
“Honestly, I don’t know.”
Things like this didn’t happen in real life. They belonged in the farfetched plots of movies and television shows.
Robbie Larson, Kane’s father, was Elaina O’Hare’s first love, and together, they had a son. But, by all accounts, he was a challenging child, and Elaina couldn’t cope. It wasn’t long before she looked elsewhere for the life she desperately craved. By the time he started elementary school, Elaina had started an affair with Darryl O’Hare. He wanted Elaina, but he didn’t want her troubled child and her estranged husband hanging around. So much so that, when she fell pregnant with their baby, he forced Robbie and Kane out of Credence. But Elaina wasn’t pregnant with Darryl’s child; she was pregnant with Robbie’s child. This time a daughter. The girl who would grow up bitter because she knew things no child should ever know.
Kendall told Evan that when she was six, Kane contacted her. She learned that she had a brother and that the man she called Dad wasn’t really her father. But it would be another two years before she started sneaking away to the water plant to meet him. Over time, Kane became fixated with her. When Elaina found out that Kendall was going behind her back and seeing the son she sent away, she begged Robbie to leave for good because she knew if Darryl found out, things would be very bad, for all them. To protect his son—and his daughter—he agreed, turning to his old friend Mac for a fresh start.
Over the next few years, with the help of Mac, Robbie and Kane moved from town to town, trying to make a better life for themselves. But they never settled long. Trouble followed Kane wherever they went, and eventually, he ended up hospitalized. When he was finally released, a young man, Mac had secured them a fresh start with the help of my father. It was the perfect chance to start over in a wealthy neighborhood under the watchful eye of the law.
Only, Mac had underestimated just how sick Kane was. And my father had underestimated my interest in pool boys from the wrong side of the tracks.
They’d also both underestimated the bond forged between Kendall and her brother.
“Becca?” Evan’s voice coaxed me out of my thoughts.
“Yeah?”
“This doesn’t change anything, you know?” He shifted to face me. “Nothing about what happened changes how I feel about you. I just wanted you to know that.” He knew everything. What Kendall hadn’t told him, my father had filled in the blanks. Apparently, he felt Evan had earned the right to the truth when he found me in the tunnels, barely conscious. He knew about the photographs, about me and Kane, about the dares, and the lies. Evan knew all my deepest darkest secrets, yet he was still here by my side.
But Evan was wrong when he said things hadn’t changed because everything had changed. I didn’t have to run anymore, not from my past or Kane or Evan. For the first time since being in Credence, I could stand still and breathe. Better than that, I could finally move forward.
~
“You look like shit.” Scarlett grimaced, refusing to get any closer, unlike Lilly who came and sat beside me on the bed.
“How are you? We’ve been so worried.”
“I’ll be okay. Listen, you guys ...”
“Stop right there.” Lilly held up her hand, silencing me. “It’s forgotten. You did what you had to.”
People kept saying that. Like it excused what I’d put them through. Excused any of the shitty choices I’d made over the past few weeks.
“No, what I did ... it was inexcusable and selfish, and I’ll understand if you never want to talk to me again.”
I watched Scarlett from the corner of my eye. Lilly was kind and would forgive easily, but Scarlett was different. She didn’t let a lot of people in, and I had a feeling once you lost her trust, she wouldn’t give it back without a fight.
“You fucked up, new girl.” My heart sank at her use of my old nickname. But then a slow smirk cracked her face. “But we forgive you.”
My body sagged into the pillows with relief. “As soon as I’m well enough, I’ll go straight to school and iron things out with Principal Garraway, I promise.”
She shrugged. “I’m not going anywhere. Teachers tend to give you a free ride when your mom’s slowly dying of cancer.”
“Scarlett.” My voice was a whisper. I’d known things were bad for her, but she’d never told me, and I hadn’t asked. In typical Scarlett-fashion, she shook her head, and I got her message loud and clear. Not today. Lilly jumped in, changing the subject to her and Jay’s ‘epic’ reunion, and just like that, we slipped back into our old roles.
They had stayed for an hour before Mom announced Evan was back. He appeared in the doorway, and the girls said their goodbyes, promising to visit over the weekend.
“So how’d it go?” Evan joined me on the bed, armed with chips and soda. He’d practically moved in, only returning home to take Eli to pre-K and shower. Mom and Dad had even let the little guy come over to visit a couple of times. But he would have to go back to school eventually.
So would I.
“We’re good, I think. Lilly is Lilly. She practically told me to forget it, but I’m not so sure about Scarlett.”
“She’ll come around. I told you before; you have people here, Becca. Me, the girls, even Jay, Malachi, and Vin.”
I was starting to see that.
“Is she okay?”
Evan tensed beside me, and I entwined my fingers with his. He hated Kendall more than ever for what she’d done to me, but I needed to know.
“Evan?”
“She’ll live.”
He didn’t want to talk about it; I got it. I understood more than most. I hated her too, in my own way, but I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.
“Let’s not discuss her again. Not yet. Maybe one day. But not today.” His arm curved around my shoulder, drawing me closer. “Today, I just want to do this.” Evan’s face dipped to mine, his lips covering my own.
There were still things left unsaid—things that one day, we’d need to discuss. But he was right. It could wait.
Because the truth couldn’t hurt us anymore.