Chapter Twenty-Three

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Riven

The only thing I saw all day was Parrish’s bruised body, his swollen face. Over and over again, I tried to shake the image out of my head, but it never worked. Maybe it was distorted for a few moments and I couldn’t make it out, but then it was there again, stalking my thoughts until I nearly lost my mind.

He could say it wasn’t my fault all he wanted, but that wasn’t true. No, I didn’t control Rex’s actions, but they hit Parrish to hurt me, to hurt him for being close to me, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t ease the pain of that…nor the anger.

“You okay?” Smitty asked me near the end of the workday. “You’ve seemed edgy all day.”

I wasn’t surprised he’d noticed. I was on my phone more than I ever was, keeping an eye on the cameras and notifications or texting to check in with Grandma. She knew now he’d been beaten up, so that was something we would have to deal with.

“I’m good,” I replied, wanting to get the fuck out of there, but they were already short-staffed because Parrish was out. If I called in, I had a feeling Tom would show up at my house to check on me, and that wasn’t something we could deal with right now. Having my boyfriend who’d had the shit kicked out of him there would make him ask questions.

“Something go down with you and Parrish?” Wayne asked.

“What?” My gaze shot to him.

He shrugged. “He used to watch you…then you started watching him too…and now you’re both more obvious than you realize.”

Well, shit. Okay, then. “We’re fine. I just want to finish this day out and get home to him.”

They nodded and didn’t bug me for the remainder of the day. I took care of my shit, but the second I was in the truck, it was like it had a mind of its own.

That was a lie, and even I knew it. But I didn’t have it in me to go home. I couldn’t let this shit slide. They had hurt him, and I would fucking kill them for that if I had to, consequences be damned.

I turned my ringer off so Parrish couldn’t bother me if he realized I wasn’t coming straight home.

My truck practically drove me to Frank’s house without much thought. I’d made this drive a thousand times in my life, back when I didn’t know who I was or what I wanted. When I’d clung to the idea of a father figure in my life, and Frank had preyed on that, making me feel like I had a dad who loved me and accepted me even though I was a fuckup. And all along, he’d been trying to turn me into even more of a fuckup.

I told myself I hadn’t lied to Parrish. When he said come home, I said see you soon. When he said not to do something stupid, I told him I wouldn’t, and I didn’t consider this stupid. It was a necessity. If they thought they could take advantage of us, if they thought they could hurt us and we wouldn’t protect ourselves, they would take advantage of that. They would see us as weak, and damned if I was going to allow that to happen.

The house looked even more worn down than it had before I’d gotten locked up. There were more beat-up cars in the driveway, the grass needing to be mowed.

I got out of my truck, feeling their eyes on me through the blinds as I stepped toward the door.

It opened before I could knock, Rex standing there looking almost as bad as Parrish did. That’s my guy. He’d given Rex a good fight, and if Rex hadn’t caught him off guard, I figured Rex would look a lot worse.

“What do you want?” Rex gritted out.

“Now is that any way to talk to your best friend?” Frank asked from inside the house.

“Fuck him. He’s not my best friend. He used to be until he turned into a little bitch.” Rex spit at my feet.

“Oh, you mean like spending time in prison for something you did because you were too fucking weak to handle it yourself?” I pushed my way into the house as Rex cursed at me.

Frank and Bill were sitting on the couch, but they stood, the three of them creating a united front against me. “You’re lucky no one else is here right now,” Frank warned.

“Fuck you. Fuck all of you. I did the time. There’s no going back. No changing it. I just want to move on with my life, but I can’t do that when you’re still holding shit over my head!” The walls of the house vibrated with the strength of my bellow.

“Move on by fucking my little brother?”

Mentioning Parrish was the wrong damn move. Frank must have known it ahead of time, must have seen it, because he was already moving toward me when I turned on Rex, nothing but hate in my eyes. “You touch him again, and I’ll kill you with my own two hands. You so much as look at him wrong, and I’ll kill you.”

Frank and Bill both laughed, but it was Frank who spoke, “You don’t sound very much like a changed man to me. You sure you don’t want to come and work with us again?”

I didn’t know what it was about the words he’d just said that flipped something inside me. I pulled my attention away from Rex and lunged at Frank. I managed to catch him off guard, shoving him into the wall with my forearm pressed against this throat.

A gun cocked behind me, one I had no doubt was pointed at my head, but I didn’t pull off, pressing even harder against him.

Frank managed to hold a hand up. “No,” he croaked at whoever was considering shooting me. “You got something to say, you say it,” he gritted out to me.

