Page 84 of Nothing to Lose: Lost Trilogy: Part 1
“Bricks was actually after her for a while.”
“Bricks?” I spit in disgust and surprise, but then I remember that night where I went to ask Bricks for help. He looked at Snake, one of his cronies in the club, and asked him if he remembered the good times they had with my mother.
“She worked at the bar where we used to go.”
“We?” I wonder how I am able to follow this conversation.
“Me and Bricks. Back when we were best friends,” he smirks at me, knowing that he just blew my mind with this piece of information.
“If Bricks was your best friend, why did you blow him up?” It’s a fair question I’d say, especially in light of the fact that me and my two best friends could end up on the death row if this ever came across the wrong person’s desk.
“Wasis the key word here, Mr. Puck,” Devereaux informs me. “Bricks thought he was smarter than everyone else around him. And when he betrayed me, he thought he’d win. I’ve been working on this plan for the past thirty-six years. There was no way it was going to fail.”
“The… What?” I shake my head to clear it. What is he saying? Worse yet, why is he telling me all this? It’s a trap of some sort.
“Arlene used to be mine,” he explains.
“ArleneKnight? Wrecker’smother?”
If there was ever a situation when I needed to pick up my eyeballs off the ground, this would be it.
“Happy to see you’re paying attention, Mr. Puck.”
I can’t speak because I am busy picking up my jaw off the floor.
“So what did my mother have anything to do with any of this?”
“Elaine and Arlene worked together. Arlene was very young. In fact, she wasn’t even of legal age to work in a bar. Elaine was older than her, and she had this superiority complex about her. She was poor as dirt but wanted to live like a queen. Her main goal was to find and marry a rich man.”
“Makes sense,” I nod in agreement. That is something she pretty much told me herself on that last night we saw each other face to face.
“I had money,” he shrugs like it’s no big deal.
“She was jealous of Arlene,” I guess. It’s not even that hard to figure it out.
“Very,” Devereux confirms. “She helped Bricks rape Arlene, trap her with a child…”
“Wrecker,” I murmur in shock.
“Dylan Knight became Arlene’s curse and her greatest joy. She loved her son and would’ve never abandoned him. Her only choice was to stay with Bricks, even when I tried to get her out.”
“Fuck.”
I stare into space and run a mental checklist of what I know about Arlene and what I know about Elaine. I always thought Arlene was amazing, even though she looked sad for the most part. But every time she looked at Wrecker, she had this gentle smile on her face. I never saw her much with his brother, Wyatt, since he had left the club before I got there, but I know she cried a lot over not being able to see him.
Arlene Knight was the mom I wished I’d had, and, over the years, I developed a huge crush on her, but not in a sexual way. I just craved her attention, and I loved it when she gave it to me.
“I don’t understand why you’re telling me any of this,” I shake my head at Devereaux.
“The reason you and Mr. Sully were able to leave the club with Dylan was no coincidence, Mr. Puck,” he smirks.
And fuck, what the hell does Sully have to do with any of this? We are like the perfect storm in a soap opera.
“Elaine and Kenneth Adams helped to take away everything I held dear. I never forgave or forgot. And it’s time I took my revenge.”
I put my arms up like I got nothing to do with anything.
“If you think that killing me will give you the revenge you crave so much, I don’t think it’ll work, dude.”
