Page 46 of The Compass Series

KENNEDY

“ W hat are you doing here? How did you know where I was staying?” Derek asked the next morning.

“There’s only one bed and breakfast in town. It’s not that hard to figure out.” I didn’t sleep a wink the previous night, because Jax couldn’t sleep, so I stayed up with him until the sun came peeking through the windows.

“Can I show you something?” I asked.

Derek scratched at his beard and cleared his throat. “Stacey and I have to get to the airport soon. I don’t really have time.”

“It won’t take long. I just want to show you.”

“Show me what?”

“What Jax has created. Just come look, please. I promise you’ll see that your family property needs to stay with Jax.”

He glanced to his wrist watch then crossed his arms. “I only have about twenty minutes to spare.”

“Trust me, it won’t take that long.”

He didn’t say anything else, just nodded in agreement.

I led Derek to the woods on Jax’s land. We didn’t say a word the whole way there. Once we arrived at the field of daisies, Derek’s eyes watered over seeing all of the flowers.

“Daisies,” he muttered, sounding like his brother.

“Yes.”

“They were her favorite flowers.” He cleared his throat. “Jax made this spot for her?”

“Yes. He has a lot more plans, too. He kept all of her old landscaping blueprints and?—”

“Shit,” Derek whispered before a shout fell through his lips. “Fuck!”

His outburst threw me for a loop, and I wasn’t sure what to say. “I’m sorry if I upset you bringing you out here,” I said, feeling guilty for my idea. I thought it would help him.

“No, you don’t get it,” he said as tears began falling down his cheeks. He placed his hands on top of his head as the emotions poured out. “You don’t get it.”

“Get what?”

“Any of this.” He swallowed hard and placed his hands behind his head. “Everything my brother went through is my fucking fault.”

I narrowed my eyes, baffled. “What are you talking about?”

“All his struggles, all his pain. Him being stuck with Cole, it’s all on me. And here he is planting Mom’s favorite flowers out of guilt for something that wasn’t even his fault.”

“Derek. What’s going on?”

“The accident. It wasn’t him.” His head dropped and tears fell quickly down his cheeks. His whole body shook as he spoke words that turned the whole world upside down. “It was me, Kennedy. It was me. I shot her. I killed our mother, not Jax.”

The words rocked me, and the silence that filled the woods was terrifying.

I took a few steps back. “What? No. Jax did it. I know you probably blame yourself because you took him out there, but?—”

“No,” Derek disagreed. “I did it. I pulled the trigger, Kennedy. The safety was on his gun. He didn’t turn off the safety. I did it. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I shot her. I killed my mother.”

He began sobbing uncontrollably as he unfolded his truths. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to move forward with everything that was coming out of Derek’s mouth. He shot his mother? He killed Elizabeth and allowed Jax to live with the idea that he was the one who pulled the trigger?

What the hell was going on?