Page 33 of We Thought We Knew It All
“I want to finish it,” Jay said, his voice low.
“Boys.” Amber stood and picked up Declan out of his chair. “Why don’t we go put on some TV in the basement.”
When they were gone, it was just the three of us. Colby might have forgiven me, but I’d hurt him all the same.
“Come on, brother.” Jay’s last word was said like a curse. “You’re the one no one has talked to. Tell us. What was so important over the years that made you disappear?”
When I didn’t respond, he spoke again. “Maybe you just didn’t care.”
He was goading me. It was a favorite tactic of my dad’s. Be an ass until he could make me act like an even bigger ass, thereby justifying any consequences.
I was well versed in this type of warfare, but it still worked on me. Anger buzzed through my veins.
“It was easier,” I growled.
“And Jamie Daniels always takes the easy road.”
“Is that what you really think?” I yelled. “Do you even know what I’ve been doing?”
“Dad always said the army wasn’t exactly the best of the best.”
I barked out a laugh. “Of course he did! I was in one of the most elite forces in the world and he still found ways to be disappointed in me. Classic.”
“Don’t you dare talk about him.”
“Okay, I’ll tell you what you want to know. But you’ve been warned. What I have to say is going to change how you see me. Always does.”
“Couldn’t get any worse,” he scoffed.
“It can always get worse.” I looked sideways at Colby, wishing he wasn’t there, but Jay was asking for it. I leaned forward, hands flat on the table. “I’ve been killing people. Usually with my rifle, sometimes with my bare hands, but the result is always the same. Most of them deserved it, some were an accident.” I was exaggerating for his benefit. “And I’m good at it.”
His mouth hung open, speechless.
“You have no idea. God, for the first time since he died, I wish dad were alive just so he could hear this. You know in the movies or on the news when there’s a firefight and crowds of people are running away from it? I’m trained to run toward it. I’ve been shot. I’ve held dying friends in my arms. So, you ask me why I cut off the outside world? It was the one thing I could do to make it easier. So you can screw off. I’m not going to go out of my way for your approval. I don’t need it.”
I got to my feet and stood tall to face him. “I know you. If I hadn’t cut you off, you’d have done it to me.”
13
Callie
I found Morgan sitting on the front steps, her knees drawn up to her chest and long hair hiding her face from view.
“Colby gave me a ride.” She sniffed when I sat down. “So, I couldn’t leave.”
“I’m glad because we need to talk.”
“Troy’s birthday was last week. Mom wanted me to come home for it, but I couldn’t. He’d have been twenty-six.”
“Was your sister here for it?”
Morgan laughed. “Parker? No. She wants nothing to do with any of that sentimental crap. The most she did was put some of his ashes in her parachute for a jump. Now she’s off in Idaho working and BASE jumping.”
“She’s nuts.”
“I wish I was as adventurous as her.”
“Morgan, you’re living in Europe.”
