Page 22 of Tattered Souls
I should have kept my mouth shut.
We were eating then, and I had placed myself right beside Tatum with Lance on her other side.
Every time he poked at his fried chicken and grimaced at it. The way he took sips of his water after every bite of his mashed potatoes.
And as I sat there and watched, I tried, fuck did I try to see what she saw in him.
But when nothing came to mind... well... I started working on a plan to get him out of her life.
I just never knew the time it would take, or what I would see, and the patience I would need to develop.
‘Telling a woman you love her while hurting her soul and breaking her heart is emotional and psychological abuse. Stop.’
– R.H. Sin.
Chapter 4
Tatum
I had felt horrible for the way Lance acted at dinner that night. Had I known he was going to act like that, I never would have invited him.
See, I didn’t have anything to compare what a relationship was supposed to look like.
My dad was a piece of crap.
Granger wasn’t in a relationship.
And that was all that I saw.
Until I met Harlee and Carter.
Until I saw Frank and Misty.
Things were starting to piece together in my mind.
Slowly.
But I was getting there.
I had just called Granger and spoke to him before he was scheduled to go underwater.
I wanted to warn him about a storm that was gearing up to be huge.
Like always, he laughed it off.
That was my brother.
***
And now... sitting here in a conference room in Texas by myself... I wished he hadn’t laughed it off like he always did.
Because my heart... it didn’t know what to do.
My tears... they weren’t coming.
Because I had been informed that my brother Granger hadn’t made it.
And he hadn’t made it because he made sure he got his best friend off the tower before it exploded.
