I Was Never One of Them novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: What He Paid For

I sat down next to him on the porch step.

The boards were cold under my bare legs.

He had put on a shirt, and he was holding my mother's last card by the corners.

"She wrote to you," I said. "Every year. And you never told me."

"It wasn't mine to tell."

"Rhys. Why?"

He set the card in the tin and closed the lid.

"My mother died when I was twelve," he said.

"I'm sorry."

"My father left her years before. He married Constance and had Gavin. When my mother died, I moved into their house."

"Constance raised you."

"She was never cruel to me. She was correct."

"Correct."

"Dinner on time. School fees paid. Not one hug."

His mouth twisted.

"Gavin was eight when I came. He followed me around the house. He called me his brother and nobody told him not to."

I had never heard him say so much in a row.

"You told me about the road," I said. "In the car. You didn't tell me what she said to you."

"Constance?"

"Yes."

His voice did not move.

"She stood over her son and never once looked at the gravel. Then she turned to me and said, 'You can save him.'"

"She asked you to take it."

"She told me. Calm as a menu."

He breathed out.

"If Gavin was charged, he'd get twenty years. If I took it, I'd get eight, maybe less with a plea. She said I was the only one who could."

"You could have said no."

"I know."

"Why didn't you?"

"Because he was twenty-two and crying so hard he couldn't breathe."

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