I nodded and went, grateful for something to do.
Liam expertly wrapped his hand, then handed Tyler a bag of frozen corn. “Hold that on it. We need to go to urgent care for an X-ray.”
Tyler tried to resist, but a few minutes later, the three of us were on our way.
“Jenna, please,” Tyler begged from the backseat. “I need to know.”
My heart pounded. I didn’t want to tell him, but I had to. After all this, we both deserved the full truth. Liam put his hand on my knee, warm and steadying. I latched onto his fingers and twisted in my seat to look back at Tyler. “If I said no, he threatened to go to you instead. I tried to make sure he never had a reason to.”
“Jen Jen.” His voice broke on a sob.
“I’m okay, and I’d do it all again to keep you safe,” I said, the words settling peacefully around me now that it was all out. I’d been carrying so many doubts and insecurities, but never about what I’d done for Tyler—especially now that I knew it had been enough. “I don’t regret any of it. You’re my little Teddy Bear. Remember I thought about staying home for college? He’d stopped by then, but I was afraid to leave you. Then you had that big growth spurt and started wrestling, and you were suddenly more a man than a little boy, so I thought it would be safe to go. But I would’ve stayed and done whatever you needed.”
He covered his face with his good hand, and his cries filled the car with the most heartbreaking sounds. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault, Ty. It sucked, but knowing you were safe was worth it.”
“But no one was keeping you safe.”
I almost defended our parents, but it would’ve been a futile argument. He knew; he’d been there. And it felt good to tell the truth.
The doctor said nothing was broken, thank goodness. Tyler’s response was a mutter about fighting again, and not with a wall next time.
The whole drive home, Tyler and Liam bonded by fantasizing about everything they wanted to do to Brian. At least, I hoped it was just a fantasy. Although, I couldn’t deny that it felt good—really good—to have that kind of support. And deep down, italso felt pretty good to imagine Brian finally getting what he deserved.
We picked up lunch from my favorite pizza place, and actually enjoyed a pleasant afternoon. My parents had pulled themselves together while we were gone. There were plenty of tense and awkward moments and old, familiar phoniness, but there were also enough heartfelt, genuine moments to spark hope that maybe this was the first day of something better to come.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Liam
I flipped the burgers and closed the grill and decided that if Jenna wasn’t back by the time they were done, I was going in to check on her. I’d been patient long enough. She was safe in my house with Juliette, Nicky, and Hayden, but I didn’t like not being able to see her for myself. I knew I had to give her space to get back to normal, but I wasn’t ready yet.
I loved that our friends all wanted to come see her the day we were home. I loved that we had the backyard for everyone to come together in, and that Jenna was happy to have them over. But I really just wanted to be alone with her so I could show her how damn proud I was.
The back door slid open, but only Juliette, Nicky, and Hayden came out. I passed the tongs to Ethan and beelined to them.
“She’s fine,” Nicky said with an indulgent smile, like she knew I was crazy, but she liked it. “Your mom called, so she stayed in to talk.”
“Thanks.” I walked in and followed the sound of Jenna’s voice to the kitchen.
“...love to meet Chris and Emma. We’d love to have all you here, or we can come visit you and taste test ice cream by the beach. Just your family, though. I need a break from mine.” She paused, obviously listening to my mom, then continued. “I honestly don’t know. I want to believe her, but I don’t. Not really.”
I stopped outside the kitchen, hidden behind the wall. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I didn’t want to interrupt, though, and I couldn’t walk away. There was some seismic-level shift happening inside me, freezing me to the spot.
“Either way, they should’ve tried harder to be the kind of parents I could open up to, who knew me enough to know something was wrong. Even if they didn’t understand why, they should’ve listened when I said I didn’t want to see him. So, I’m not ready to forgive them yet, but...”
I quietly walked into the living room, leaving Jenna to talk to my mom, and dropped onto the couch, her words replaying in my head. I wasn’t surprised by what she said, or that my mom was able to earn Jenna’s trust so quickly. I was surprised by how hard it hit me, though. Pulling my phone out, I searched for a photo I hadn’t looked at in years. The last picture ever taken of me and my team.
“Hey,” Jenna said from beside me. I startled, turning quickly, and her brows drew together, little creases furrowing her forehead.
“You had a nice talk with my mom?”
“Yes, it was very nice.” Jenna sat next to me, Thor right beside her. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” I said with a reassuring smile. The worry in her eyes didn’t ease, though, and my chest tightened. “What about you?”
“Your mom brought up a good point. Do you think Tyler will go after Brian?”