Page 27

CHAPTER TWENTY-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.”

“I’m literally flabbergasted that no one ever caught on to this happening in their house. Like, why on earth didn’t a teacher or the freaking director of the preschool contact Ryan?” The longer I listen, the angrier I get. I know I shouldn’t be mad at his dad, but I just can’t imagine that people didn’t know.

“I know, honey. It makes me sick, thinking about the whole thing. I just love Beck and Brooke so much. I can’t fathom anyone wanting to hurt them—or any child. And there was a teacher who reported it, but after an investigation, there was no evidence of neglect. But that day of the incident, after she was questioned, she was arrested for child endangerment. While she was awaiting trial, an investigation was conducted in the home. Ryan had to go through evaluations, social investigations, and therapy for the kids, for him. He lost his job because he couldn’t travel anymore. After nearly two years, she was convicted, and they were basically free of her, so they decided to move. Ryan wanted to get the kids out of there because too many people in the community knew what was going on and what had happened, and he needed a job.” She reaches over and puts her hand on top of Casey’s, which is still holding mine.

A tear drops down my face. Picturing Beckham and Brooke in that kind of home breaks my heart. Ryan is a great dad, and I’m trying really hard not to be angry with him right now.

“I just don’t understand something. How does a father not know his wife is hurting his kids? When he was there, didn’t he see bruises or signs that something wasn’t right?”

Dad leans forward. “Charlie, alcoholics get really good at hiding and lying. Ryan found liquor bottles all over the house when they were packing up to move. Under clothes, in laundry soap boxes, under sinks. She had even filled a spray bottle with vodka. And he said she’d confessed to drinking Benadryl or mouthwash when he was home so she wouldn’t completely detox. Addicts will do absolutely anything to hide their addictions.”

He continues, “Apparently, she’d struggled with mental health issues before they were married. I guess her father had also been an alcoholic, so it ran in the family. She said she just couldn’t deal with Ryan being gone all the time and couldn’t handle the kids. When she went to trial, she confessed to everything she remembered doing to the kids. Some information about the abuse came from the social investigation with Beckham. They wouldn’t allow him to testify because he was so young, but they had enough at that point to convict her anyway. She was sentenced to fifteen years; she lost her parental rights and was ordered to go through counseling and a rehab program at the prison.”

Mom says, “The day that Britney overheard Beckham and me talking, he had just gotten back from testifying at her parole hearing. Because he was over fourteen, he had been permitted in the hearing. He asked for them to keep her in jail. When he had gotten back, he came straight to our house. He wanted to see you, but when I told him Britney was there, he didn’t want to stay. He was pretty upset, and I think had she not been there, he might have told you about it then. I’m so sorry I couldn’t tell you both, but because of some of the legal issues still pending, I couldn’t say anything without their permission.”

She looks from me to Casey. “Case, did you have any idea any of this happened to him?”

Casey shakes his head. “Beck isn’t really one to talk about feelings. He’s always been quiet about his mom. He only made a few comments in passing about how she was a horrible mother and that they were much better off without her.” He sits up and places his palm on my back.

“We’re his family, Charlie. We have to be patient with him. Trust me, I want to go up there to our room right now and ask him so many questions, but we have to let him deal with this in his way. He’s not going anywhere.” He brings his hand up to my shoulder and squeezes it.

All of this tonight has been a lot to deal with. Like Casey said, I want to run up and be with him, but I also want to show him that I respect him by honoring his request for space. The worst part of all of this is that Casey and Beck should be celebrating tonight’s win with the team.

“Maybe I should go back early tomorrow and stay with Arbor for a few days. Give him some space. He has a lot going on right now, and he needs to focus on getting ready for the championship game.” I turn to look at Casey. “What do you think I should do?”

He holds his hands up. “Char, I don’t know what to tell you, honestly. I know he’ll be pissed if you leave, but you’re right. He needs to focus on getting ready for Southeast. Maybe go stay with her for a few days and see how it goes. I think I’ll head back up to our room and check on him. If he wants to be alone, I’ll go find the guys.” He swings his legs to the side of the bed and stands.

“Oh, wait. Beck mentioned seeing Britney at the game against Chandler. Did you see her too?”

Casey sighs and hangs his head. “Yeah, I saw her.” He looks up at me. “I wondered if he would say anything about it or hoped he would at least tell you.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? We tell each other everything.”

“Because, Char, it doesn’t matter that we saw her or what she said. What matters is that you two love each other. Britney is irrelevant. It’s time to let it go.”

“Arbor and Lily saw her too, but I can’t believe she would seek out Beck. But you’re right. It’s time to let it go. I love him, he loves me, and she’ll never get in the way of us again.” I say, nodding.

“Good, just focus on moving forward together, not the past.”

He goes to Mom first and hugs her, then moves to Dad. Dad says something in his ear that I can’t hear, and he pats Casey on the back three times.

I stand when he moves over to me, and I reach up to hug him. He lifts me a little and then sets me down, but doesn’t let go.

“Please keep an eye on him for me. I can’t lose him again. I don’t want him to go silent on me.”

“I won’t, I promise. You know he loves you more than anything. Let him work this out, and everything will be okay.” He lets go of me and starts walking to the door. “I might not see you guys tomorrow before you leave, so if I don’t, I’ll call you when we get back to Walker. Love you guys.”

We all respond with, “Love you,” back to him, and when the door shuts, the tears fall.

My parents both come over to me and say all the things to make me think everything will be okay, and I really hope they’re right.