Page 28 of Hot Shot
“I thought Laura died from a brain injury from a fall. It’s what the press reported.”
“She didn’t. After Celeste’s meltdown the police decided to wait before questioning either of us further because the doctors were already talking about Laura’s lack of brain activity. When Celeste woke, I made it clear I would use the tapes, would tell the police she deliberately hurt Laura, and she left. I had no idea she’d taken the bottle of sleeping pills with her or that she’d gone straight to the house and swallowed them with two bottles of alcohol. I found her after—” a sob cuts his words off.
“She committed suicide.” The devastation Bran must have felt.
“She took the easy way out.”
“I don’t think it would have been easy.”
Bran’s laugh is laced with disgust. “Oh, she thought it would be easy. Said as much in the letter she left me. The one explaining everything from our first night together to our last when she wanted to take away the one thing I loved. Laura.”
“She must have been depressed or?—”
“Celeste was completely cognizant every step of the way. She knew what she was doing, what her actions could cause. She made my life hell to get what she wanted and for the most part she succeeded. Until the last night when she came home after her failed hookup with Carl.”
“How did you know they’d hooked up before?”
“He told me. At training. Before Laura was born. And after everything had happened, he told me about meeting up with Celeste. Made it out like she came on to him that last time but he couldn’t give an explanation as to why he was at the hotel they met at.”
“The Knights traded him around the time…” I can’t bring myself to say Laura died.
“No. He asked for the trade. Gerald Cantrell agreed it would be a good idea. It was one of the last things he did for me before he died. The other was releasing me from my contract without penalty and refusing to bring charges against me for assault when I decked a couple of the training staff and coaches at my last game.”
“And then you came here.”
“No. Not right away. I locked myself in the house for a couple of months first. Ignored everyone. Gannon Byrd turned up on my doorstep one day, got in somehow. He handed me a key and an address and told me if I wanted to get lost, I should do it for real.” His gaze moves over the yard. “He knew what he was talking about. This is the perfect place to get lost.”
“Except you’re not lost, you know exactly where you are. You’re hiding and you have every right to do so. Bran.” I slip a hand over his, where it rests on my shoulder. “You need to come out of hiding now. You need to reclaim your life. No one expects you to forget Laura but you also shouldn’t forget yourself. You deserve to find peace, find happiness again.”
“I don’t know if that’s possible.”
“Of course it is. And no one can or would expect you to be happy all the time.”
“I need help. I don’t think I can do it on my own. No, IknowI can’t do it on my own.” He waves his other hand around us. “Look where doing it myself has gotten me.”
“I think you did fine. There’s no timeline for grief and you have more than that to work through.” I’m not sure if I should bring it up now, but Mom’s words play in my head and even if I can’t get him to agree to it right this minute, I can float the idea, get him used to it. “I think you should see someone trained in grief counseling.”
“I don’t?—”
“Not now, when you’re ready. One thing at a time. You’ve told me what happened, why you married Celeste after you told me we should wait and as much as I hate that, hate that you made us wait then went and tied yourself to someone else, I understand it. I would have supported it.”
“No, Blake, no. You can’t think the way I dealt with Celeste and the baby was right.”
“I can. You’re a very instinctual person, Bran, if you felt marrying her was the only option then it was. She would have gone through with her threat, I have no doubt about that.”
“Manipulation and threats were her standard. In many ways she used them to isolate me and keep me prisoner to her whims. She’s the reason I stopped answering your calls, ignored your family, my friends.”
“You’re not her captive anymore. But you can’t just shake it off. It’s unreal of you or anyone else to expect you to return to normal now that she’s out of your life.”
“I didn’t claim her.”
“What? You married her.”
“No, not that. Her body. I donated Celeste’s body to research. There was no memorial, no burial, no grave.”
“She didn’t deserve one. You gave those things to Laura. You might not remember most of it but I do, my family—your family—and friends do. We were all there. Watching you break that day and knowing you wouldn’t let any of us help was the worst day of my life.”
“I’m sorry.”
