Page 103 of A Matter of Fact

“Are…are you okay?” Rhys lingered in the doorway, and Beckett looked at him for the first time since his arrival. Slacks, as always. No shoes, no socks, and a white button up shirt that had the top two buttons undone and the sleeves rolled toward his elbows. Rhys looked as un-put-together as someone like him ever could.

“I was missing my sister,” he said.

“I didn’t know you had a sister.” Rhys rubbed the back of his neck at the admission.

“I don’t talk about her. But I’ve been thinking about her a lot lately with all the stuff you have going on.”

Rhys walked toward him, notching himself in between Beckett’s spread legs. Beckett set his drink on the counter and hooked his arms around Rhys’s shoulders, resting his head on the soft cloud of Rhys’s hair.

“Do you want to?” Rhys mumbled, his mouth smashed against Beckett’s arm.

“I used to live with her, before I moved out here. I caught her husband cheating on her with their babysitter.”

“Were you the babysitter?” Rhys asked, nipping at Beckett’s arm.

“Not that day.” He sighed. “I told her about it, and…we fought.”

“Wait.” Rhys stepped away, his brow furrowed. “You and she fought because you told her that her husband was having an affair?”

“I mean, basically.” Beckett took a swallow of his drink. “You know, like…I wasn’t the best kid. I acted out and had problems in school. Even when I was in college and staying with her for a bit, I wasn’t the best brother.”

“It’s expected at that age.”

“She told me I was trying to get attention. That I was lying.” Beckett grimaced at the memory. “She didn’t believe that her husband would do that to her. She never evenaskedhim.”

“What then?” Rhys asked.

“I only caught him because my lab had been cancelled, so the next day, I skipped class and went home early. Sure enough, they were at it again.” He finished his drink and Rhys made him another. “I took pictures. I didn’t want to hurt my sister, but I wanted to prove it to her. I wanted her to believe me. I wanted her to know.”

“And she didn’t take that well?”

The drink Rhys made him was far heavier on the vodka than the first one. He shook his head. “I showed her, but she just…got mad at me instead.”

“You didn’t deserve that,” Rhys said softly.

“But hey.” Beckett screwed his eyes closed and cleared his throat. “It got me two months of awkward tension and then a plane ticket to California as soon as I graduated.”

“She held on to it that long?” Rhys’s eyebrows shot toward his hairline.

“She’s still holding.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and threw it onto the counter. It slid and clattered, landing against the marble backsplash with a thump. “I called her earlier, when I was home cleaning the plants, and she didn’t answer.”

“Your sister sounds like a miserable person,” Rhys said. He grabbed Beckett’s phone from the corner and inspected it for damage before setting it down beside his thigh. “If it’s any consolation, I know people. Like, Iunderstandthem. Better than most. And she knew he was cheating on her before you told her.”

Beckett scrunched his nose. “What?”

“She already knew and that’s why she reacted how she did. You put her in a situation where it was public knowledge. She couldn’t keep it a secret, and that embarrassed her greatly.”

“Why would she stay with him if she knew?” Beckett found it nearly impossible to believe.

“People do a lot of things in an effort to avoid the truth, darling.”

“I guess.”

“Can I digress?” Rhys arranged himself back between Beckett’s legs, taking his face into the cradle of his hands and bringing them eye level.

“Please,” Beckett rasped.

“We need to talk about your plants,” Rhys said. “About your apartment.”