*missed call from Cedric*
Pick up your phone.
I’m calling Ma.
Ma
Answer your brother’s calls, kiddo.
This time,when the phone rang, I picked it up and stood, walking into a quiet alcove of the busy hospital cafeteria. “Hey,” I grunted then immediately felt foolish. “I’m sorry about?—”
“Don’t be,” he said immediately. “We all have shitty games. Remember when I face-planted during the World Juniors?”
I smiled despite myself. Cedric had gotten up, blood streaming from his nose, and finished his shift. “Ma cried.”
“Ma always cries.” His familiar laugh settled something in my chest. I should have picked up the phone instead of ignoring him.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “I watched both games. Your team left you hanging out to dry.”
My cheeks heated. “You saw that?”
“Baby bro, the whole world saw that. What happened?”
“Ma didn’t tell you?”
He laughed, deep and free, and I missed the relationship we had when we were kids, before he shouldered the responsibilities of the family. “Ma asked me to check on you. Said you had, and I quote, girl troubles. That doesn’t sound like you, little bro.”
“Don’t call me that,” I muttered, without heat.
“Don’t act like that,” he said right back, and we both laughed. “Seriously, what’s going on? You’ve never had trouble with girls. Or boys.” He snorted. “Remember Tommy Martinez, when you were fourteen?”
“Fuck off,” I growled, but the memory of my first crush made me smile. Cedric had caught us making out in the barn and kept it secret for months, even from Ma. “I miss you, asshole.”
“Miss you too, kid.” The gruffness in his voice told me hemeant it. “But don’t change the subject. What’s really going on?”
I stared at the ceiling, remembering all the nights we’d shared a room, whispering our dreams into the dark, how I’d promised to make it big enough for both of us so Cedric didn’t have to carry the load all alone. “I fucked up. And the team hates me.”
“Over a girl?” The disbelief in his voice stung.
“I turned into everything we used to hate.” The confession burned my throat. “The entitled rich boy who takes what he wants because he can. I—” I swallowed hard. “I’m in love with her, and I blackmailed her into sex with me and my best friend.”
Cedric was silent for a long moment, and my heart dropped. I couldn’t believe that slipped out. “Cedric?—”
“Fucking shut up and listen to me,” he snapped. “You know Pa kidnapped Ma?”
Wait. What?
“You think rich girls like Ma give up everything for broke-ass cowboys like him? He kidnapped her, and then she gave up everything to stay with him.”
My world tilted on its axis. “How do you know this?”
“I found the newspaper clippings when I was cleaning out the attic before college. Police reports. Missing persons flyers.” He sighed. “Ever wonder why we’ve never met a single member of her family?”
Images flashed through my mind—Ma tensing whenever anyone mentioned her past, Pa positioning himself between her and strangers at the grocery store. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Wasn’t my story to tell. But you needed to hear it now.” A pause. “They abused her, Tris. When Pa saw the bruises, he lost it. Stole her away that night.”
When I didn’t say anything, Cedric asked, “You okay there? Did I blow your mind?”