Page 120 of The Destruction You Desire

"I guess that all depends on how much vodka he drowned his lies in last night." Luca's voice is hard as he refers to what happened yesterday.

"Give him a little time, you might find that once he's processed everything that he'll open up."

"Unlikely, he's been hiding shit for years."

"Thank you," I whisper when he passes me a mug over. "He never said anything?"

He shakes his head. "Nope. I hoped that eventually, he'd talk to me, you know. But he just got more and more distant. I still have no clue what happened that summer."

I lift my hand to my mouth, ready to gnaw on the ruined skin around my nail but Luca quickly reaches across the counter and stops me.

"Sorry," I mutter.

I remember the summer he's talking about. I also remember the happy Leon before they went off to football camp and the distant, cold version of him that came back.

Luca and I came up with a few scenarios but as far as I know, he never brought any of them up with Lee in case we were wrong. Then everything with Libby happened and I guess I put it all behind me. It seems that Leon hasn't though, whatever it was.

"Has he talked to anyone?" I ask after a few seconds.

"Not that I know of. Letty has tried but never got anywhere."

"I guess the time just isn't right. You've gotta trust him."

"I know, and I do. But mostly I just want to help. Whatever it was, it left such an impact on him. He became—" Luca stops talking a second before an exhausted Leon walks around the corner.

"Don't stop on my account," he snaps, looking between the two of us.

"How are you doing?" I ask, although I don't know why I bother, it's written all over his face.

"Fantastic. Best day of my life," he deadpans.

"Did you get any sleep?" Luca asks, clearly seeing the dark circles around Lee's eyes just like I do.

He shrugs.

"Are we going to get the kid or what?"

"Y-yeah. Here, down this." Luca pulls an energy drink out of the refrigerator and throws it at Leon, who catches it easily.

He cracks the top and does exactly as Luca suggested.

The tension is heavy in the car as we head across town to Aunt Fee's house.

Leon sits in the back with an angry dark cloud hanging over him, it's so bad that I almost suggest that this maybe isn't a good idea. But I fear seeing Kayden might be the only bit of light in his life right now.

"Oh my goodness, look at you," I squeal when Kayden hops from the front door using a set of crutches.

"Surprise," he says with a beaming smile.

"When did you get these?" I ask. I knew he had an appointment, but Aunt Fee didn't say anything about him getting back on his feet.

"Two days ago. I wanted to surprise you."

"Baby boy," I breathe, pulling him in for a hug, emotion clogging my throat.

Aunt Fee stands by the front door with an equally wide smile on her face.

"Are you hungry?" I ask him as both Luca and Leon come up behind me. "We thought we could all go for breakfast."