Chapter Twenty-Two

Darius

I start to get worried when she says nothing for a long time. I know I just laid shit out for her but if telling her the truth means I get my girl, then I have no regrets.

“Gary used me to get to you, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, Goldie.”

“Did Gary know about you being his twin?” I shake my head even though she can’t see me.

“No, he hated me and Corvin because of football. He had no idea that we were even related at that time. Gary is fucked up, Goldie.” She snorts.

“Yeah, I’m well aware of that fact.”

“Gary knew my mom sold her body for drugs. After what he did to you, he tried to buy my mom.” She gasps and slowly turns sideways so she can face me, her face a picture of disgust.

“He tried to sleep with his own mother?” I roll my lips over my teeth and nod. “Oh, that is just gross.”

“Yeah, it is,” I admit.

“Did he… do it?”

“No.”

“Thank God?—”

“It wasn’t from his lack of trying. But, apparently even Jenny Lockhart has a moral compass and draws the line at fucking her own son,” I say with an edge to my voice.

“Wait, so your mom knew who Gary was the whole time?” I grit my teeth and nod, her eyes soften. “How?”

I take a deep breath before giving her the story she eagerly wants. “When Gary and I turned one, Victor turned up at the trailer park demanding one of us.”

“Why?” I hear tinges of pain in her voice, but it isn’t for herself, it’s for me.

“Victor’s father told him that he wouldn’t hand over the company to him unless he had an heir that he could pass the company onto.” Anger flares to life in her eyes.

“Victor never wanted Gary, he just wanted to inherit his fortune.” I nod. “How did he know your mom?”

“Jenny said she met him at a bar she used to sing at, some swanky joint in the city. He would screw her every time he was in town. She got knocked up and Victor fled, leaving her alone and pregnant. She lost her job and had no choice but to move out of the city into a trailer park where she raised us for a year, until Victor came and stole Gary.” Her eyes widen and her mouth pinches to the side. I can see the cogs of her mind turning over. “Just say it.”

“When did your mom start doing drugs and… prostituting herself?” I frown.

“Why?” She reaches out and cups my face between her hands, sadness clouds her features.

“Just answer, please.” I try to think back to when I first remember her starting to dabble in narcotics.

“Maybe around the time I turned two. She didn’t shoot up at first, she just started to drink. Then, when that didn’t give her a buzz, she started on the hard shit and well, you know the rest.”

“Oh, Darius,” she says brokenly. I lean forward and gently grip her waist as I place a soft kiss to her lips.

“Don’t pity me, baby. Look at me now,” I say in a light tone, trying to ease some of the tension. She shakes her head.

“Darius, you don’t get it, do you?”

I furrow my brow, not picking up what she is putting down. “Get what, Goldie?” I ask, slightly exasperated and over this whole conversation. Dragging up the past does nothing. All it ever does is make me hate Jenny and Victor more for not loving me like the Williams’s love their children.

“Darius, your mom turned to drinking and drugs because she was broken hearted.”

“What?” I practically shout.

“Did she willingly hand Gary over?” I scrunch my face up as I try to remember that day. I can’t, all I know is what she told me.

“She said she hated Victor because he took her purpose away. I… I don’t think she gave him up, I think Victor just… took him.”

“Your mom was trying to dull her pain through alcohol and drugs, Darius.” I cock my head to the side and stare at her, trying to process her words. “The day you moved in with us, what did your mom say?” I scoff.

“The bitch packed my shit for me,” I bite out.

“So, she said nothing else to you?” I roll my eyes and try to think back to that day. I remember the Williams’s calling her and her agreeing to let me live with them. When we drove to the trailer park, I went and grabbed my bags and then—my eyes widen.

“She told me… that your parents could give me a better life. She said sorry and… cried.” My stomach drops and a lump forms in my throat. Holy fuck. Is Leah right? Did my mom actually love me?

“Darius?” she whispers my name, trying to draw my gaze back to her. When I take too long, she grips my chin and lifts my face to hers. Her eyes are filled with pity and it causes me to flinch.

“I don’t need your pity,” I snarl. She doesn’t pull away or reprimand me for my harsh tone.

“I don’t pity you, babe. I pity Jenny for what she went through.” Is it wrong that the only thing I heard out of what she just said was babe ?

I smirk. “Babe, huh?” She rolls her eyes.

“I’m serious,” she says sternly.

“What do you want me to say? It’s too late now. I’m not a little kid anymore, Goldie. I gave up hope a long time ago.”

“It’s never too late. If you want to find her, I’ll help you and be there with you every step of the way. I promise!” I mull over her words. What if she’s right and Jenny really was just fucked up and trying to ease the pain of losing a child? She didn’t have the money to fight Victor and she was dumb enough to put his name on our birth certificates, so it’s not like he was kidnapping in a way and knowing Victor, he would have threatened her to not go to the cops.

“I’ll… think about it.” Before we can discuss this any further, the back door opens and a pale looking Crue stands there. “What’s wrong?”

“We have a problem.” The solemn tone of his voice has us both climbing to our feet. I help Leah and then lead her inside where we find the others sitting in the living room with news playing on the TV.

‘The remains of college student Garrett Jones has been found near the local park. It appears that this wasn’t from natural causes and the police are treating this as a homicide. Anyone with information is urged to come forward–

Corvin turns the TV off before the rest can be heard. No one says a word. We all stand around, reeling over what we just heard. My first thought is thank fuck the cunt is dead and the second, what the fuck did Corvin and the others do?

