My vision was slightly blurry as I stared down at my feet, willing myself not to engage. Not to turn back around. It’s what he wanted.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” The low, deadly voice cut through the hallway, commanding attention in an iconic way.
My body snapped to attention. “Drew.”
He was standing in the doorway of his room, Camden under his arm as support.
“Son,” his father said from behind. Just the sound of his voice made my teeth gnash together. I heard him step forward.
“Don’t call me that,” Drew intoned in the same quiet, deadly voice as before.
“You shouldn’t be out of bed.” I worried, wondering how much he heard. “I have your coffee,” I added in a pathetic attempt to distract him.
“Is this the kind of shit he’s been filling your head with?” Drew asked. “Is this the kind of abuse you’ve been subjected to while I was literally fighting for my life?”
“It’s the truth,” he said.
Drew’s blue eyes whipped to his father, silencing him with a single stare. Then they came back to me, softening. “What else has he said to you?”
“Nothing worth repeating,” I answered. “Let’s go back to bed.” I moved forward, intending to take Cam’s place under Drew’s arm.
Drew made a harsh sound, shaking his head once. “What else did he say?”
“He asked if he could see you.”
Drew’s mom stepped out of the waiting room, seeing us all there, and hurried the rest of the way down the hall.
“Drew,” she said. “We came for a visit.”
Anger shimmered in the air around him. “You want to visit?” he echoed, that deadly calm back in his voice. The hairs on the back of my neck rose. “All right.” He agreed, settling the full weight of his stare on his parents. “Let’s visit.”
35
Drew
* * *
I knew. Despite having a room full of people and several conversations going on all at once, I just knew.
From day one, Trent and I always had a connection. A link I’d never shared with anyone else. After five years, I didn’t think it could get deeper.
Then death came for me.
The link turned into a bond. A bond not even the reaper himself could sever.
“Cam.” I beckoned my little bro, who was still sitting beside the bed. The second he glanced over, I motioned with my hand. “Help me up.”
His brow furrowed, but he pushed out of the chair to help me.
Romeo and Braeden moved closer. Ivy and Rim fluttered around, making a bunch of noise about getting me whatever I needed.
Some things a man had to get for himself. Sometimes a man had to follow his instincts even when he didn’t know why they were screaming.
Romeo held out a hand, ready to assist if Cam didn’t support my weight, but he did and I motioned toward the door. Everyone was quiet, watching me like I was somehow possessed.
I guess I was.
“T’s in the hall you said?” I asked Romeo.
He nodded. “Talking to that nurse. He said he was coming right in.”
“I can get him,” Rimmel offered, starting forward.
“No,” I said. “I’ll go.”
We moved kinda slow, but thankfully, it was a short walk to the door. Cam wasn’t as big as Trent. His body wasn’t as solid for me to lean on. Or maybe the only person I felt comfortable enough to give my weight to was T.
Before we were even around the corner, I heard familiar voices. I also heard ugly, cruel words I wouldn’t even have spoken to my worst enemy. Only, those words were not aimed at my enemy, but the person I loved most in the world.
A man who was the least deserving of cruelty.
He was standing in the center of the hallway, harsh lights overhead, an overly polished white floor underfoot. His eyes were downcast, shoulders heavy. I didn’t have to see the look in his eyes to know he was hurt by what my father said.
No. Not father. By what that man said.
Anyone who could speak like that to the person his son loved so much wasn’t really a father.
I’d been told more than once since waking up that Trent endured a lot of harshness. I knew it. Knowing something and experiencing it were two different things.
What made it even worse was that my parents saw nothing wrong with the way they behaved. My father somehow, someway thought he was justified.
And my mother?
She hurt me worse than Dad because her silence, her willingness to go along blindly with the hate he spewed, felt like ugly betrayal. Like she’d chosen a side… and the side was not that of the son she claimed to love so much. She chose her husband. She chose his ugly actions.
My parents moved past us into the room as I gazed at Trent, suddenly introspective. Wouldn’t I always choose Trent over everything? Over everyone? Wasn’t that the duty of a husband?
Or a wife?
Fuck me… Was I the wife or the husband in this scenario?
“Drew?” Trent called my name softly, stepping close.
Even though I was preoccupied with random and weird thoughts, I reached for him, leaving my brother’s support for the one I truly wanted.
Trent took my weight without even sagging. The arm around my waist was so strong I barely had to put forth effort to stay upright.
“Am I the wife or the husband?” I asked him.
He blinked. Blinked again. “What?”
“Nothing,” I muttered, dipping my head into his shoulder, mildly embarrassed.
Cam cleared his throat, and I peeked over at him.
“You two fit,” he remarked, eyeing the way I basically clung to T.
“You weren’t sure,” Trent said, his voice not surprised.
Cam shrugged one shoulder. “I’d support what Drew wanted regardless. But it’s nice to see that I actually agree with his choices.”
That basically summed up our entire talk. He came because Ivy begged and because he didn’t think our parents had any right to dictate my life. He’d been unsure about his personal opinion, one of the reasons he always stayed away. But being here the last week, watching my entire family… watching Trent basically fall apart without me. You could say we convinced him.
