Page 42 of Renegade Rift
It’s not that I don’t want to speak in front of her. It’s that I’m not entirely sure what to say. Everything between Tyler and me has always been strained. Forced. This isn’t any different.
“Okay.” I sink back on my heels, knees digging into the damp grass, and glare at the name that has haunted me for so long. “You were a right bastard, you know that? Not only all those years in high school, but every year after. I was so excited when my mom told me I’d be getting a brother. A boy a little younger than me, who loved baseball as much as I did. I had dreams of what we’d be. Ford and Tyler. The big league bros. Imagine my surprise when I found out you hated me because you thought my love of baseball overshadowed yours. Because your dad decided I was the brother to back.”
Hurt lodges in mythroat, making it impossible to speak. My lip trembles and all the pent-up emotions I’ve held so close to my chest erupt like a volcano that’s been dormant for too long.
“I was fucking sixteen. I was a child. Just like you. It wasn’t my choice. It wasn’t?—”
Soft skin runs over my hand, and I look down at where Juliet has intertwined her fingers with mine. There’s nothing romantic about it, and yet it means more than any other time I’ve held a woman’s hand. She gives a gentle squeeze, and I keep going.
“I had to get my mom out of there, Tyler. It was never about you or me. I could take the heat. I could fight back. My mom couldn’t. She wouldn’t. And if we had stayed, I would have lost those extra years with her. You could have come with us. I know he was your dad, but I’ll never understand why you chose to stay and not fight back.”
My heart hurts as images from those final days play through my mind. The sight of my mom’s blood. The rage in my veins. The betrayal in Tyler’s eyes.
“Mom wanted me to fix the rift between us. And there is a part of me that will always be sorry that I didn’t get the chance to. But after finding out the truth of what you became, I’m not sure we ever would have seen eye to eye.”
Anger courses through me, and I drop Juliet’s hand, afraid of squeezing her too hard. And God bless this woman, she understands and loops her arm through mine instead. She gives me strength I’m not sure I deserve. But I take it and say my final goodbye to the brother I so badly wanted, but never had.
“I came to New York, wishing for more time. Now I’m just thankful Juliet made it out alive. I can forgive you for punching me in the face. I deserved it. I can even forgive you for gambling away every penny you had. There is no way you could’ve known you would die on that plane and leave that mountain of debt behind.” My lip curls into a snarl, and there’s only fury in my tone. “But I will never forgive you for the way you treated your wife. She is arguably the greatest thing that ever happened to you, and you threw that away. You had a choice, and still you became everything you hated in your father. I won’t say I’m glad you’re dead, but I’m done wasting a single thought more on you, and I can’t wait to see all the things Juliet will do now that she’s free from you.”
Juliet lowers her head to my shoulder, and we sit for a long time with nothing but the sound of the birds between us.
My mind drifts through all the what ifs, giving them space, before I leave them where they belong—in the past, with the dead.
“You need to get going if you’re going to make it to the field on time.”
Glancing down, I catch Juliet fiddling with her phone. I press a gentle kiss to the top of her head. “Thank you for looking out, but I can be late. The team will understand, and it’s not like I’m playing tonight.”
“Go,” she insists. “I already texted Paige to come get me.”
She pulls away, and I instantly miss the heat of her body against mine. I almost say we can stay together as long as she wants, but then I think better of it.
“Is Paige the lovely woman I talked to on the phone at Bare Necessities?”
Juliet smiles and shrugs. “She grows on you.”
“Like a fungus maybe,” I mutter.
That gets a laugh out of her. “She’s the closest thing I have to a best friend.”
I reach over and give her hand a gentle squeeze. “You have me now too.”
She returns the gesture and smiles. “I do.”
The words are there, but the weight behind them feels lighter than a feather.
“We still on for tackling the baseball room Sunday?”
“I’ll be there.”
Each step away from her feels like slogging through mud, and it takes everything in me not to call the team and let them know I’ll be there tomorrow. They’d understand. We protect what’s ours. And after the insane amount of trust she showed by letting me come here with her, I’m feeling a lot more than just protective of Juliet. I’m feeling like I’d murder anyone who tried to hurt her.
But I know she needs this moment. She needs to trust people. People like Paige. People who aren’t me. Because at the end of the day, she’ll always have me. But that woman deserves to fly, and I have to let her.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
JULIET
The clock glares at me.