“I’m done with you. I don’t want anything to do with this. You leave me the fuck alone. More importantly, you leave Betsy and Parrish alone. You don’t want to see what happens if you don’t.” I hated this side of me, hated that there wasn’t a thing I wouldn’t do to them if they hurt the people I loved. Frank was struggling to breathe, clutching at my arm, but I didn’t move it off him, didn’t ease the pressure. “You don’t know what I’m capable of—you didn’t before, and you sure as shit don’t now.”

I pulled off, and Frank gasped, struggling to catch his breath.

“Leave us the fuck alone,” I said again before narrowing my gaze on Rex. “Why don’t you learn how to be a good dad to your kids and treat Becca better. Jesus, you’re a piece of shit.”

It was me who spit at his feet this time.

Frank was still trying to catch his breath, but with broken words managed to say, “Be careful, son. You’re looking for a whole lot of trouble that you can’t handle.”

I didn’t acknowledge him, just walked out of the house, knowing I was only doing so because they let me. I could end up with a bullet in my back, but I didn’t.

I was tired and wasn’t dealing with this shit anymore. I was going to live my life without the fear of my grandma or Parrish getting hurt, no matter what I had to do to make that happen.

When I pulled up at home, Parrish was sitting in a chair on the cement porch, with a scowl on his face that told me I was fucked.

I got out of the truck and made my way over to him. “You should be in bed.”

“Fuck being in bed. You went over there, didn’t you?”

I sighed. I wasn’t used to answering to someone this way—well, outside of the prison guards and my PO at least. It made frustration set root in my spine, but I reminded myself this was Parrish and that it was different with him. “Yeah.”

“What the hell, Riven. Do you want to put an even bigger bull’s-eye on our backs? Do you want to make things worse? I told you not to do something stupid!”

“No!” I shouted. “But I do want to protect what’s mine! And I’d do it again. I couldn’t just pretend that didn’t happen. It would have made them think I’m an easy target.” When Parrish shoved to his feet and went back inside, I followed. He kept his back to me, standing in the middle of the room. “All I did was tell them to leave us alone. I don’t have it in me not to say something. Last time I didn’t speak up, I ended up in prison.”

“Fuck,” Parrish whispered, then turned, walked to me, and wrapped his arms around me. “You say you want to protect what’s yours, but don’t you get that I feel the same?”

“I know.” I brushed his hair off his forehead and kissed his temple.

“We need to talk Betsy into getting out of here.”

“What about Becca and the girls? I thought you didn’t want to leave them.”

“I don’t, but hell, I don’t think she’s going to want anything to do with me anymore. You saw she came over. She knows about us. I broke her heart, Riv. They won’t even let me see the kids anymore.”

Tension thickened my blood, making it feel like it slogged through my veins. This didn’t help my anger and hatred toward them. Rex didn’t do shit to take care of his own kids, but now he was going to take them away from Parrish? “I’m sorry.” I didn’t know what else to say. The words that wanted to fall from my mouth weren’t very helpful.

“I just want a normal life. It’s not supposed to be this way.” No, it wasn’t, but this was the hand we’d been dealt. Before I could respond, there was a knock on the door. “She didn’t believe the bar-fight story. She knows it was my brother.”

I had a feeling that was going to happen.

I pulled away from Parrish and let Grandma in. She carried two covered plates. “I brought you boys dinner.”

“Thanks, Grandma.”

“You didn’t do anything stupid today, did you?”

My gaze snapped to Parrish, who held his hands up. “I didn’t say a word.”

“We need to get the hell out of this town,” I told her instead of answering.

“Can you? Isn’t that something you have to get approved? And where would we go? Why would we go there? I can see Parrish is beaten to shit, but that’s all I know. Unless you want to tell me what in the hell this feud is between you and the Hunts, I’m not going anywhere. I’m old, Riven, and this is my home. Your grandfather and I built this together.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her what had really happened the night of the fight, but I couldn’t make myself do it. Her mouth would get her into trouble if I did.

“I just need something different. I need a fresh start.”

She set the plates down and came closer. “That’s one of the realest things you’ve said to me. I know more is going on than you’re willing to tell me. If you need a fresh start, I want that for you. Maybe you and Parrish can—”

“No,” I cut her off. No way was I leaving here without her. “I’m not leaving you again. And Parrish doesn’t want to leave his nieces either.” He might have said he needed out of here, but if he couldn’t talk Becca and the girls into going too, we were stuck. “It’ll be fine,” I lied.