Our family had that effect on everyone. Well, everyone but our parents.
Smiling at my brother, I said, “You should come around more often, Cam.”
He nodded. “I might do that. I stayed away for too long.”
“You’re welcome at our house anytime. The door is always open,” Trent said.
I relaxed into him even more. I knew he’d been wary of Camden, but my brother changed his mind.
Cam nodded and gestured toward me. “You got him?”
“Always,” T confirmed.
When he was gone, Trent dipped his head to where mine rested on his shoulder. “You sure you want to do this now? I’ll have security—”
“No.” I lifted my head, letting him see the anger in my eyes. “I’m not going to let what I just heard go, not for another minute.”
“Maybe you should cool off first.”
“If you heard someone talk like that to me, would you ever cool off?”
His eyes narrowed. “Not even if I lived in the Ice Age.”
I chuckled, which hurt my midsection. I went right to him, and he tucked my body a little closer. Somehow with confidence but utterly gentle, he kissed my hairline.
I knew he was likely going to try and put this off another day, so I spoke up before he could.
“I don’t have to worry about that.”
His nose wrinkled. “About what?”
“About you taking advantage of my blind loyalty. Of you ever putting me in the position of choosing between you and something I didn’t agree with.”
Trent glanced into the room. Without looking, I knew his eyes sought my mother.
“Don’t ever compromise yourself, Forrester. Not ever. Not even for me,” he whispered. “I’d
never do that to my daughter. To any child of mine.”
I looked up from his shoulder. “Daughter?”
His eyes flew to mine, shock making them wide.
Rubbing my palm over his stubbled jawline, I smiled. “We’ll go see her once we deal with this.”
More shock and a twinge of panic shone brighter on his face.
I half smiled. “I feel it too.”
The surprise and panic melted into softness. Melted into something that made my heart squeeze. “Are you serious?” he whispered.
“My body might be a little fucked up right now, frat boy, but my heart is working better than ever.”
“C’mon.” His voice was gruff as he half carried me into the room.
“Let me do it.” I half whined, half complained. “My body needs to do this.”
He backed off a little, allowing me to walk, but his arm stayed anchored around me. The room was packed with family, all of them watching us as we made our way inside.
“Tony. Gamble,” Trent said, surprised to see them.
“Well, you look better than the last time I saw you,” Gamble remarked. “But that’s not saying much.”
“I made him take a shower,” Rimmel whispered loudly.
Everyone snickered. Gamble turned his usually shrewd, businesslike stare toward her. Humor and true affection softened his eyes now. It was the same kind of look he gave Joey and his grandkids, Sophie and Jagger.
“It’s not a surprise at all that you, the littlest one in the room, got the biggest one to shower. Well done, honey. Well done.”
Rimmel smiled, and Romeo pulled her into his side.
“I didn’t realize you were here.” T glanced around. “Where’s Valerie?”
“She’s with the grandkids,” Anthony said of Romeo’s mom. “Drew asked to see us.”
Gamble nodded.
“When—” T questioned, looking at me. His mouth thinned. “A guy falls asleep one time.” Twisting around, he pinned Romeo with a look.
He shrugged. “Drew asked.”
“I don’t know what any of this is about.” Burke began, looking around the room. “But my wife and I are here to see my son. So if everyone wouldn’t mind—”
“You have no right.” I cut him off, my voice firm. “No right at all to ask anyone in this room to leave, to make any kind of decisions for me.”
“Son.”
I snapped upright, out of Trent’s hold. Yes, I wobbled a little on my feet, but my balance recovered. When T reached for me, I shook my head. “I already told you not to call me that.”
“This is ridiculous.” Burke tossed his hands up. “You are the one who signed that will. You are the one who granted me next of kin. I was only doing what you—”
“Maybe we should wait outside,” Rimmel offered, her voice slightly strained.
“No. I want everyone to stay. I want everyone to be a witness to what I’m about to do and say. That way, there will never be any doubt among anyone ever again.”
“The only people in this room that doubt you are the ‘rents,” Braeden muttered.
“Yeah, well. Humor me,” I said. “This is a family matter. Everyone in this room knows exactly what’s been going on.”
Getting right to it, I glanced at Tony. “Can I have the papers?”
I felt Trent straighten just behind me. My parents glanced at Anthony Anderson as he pulled a packet of papers out of a large yellow envelope.
“Drew, what—” Trent asked quietly as I took the stack Romeo’s father held out.
“I’m fixing my mistake,” I said, pinning my father with a stare. Holding up the documents, I went on. “This is a new will. A new next of kin is being appointed. A new power of attorney.” Dividing my stare between my parents, I forged on. “Everything I have, everything I will ever have in the future, is now untouchable to you. If I collapse tomorrow, if I get into another car crash, if I get hit by a bus when I’m on the sidewalk…” I shook my head. “It no longer has anything to do with you. The only person with the right to any authority over anything of mine, including my own body, is Trent.”
