My eyes narrow. “What else?”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s more. I know that look on your face.” Dread seizes me. “Oh mygod. What aren’t you telling me, Tyler?”
He licks his lips. “I fell behind with the household bills, so I took out a loan with the bank to help.”
“What the fuck?”
“I’m so—” He stops when I glare at him. “I missed some payments on the loan and the interest just kept going up, so I took out some credit cards too.”
“Let’s call a spade a spade, Tyler. You took on more debts.” I feel sick. “Because it’s obvious from the way you’re acting that you haven’t paid off those cardsorthe loan.”
“I used to stay home until the post came in the morning and take the statements.”
“How much do you owe?”
“A lot, Wes.”
I slump down on the bench. “Shit.”
“That’s not the worst bit,” he whispers.
“Really? What else could there possibly be? You owe Camilla Parker-Bowles a monkey?”
He hesitates and then, with the air of someone confessing his sin to a priest, he says, “I took out the credit cards in your name.”
“What?” I jump to my feet and almost face-plant. He puts a hand out to help me, and I slap it away. “How much?” I say fiercely, leaning over him, so he cowers back into the bench. “How fucking much?” I shout.
“Forty grand.” My legs feel suddenly weak, and I sink back onto the bench. “Forty grand. I owe forty grand. Oh mygod.”
“I’ll make this right,” he says.
I laugh loudly, the jagged sound tearing at my throat as if it’s edged with razor blades.
“How? Maybe you can get another card. Or I know. Why don’t you head off down to the bookies and run up some more debt, you fucking stupid cunt.” He flinches again. “My credit score must be in the fucking toilet. I wanted to be an accountant. Do you have any idea how bad that will look for me? If I haven’t got that money, my job prospects are in tatters, and the debt will keep getting bigger with the interest charges.” I stand up. “I’m going. I can’t stand to look at you anymore, Tyler.” He grabs my hand. “Let go,” I say steadily. “Don’t make me make you.”
He holds on tighter. “I’m sorry. I’msosorry. I can’t bear that I’ve let you and Cath down.”
The desperation stops me, and even my anger can’t hold back my following words. “Don’t do anything silly, Tyler. Promise me.”
His red-rimmed eyes are wet as he gazes at me.
“I mean it. I love you.” I sigh. “I also hate you quite a lot at the moment, so maybe steer clear of me for a bit. But I want your solemn promise that you will sort this out without doing anything silly, and you know exactly what I mean by that. Promise me on Mum’s grave.”
He stares at me for a second and then nods. “I promise you. I’ll take overtime at work and pay everything off. I’m going tomake this right. On Mum’s grave. And you and Cath will love me again.”
“I already love you. That’ll never change.”
“Can I call you?”
I hesitate and then shake my head, hating it when his face falls. “Not for a while. At the moment, my hate for you is stronger than the love.” I grab his hand and squeeze it. “I want a text every night to tell me you’re okay, though.”
He nods, and it’s odd after all these years of him being my big brother to suddenly feel older than him, to feel ancient.
“Where are you staying?” I ask.
“With Ben.”
