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“I gotta go.”

I walk back into the hotel and don’t look back.

CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX

CHARLIE

My tears haven’t stopped.

Once Beck started to tell me what had happened to him as a child, I completely lost it. The pretty little woman who stood next to me had done all of that to her babies. I want to know what happened, but I’m not going to chase him. He will have to come to me when he’s ready.

I never put my gloves on when we went outside, but I pull them out to wipe the wetness from my face. I don’t want my parents to see me this upset. But also, I’m kind of mad at my parents right now for not telling us. There’s no doubt in my mind they know what happened.

Walking through the lobby, I see a few of the guys on the team with their families. I spot Archie with his parents. They’re laughing, and his arm is wrapped around his mom, who I met yesterday. Then I see Liam and Bo talking on a couch. I can only imagine what they’re talking about.

Once I’m in the elevator, I press the button to our floor three times. As the elevator climbs, my level of panic skyrockets.

What if he goes silent on me again—or worse, what if we break up again because of all this? I just can’t help but wonder if this will put another wedge between us.

The elevator stops on my floor. As I walk down the hall, I grab my key out of the lanyard around my neck. I popped it in there before we left for the game. When I open the door to the room I’m sharing with my parents, I see Casey sitting on the bed I slept on, facing my parents, who are sitting on their bed, backs to me.

When the door closes behind me, my parents turn around.

“Charlie, come sit down with us.” My dad motions me over to the bed.

My mom grabs my hands when I sit down next to Casey. “Honey, are you okay? Did you get to talk to Beck?”

Nodding my head, I look up at her. “Yeah, I did. He told me some things about his mom, which I’m guessing you already know.” Then the thought hits me. “Mom, did you know all of this when we broke up two years ago? Is this what you couldn’t tell me?”

“Charlie …” she sighs. “Honey, this isn’t a pretty story, and it wasn’t mine to share. Ryan wanted Beck and Brooke to have a life where their mother’s darkness didn’t overshadow their light. Moving to Troy was a fresh start for them, and we honored that. If you or Casey were going to find out, Beck needed to be the one to tell you. I really thought he would have before something like this happened. And I really thought he would tell Casey first, but I guess he never did. I’m sorry you had to find out like this.”

“Mom, I was broken two years ago. I thought he was seeing someone else and lying to me. I would have understood. I could have tried to help him. Instead, I turned my back on him.” I pull my hands from hers and stand.

“Charlie,” Dad starts, “sit down. We want to talk to you about this calmly. You’re upset, and we understand that completely. Ryan gave us permission to tell you both everything that happened before they moved to Troy. But I’m not going to talk to you about it unless you sit and listen.” He points at the spot I was sitting in, next to Casey.

If Beck won’t give me the answers, I want my parents to tell us all of it.

“We should be celebrating their win, and he’s somewhere in this hotel, upset.”

Casey grabs my hand and squeezes it gently. “He’s back in the room. He came in when I was leaving to come here.”

I look at Casey and notice he changed from his suit to sweatpants and a T-shirt, which has the Walker mascot and the Hanson Organization logo on it with the trophy and the date commemorating today’s win.

“Tell us what he told you, Charlie, and we’ll tell you anything you don’t know,” Mom says.

I tell them everything he told me up to the hand burn. As I’m retelling them everything Beck told me, it dawns on me that the scar on his hand must be from that burn. Why didn’t I ever ask him about that? I assumed it was a sports injury or something. Although I don’t think he would have told me unless something like this had happened before.

When I stop talking, I look at Casey. He’s leaning against the headboard, head tilted, eyes closed. I know my twin, and he’s got to be hurting as much as I am. I reach over and grab his hand that’s by his side.

“So, I guess tell us everything you know from there. He didn’t finish telling me what happened or how she got arrested.”

Dad looks at Mom. “Do you want to tell them, or do you want me to?”

With a deep breath and an exhale, Mom begins, “The day she was arrested, Ryan was supposed to be gone for one more day, but he hadn’t been able to get ahold of Stevie for two days. Things like that had been happening more frequently, and he was starting to worry. When he asked Beckham if everything was okay when he was gone, Beck never said a word. But Ryan came home early that day, and he could hear the screams from the driveway. He ran into the house, and Stevie had Beck’s hand in the frying pan. Ryan said he could smell the flesh burning. He ran over to Beck, pulled him out of her grasp, picked him up, and ran him over to the sink. Stevie stood in shock while Ryan ran cold water over Beck’s hand. He told her to call 911, but she wouldn’t move. He called over to Brooke, who was still pretty little at the time, and told her to bring him his phone that he had dropped by the door. Once she did, he pulled her behind him to block her from Stevie.” Mom stops and moves her gaze from mine to my dad.

My dad nods and takes over. “So, Ryan called the police. Once he got Beck’s hand wrapped and the kids safely on the couch in the family room, he moved Stevie from her spot, still by the stove, to one of the chairs in the kitchen. He tried to get her to speak, but she wouldn’t.” He sighs.

“The paramedics arrived first and began to treat Beck. Next, the police arrived and started questioning Stevie. Ryan hadn’t noticed it when he came in, but there was an almost-empty bottle of vodka on the counter near the stove. I guess she had taken to drinking vodka, even during the day, because she thought it was harder to smell on her breath when she picked the kids up from school.”