Behind me, Trent sucked in a breath, and I felt the faint brush of his fingertips against my side. “Drew,” he whispered.
My father practically exploded. “Are you out of your mind? What the hell are you thinking?”
I pointed to myself, incredulous. Me? “I’m thinking that I can’t stand the sight of you.”
He drew back.
“I’m thinking that it was a gross error in judgement on my part when I made that original will. But I was eighteen then. I still thought you hung moon. I thought Mom loved her kids more than anything.”
Her face fell when I said that, but I no longer felt bad.
These people had caused too much damage for me to care anymore.
“If you were the people I thought you were then, you wouldn’t have rushed in here and kicked Trent out of the room. You wouldn’t have inflicted wounds on the person I love most with words that he will never be able to unhear.”
“Drew.” Trent tried again. I knew he didn’t want this. He didn’t want me to fight my family for him.
But I would.
I had to.
For years and years, this man had been fighting for me. Thinking about it, I turned toward him. “How many times?”
His brow furrowed. “What?”
“How many times did you shield me from this kind of shit without me knowing? In the press? At work? How many times did you bear the weight of our relationship all by yourself?”
“I’ve never been by myself,” he whispered, tender eyes roaming over my face.
I spun back to my parents, ignoring the wave of dizziness that made my world tilt. “See that?” I thumbed my hand over my shoulder at T. “That is who I thought you were when I made that will. I thought you loved me enough to always put what I wanted first.”
“What you want and what is best for you are two different things.” Burke maintained.
I laughed. “Says who? Says the man with a vocabulary far filthier than my way of life could ever be.”
“Andrew.” Mom rebuked, stepping forward.
I looked at her. “What’s wrong, Mom? Don’t like it when I point out the truth? You disappoint me even more than him.” I pointed at Burke. “I thought you l-loved me.”
I had to stop for a minute. The last part choked me up in a way I wasn’t expecting. As mad as I was, I guess I was equally hurt. I guess the betrayal I felt wounded me still.
“Oh, I do!” She rushed forward.
Not wanting her to touch me, I skittered back, tumbling right into Trent.
His arms went around my waist instantly, offering steadiness. Offering a touch I would never refuse.
“I flatlined on the operating table,” I announced.
Everyone in the room shifted uncomfortably. My near death was obviously upsetting for my entire family.
Shock registered across my parents’ faces.
Mom lifted a hand to her throat. “W-what?”
“You didn’t know that, huh? Guess you were too busy trying to control Trent and isolate me that you didn’t bother to ask the doctors about my condition.”
“That’s not true,” Burke ground out.
I felt my eyebrows rise. “Yeah?” I challenged. “Then what saved my life?”
He blinked. A clueless expression bloomed in his eyes.
I snorted. Glancing down, I saw Trent’s hands clasped lightly around my waist. I covered them with one of mine.
“Trent did.” I informed. “The man that you forced away from my bedside is the reason I’m even still here today. He literally opened a vein and donated the type of blood I needed, the type this hospital was out of. Without it, I would have died.”
“Andrew,” Mom whispered.
“I’m sure you watched the news. You know he’s the one that pulled me out of the wreckage. He found a way in even when the emergency crews didn’t.” Gently slipping a hand under his forear
m, I lifted it, showing them the bandaged burns.
“Did you even notice these? These injuries he walked around with, uncared for, while you were lashing out with ugly lies? Burns.” I stared my father right in the eye. “Burns from a fire he literally put his hand through to keep me out of.”
“Yes, well…”
Releasing Trent’s arm, I stepped away from him, closer to my parents.
“If you really wanted to do what was best for me, you wouldn’t have separated me from the man whose blood literally runs through my veins now.”
His face screwed up in disgust.
I went on. “That entire time I lay in that bed”—I pointed roughly across the room—“I was partly aware of the people around me. I still remember how confused I was. How I couldn’t make sense of any of the sounds or any of the people. I was scared.” My voice went hoarse, and I paused, sucking in a breath and trying to get control of my emotions.
Behind me, I felt Trent move closer. I held up a hand, stopping him.
“The only voice I recognized was his. His voice was the only thing that made me a little less scared. I heard him tell me he loved me. I never heard you say that. Not once.”
“Drew.” Trent’s voice was low and rough. I knew he was probably reeling. I hadn’t told him any of that. I’d held it close and kept it confidential.
His arms came around me from behind, bringing his full body against my back. His wide shoulders hunched around me, and I couldn’t help but feel like he was indeed a shield, a giant human shield made just for me. Settling his chin on my shoulder, he hugged me close without an ounce of hesitation despite our large audience.
My father stared at us, his upper lip curling.
Holding his stare, I lifted my hand, bringing it around to cup the back of Trent’s head.
“You disowned me over five years ago. I tiptoed around. My sister tiptoed around. My brother never even came around. We all held our breath, thinking maybe someday… someday you might realize you were wrong. I hoped you might come to understand.”
“I will never accept the choices you’ve made. Choices that have severed your family bonds and landed you here in the hospital.”
#Fate Page 21
