Page 148 of Unspoken Rules (Rules 2)

“Talk this out? You want us to talk this out. Okay, fine, what do you want to talk about, bro? The fact that Riley was my first girlfriend and now you’re married to her? Or the fact that you were sleeping with her the whole time we were dating? Or maybe you want to talk about the fact that she got pregnant with your kid but pretended that it was mine because you refused to pay for your son?”

“Haze Christopher Adams, that’s enough!” His father raises his voice at him. Haze’s middle name is Christopher?

“So, to all of you rich investors, I have one question to ask. Is my brother really the type of person you’d like to invest millions in? I suggest you don’t. Because he’ll fuck your wife, get her pregnant, and then marry her to steal your company.”

Holy shit!

“Security!” Richard yells, but we both know it’s too late. Haze’s already said too much and probably cost his family a colossal amount of money. A tall man that’s shaped like a fridge starts to walk toward us, a pained expression on his face. He doesn’t want to do this.

“Don’t bother, Daryl,” Haze tells the man, “we’re leaving.” He looks back at his family. “Don’t ever contact me again. None of you. I’d rather be an orphan than have a family like this,” he says through gritted teeth and rushes to the exit. “Desiree would be real fucking proud.”

As if Desiree’s name is a knife jamming into her stomach, Haze’s mother pulls an agonized face. I supp

ose it’s been forever since she heard her daughter’s name. That tends to happen when you do everything in your power to cover up your kid’s death.

Kendrick, Will, and I carefully follow Haze. None of the guests move. They watch us walk away in silence. We’ve barely stepped foot outside the house when we hear someone chasing after us.

“Haze, wait, I’m begging you,” Tanner calls from afar.

Haze turns around very calmly and waits for his brother to reach us, but I know better than to think it’s because he’s ready to hear him out.

“I never meant for this to happen. I was stupid. She’s the one who snuck into my room one night when you were out with Vic. She came on to me. She said she liked older guys and…”

Bam!

Haze’s fist repeatedly grinds into his brother’s face. Tanner falls to the ground like a magnet drawn to his other half. It takes both Kendrick and Will to get Haze off him, but the damage is already done. That’s going to leave one heck of a bruise. Tanner groans in pain, still on the ground.

“Haze, please. We’re brothers. I didn’t know Riley meant this much to you. I…” Tanner’s words trail off.

“Don’t you fucking get it? She didn’t!” Haze screams louder than ever before. “You did…”

Just like that, the curtain drops and the lights come on.

The truth settles around us and we know… that’s what this is really about.

Haze doesn’t care that Riley cheated on him. He cares that his brother, who he secretly considered to be the last of his family, could do something so horrible to him. He would rather die than say it, but deep down, he hoped that maybe one day, years from now, he’d be able to save their relationship and get his brother back. But, tonight, Tanner proved him wrong.

Tonight, he showed him that he has no one.

That he never did.

“We’re not brothers anymore. You’re dead to me. Dead. If I ever see you again, I’ll end you. Are we clear?” Haze spits and darts to his car that the valet just parked out front. I tell him to let me drive, because he drank way too much to even go anywhere near the wheel, and he nods, climbing into the passenger seat and shutting the door closed.

My stepfather always says that the road to inner peace can be very lonely… but that, sometimes, a little loneliness is precisely what you need. I never really understood just how true that is until now. That’s what Haze is. A lonely soul desperate for peace. A lonely kid who doesn’t know how to handle not being lonely anymore. He spent his entire life alone, and now that he has someone who cares, he’s waiting for things to go wrong. For the rain to come pouring down and wash away the love he’s been given.

He hasn’t said a word to me since we left his parents’ house. He slouched into his seat, rested his forehead to the window, and let his mind wander to a place I could only wish to uncover. I can’t stand seeing him like this.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I finally ask.

“Nope,” he says.

“Is there anything I can do?” I slow down in anticipation of the light turning red.

“Just… stop talking, please.”

Harsh.

“Haze, I’m just trying to help.”