Well Suited (Red Lipstick Coalition #4)(79)

“Thank you.”

A smile, small and devastatingly earnest. “You’re welcome, Theo.”



?





It was dark out by the time I showered and changed, our living room upstairs abandoned, leaving me wondering where Katherine was. Not in her room, the doorway open and dark.

The sound of crinkling paper drifted up the stairwell, and I followed it.

I had apologies to make, though I didn’t know if I deserved forgiveness.

Katherine, Amelia, and Tommy worked silently to clean up the mess of the party, and a flash of guilt tore through the already sickening remorse I harbored. I should have been here helping, too.

I should have done a lot of things.

Amelia and Katherine offered smiles, but Tommy ignored me. The only indication that he’d seen me was a renewed fervor in depositing cups into the trash bag in his hand.

“I’m sorry,” I said, staring at him, willing him to look at me.

“Fuck your sorry,” he spat, chucking a paper plate into the bag.

“What was I supposed to do, Tommy? I know I shoulda told you, but he was gonna expose you and Ma both. Call the media, do interviews. Rip everything you’d so carefully hidden down to the ground. So really, what would you have done?”

“Sent him to the hospital.”

“Which woulda done what? Made him keep his mouth shut?” I scoffed. “All he wanted was money. And if he didn’t get it, he was gonna hurt you and Ma. I couldn’t stand for that. But I shoulda told you, Tommy. And I’m sorry.”

He threw the trash bag on the coffee table and laid the full weight of his gaze on me. “Yeah, you shoulda told me.”

I watched my brother, reading his thoughts. Because what Tommy really wanted was to reconcile with that bag of shit who’d lent us his genetics.

“He was never gonna be what you wanted.”

“How do you know? You paid him to stay away.”

“Because he’s an opportunist. He doesn’t give a fuck about anybody but himself. And he would have used anything to get what he wanted. You, me, Ma. Jesus, Tommy—you act like I stole some precious thing from you. We weren’t off playin’ catch.”

“God, you’re so high and mighty, Theo,” he shot, stepping into me. “You handled it all on your own, just like everything else. Can’t let anybody in and can’t share the burden. Can’t be weak. Can’t be vulnerable. It’s why you’re so messed up that you got shot down by Katherine. If you hadn’t been vulnerable, you wouldn’a gotten hurt. That about right?”

“Fuck you,” I spat. “Fuck you, Tommy.”

“I’m just sayin’. This is how you roll. Things woulda been different with him if we’d all sat down and talked about it.”

“What part of he wanted your money don’t you fucking get?” I fumed, close enough to feel the heat waving off of him. “I swear to God, you’re so hardheaded. I couldn’t crack your skull if I took a fucking pickax to it.”

“That’s enough!”

We froze, turning to the sound of our mother.

Her face was bent, her dark eyes shining and lips tight. “Sit down,” she said, her mom voice firm and hard.

“But—” Tommy started.

She pointed to the couch, her jaw flexed and eyes hard. “Sit.”

Tommy and I shared a look before doing as we’d been told.

Katherine and Amelia hurried to help Ma around the couches, depositing her into an armchair before slipping silently upstairs.

Ma watched us with disappointment all over her face. “Stop fighting, both of you.”

“But he—” Tommy spat before Ma cut him off.

Never did know when to keep his mouth shut.

“I said, enough! Zip it, Thomas Banowski, right this second.”

He shot me another look and sat back, scowling.

“Ma,” I said gently. “Ma, I’m so sorry.”

But she shook her head. “He wanted money all those years ago and held us ransom. I hate that you didn’t tell me, Teddy. But I woulda done the same.”

My throat clamped shut. “Ma…”

“Never in your life have you ever done anything out of spite or anger. You live your days serving everyone but yourself. If you’d thought there was another way, you woulda taken it. I…I’m sorry I was so mad. But seein’ his face just…” The word trailed off, and she lost herself for a moment. Her lips pursed. “It’s over now anyway. Don’t you give him one more penny, Teddy.”

“I won’t, Ma.”

Tommy was furious. “I can’t believe you’re just gonna let it go, Ma. Six years, he kept this from both of us. He saw that man and didn’t tell us the son of a bitch was even alive.”

Ma gave him a look. “You feel better now you know he is? Did seeing him answer all your questions? Are you satisfied now you popped him in the nose? Tell me, Tommy—do you feel better or worse?”

An angry flush smudged his cheeks, his eyes shining, nostrils flaring. “Worse,” he admitted.

“Your brother was trying to spare you this, can’t you see that?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed.

“You don’t wanna admit it, fine,” she said. “But you know it’s true just as well as I do. All he’s ever done is take care of you.”