Page 113 of Don't Say You're Sorry

I quickly shake my head. As much as it pains me, we’ll have to come up with a lie. We’ll have to think of some other explanation?—

“We thought you’d be devastated,” Axel goes on. “We forced Adam to move to London with me. We wanted to get him away from Easton.”

“You what?” Veronica seethes.

I sit beside my stepbrothers on the front steps outside, listening to the sound of Veronica yelling at my dad inside the house. He walked in just as she was tearing Axel a new one, and he knew he was fucked. I’ve never seen him look so scared. I’ll bet the only other time he’s been that horrified is the day he got the call telling him my mother was dead.

Veronica told me and the boys to go home, but we couldn’t leave. Not without making sure she’s okay first. Not without knowing where we all go from here.

I wince as her voice gets louder, coming closer. She must be right behind the front door.

“They’re my children, Michael. Easton is mine too. And you purposely broke his heart to protect your own.”

“I was protecting yours?—”

She cuts my dad off. “Fuck my heart! Do you know what Adam leaving did to Easton? Do you know how many times I caught him staring into space, missing the boy you sent away?”

There’s a long pause. “Yes,” he says eventually. “I know.”

“And you did nothing.”

“No, I didn’t, but?—”

The front door gets torn open from the inside, and the three of us jump.

“Wait.” My dad panics. “Veronica, please don’t leave.”

She opens her mouth—probably to tell him to go fuck himself—but stops short when she catches us siting here. Her face heats with a mixture of anger and shame when she realizes we heard her. “I told you to go home.”

Sheepish, we say nothing.

Veronica steps around us and goes to her car on the driveway, tossing an overnight bag inside.

Axel stands. “Mum, where are you going?”

“Out.”

“Mum—”

“Axel,” she says, doing her best not to lose her shit all over again. “I love you, but I can’t talk to you right now. Go home with your brothers.”

She gives Adam and I one last look before she gets into her car and drives away.

My dad hangs his head, his hands clutching the back of his neck. I want to ask if he feels it—the unbearable pain in his heart. I want to tell him that’s what he did to me—tous—but I won’t kick him while he’s down. He’s kicking himself enough already.

Axel sits and pulls his knees to his chest, resting his chin on top. It reminds me of when he was younger.

Gritting his teeth, he stares after his mom. “I told you this would happen.”

“It wouldn’t have if you’d just stayed out of it,” Adam snaps, glaring between him and my dad. “This is on you two, not us.”

My dad stares at me.

Axel throws his hands up. “How was I supposed to know she’d be fucking fine with it?”

“Did you know?” my dad asks, his voice raw. “Did you know she’d be okay with you and Adam being together?”

I avoid his gaze when I say, “I had a feeling, but I wasn’t sure until he was already gone.”