Page 45 of Remiss

“Stop being such a fucking asshole,” Devon snapped. “You’re not that guy.”

“I am!” Ryan insisted wildly. “I fucking am. It’s better than being…than being…” What? He wasn’t sure. He only knew the wound inside him might never recover. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It does, brother,” Devon said quietly. “To me. To Dad. And to Mom. She loves you.” Discomfort crossed his face, and he shifted. “It matters to Rory and it probably matters to Harley.”

Sitting, Ryan heaved in a breath, placed his elbows on his knees, and stared at the wooden floor. “They promised if I sent them videos of her in her private moments and her and me together, they’d send Molly back.” A teardrop hit the hardwood. One, two, three, until they streamed down his face and left a small puddle. “I never would’ve done that to her. I’m destroyingher. She looks so fucking defeated. And it was all for nothing. Molly’s dead. I didn’t pull the trigger, but I may as well have.”

His sobs began again, dredged from his soul. Painful. Guilty.

“You’re a fuckhead,” Rory spat.

“Shut up, Rory,” Devon ordered. “You’re just as fucking guilty. You always protect that fuckhead when we all know we could be mourning Aunt Meggie’sdeath. I’m so fucking sorry I overheard Ryan’s conversation and know more than I should. Who the fuck could I tell without getting my brother killed?”

“Don’t fucking turn this around, Devon,” Rory said. “Because you’re guilty of the same crime as me.”

“The fuck I am. Ryan’s a kid. He was so fucking wrong for not going to Uncle Christopher. Butyourdad? Uncle Johnnie is a motherfucking officer, Aunt Meggie’sbrother-in-law. He has no fucking excuse for the chaos he’s caused. Stop making excuses when his actions are inexcusable, fuckhead.”

Slowly, Ryan lifted his head. Devon and Rory faced off, but then Rory backed to a chair and dropped into it. He knew some of the story because they’d had a long conversation in December and they’d also gone to Salt Lake City with Johnnie. Both Ryan and Rory had looked the other way, pretending ignorance of the other’s actions as their world collapsed around them.

However, in the grand scheme, Ryan’s crimes were much more grievous than Rory’s.

Sitting on the sofa, Devon looked at Ryan. “Call Willard. Ask him about Molly. We have to come up with a plan. If she’s still there, give him a deadline and if he misses it,tell Uncle Christopher. Everything. We have to save Harley and Aunt Meggie before it’s too late. Imagine how we’d feel if Mom was marked for death and CJ kept it from us?”

“Why do you think you’re responsible for Rebel and Rule?” Rory asked before Ryan could consider Devon’s instructions.

“I planted cameras in Reb’s room and Rule caught me,” Ryan croaked, his brain exhausted. He hadn’t slept much last night, expecting his mother and Harley to return and not wanting to miss them. “He wanted me to share the footage with him.”

Devon blinked. “What footage?”

“Of Rebel. Anything that could humiliate her.”

“Seeing Rebel naked sent Rule over the edge?” Rory asked.

Ryan shook his head. “Seeing her with Diesel.”

“The fuck you say!” Devon blurted.

“No, not sex!” Ryan amended. “But it wasn’t innocent.” He scrubbed a hand over his face and heaved in a breath. “She thinks she’s in love with him and Diesel…Diesel…if Rebel was eighteen, there’d be no stopping him. Rule started thinking of Rebel as a whore.”

“Do you know if Diesel ever finds out—”

“I know, Dev,” Ryan whispered, and shuddered. “Rule might not have had a psychotic episode without those videos. Suppose he’d killed her? I couldn’t live with myself.”

“He didn’t,” Devon said fiercely. “She’s alive. With Aunt Meggie, Mom, Harley, Lolly and the rest of our aunts and girl cousins.”

“Why Harley and Rebel specifically?” Rory asked, curiosity brimming in his voice. He cocked his head to the side. “Any reason Willard wanted videos of them?”

“And what does he plan to do with it?” Dev added.

“Yeah, and how do you think you took CJ from her? Because you and her smashed?”

Ryan hated how crudely they spoke of Harley. How dismissive, as if she wasn’t a real girl with real feelings. He wondered if Rory would be so blasé if he knew his sister had also been targeted.

“Harley and Rebel bested him when he attacked them.”

Devon and Rory exchanged glances, then stared at Ryan.

“I’m sorry but what?” Devon asked, blinking. “We know about Rebel beating the brakes off him. What happened between him and Harley?”