“What did you do?” Leah breathes out as she looks at her brother. Corvin doesn’t look broken up or even worried. He cuts his gaze to Cody and Katie, both the girls look to be in shock. His gaze hardens as he continues to stare at Cody, daring her to say something. She swallows audibly before standing on shaky legs, she squares her shoulders and lifts her chin as she meets Corvin’s harsh stare.

“We know nothing. We came over yesterday to continue the celebrations from the Thanksgiving party and everyone was here the whole night.” Corvin pulls his gaze from Cody to look at Katie. Unlike Cody, her gaze is fixated on the two guys standing beside Corvin. Crue and Saint have a mask of indifference in place, keeping their emotions locked down. She pushes to her feet and ignores Corvin as she stands before the duo. Those two boys would die for each other, there is nothing and no one in this world that could ever come between them. If Katie has any hope of making it a trio, her answer better be the same as Cody’s.

“Whatever you need me to say, I’ll say it. I won’t lie, I’m not sad that asshole is dead and if that makes me a shitty person, so be it.” The tension drains from Saint’s shoulders. Crue grips Katie’s face and plasterers his mouth to hers. Well, clearly that was the right answer after all. I look to Corvin to find his gaze already on me, I see it. I can read him better than anyone, they did it. They killed Garrett.

After setting Leah up in the living room with Cody and Katie, the five of us and Nathan make our way to the basement. Once we’re inside, Crue closes the door while Saint sets his phone up to the Bluetooth speaker, no one speaks until the music begins to play.

“What happened last night?” I ask as I look between Nathan, Crue, Saint and Corvin. I’ll admit I’m shocked as fuck that Nathan was a part of this, we never do any dodgy shit with someone else around only each other.

“It’s not what you think,” Crue begins but Corvin cuts him off.

“We got back there, the fucker was dead in the closet. What the fuck were we supposed to do?”

“He was breathing when we left,” Beck interjects. Corvin just shrugs his shoulders.

“Well, he wasn’t when we got back.” Corvin forgets I can read him, I know he’s lying but the thing I don’t get is why? “We disposed of the body and made sure nothing would link back to us.”

“The whole fucking house saw us running through there to get to Leah!” I rebuke.

“They’re taken care of,” Saint answers.

“How?” Saint’s mask falters, I stare at him for a second as I try to piece this all together. How the hell would they have got a whole fucking house to remain silent and not snitch about a murder?

“Look, we did what we had to,” Crue says in a matter of fact tone.

“And what about him?” I ask as I nod my head toward Nathan, he glares at me.

“Well I won’t be saying shit, will I?” he snaps.

“We’re just supposed to believe that?” Beck asks.

“Asshole over there snapped a pic of me carrying the body, so I’d say I’m good at keeping my mouth shut.” Corvin nods his agreement, this shit is too much to deal with.

“All of you get your clothes from last night and burn them now, all the bedding you slept in needs to be burned. Whatever car you took needs to be detailed stat. You need Katie to hack into any cameras around the area that you went to and scrub the footage. We all need to get our story about yesterday straight and come up with a damn good lie about Leah’s face.”

“Since when did you become a pro on covering up a murder?” Saint jokes.

“Since this isn’t my first cover up,” Beckett answers in a flat tone, he marches out of the room as the rest of us stare at his retreating form, stunned.

“He wasn’t joking, was he?” Crue whispers. I shake my head.

“I think there is still a shit load we don’t know about Beck and something tells me, he was telling the truth just then,” I utter.

We come up with a plan that the girls and Nathan will stay with us for the rest of the break, that way if the cops come knocking, we’ll all be together. Saint and Crue left an hour ago with Katie to go back to the dorms to pack them some shit. Nathan left not long after them to go grab some shit for himself.

“This is so not how I envisioned my homecoming to be,” Leah mumbles. I wrap my arm around her shoulders, she rests her head on my chest. Corv and Cody sit on the sofa opposite us while Beck sits on the bean bag near the fireplace stoking it, burning the clothes and bedding.

“Me either,” Cody answers, shooting her friend a rueful smile.

“How did you picture it?” I ask.

“I can’t answer that with my brother in the same room.” I splutter as Corvin shoots Leah a scathing look.

“That shit isn’t funny,” Corv snaps. He’s been in a salty mood since Cody said she would be staying in the spare room. Beck offered up his room to Nathan, so of course Leah had to then offer him to crash with us in my bed .

“It was a little funny,” she teases. I shake my head at the pair of them. “Becky?” she calls. Beckett slowly turns to face her, he smiles but it’s forced. “You okay?”

“Yeah, babe, just thinking.” I hate that he fucking calls her stupid ass pet names, it works on my nerves. The front door opens to reveal Crue, Saint and Katie. I narrow my eyes. Katie’s cheeks are flushed, her hair is a mess and Crue’s shirt is on backwards.

“So, campus is like a five minute drive and by my calculations, you guys have been gone over an hour?” Katie shoots Cody a dirty look before dropping the bag in her hand to the floor.

“Whoops,” she hisses as she stares at Cody.

“Bitch, you better not have broken my GHD,” Cody mumbles as she slouches back into the couch. Fuck me, I can tell I’m already going to regret having them all stay with us.