CHAPTER FIFTEEN
SHITTY COFFEE I smiled.
Why hadn't I heard this story before?
Why hadn't they told me?
“So, that's how Dad met Mom,” I uttered, wonder in my voice and a stupid grin on my face.
“That's how Soldier met Rain,” Levi confirmed, nodding. “But Seth … Seth hated Soldier. You know that much, right?”
I nodded.
“And after Soldier took the girl home, Seth swore up and down that he was gonna get back at him. He was gonna show him. So, a couple of weeks later, he went to your mom's house when her parents weren't home, and he took what he wanted.”
The thought of it … the thought of Mom, being so young and alone …
I hung my head, envisioning the way it must've happened after bearing witness to it so many times in my younger years.
Hearing her scream, her cries, her pleas for him to stop, to go away …
“He tried to do the right thing after that,” Levi said quietly, respecting the pain I was feeling. “He found out he’d knocked her up, and he tried to be the good guy she deserved.”
“Didn't try very hard,” I muttered.
“No,” he agreed. “And, listen, it's not an excuse, but …
your old man … he had a real shitty beginning.
His father killed his mother before offing himself.
He came to live with us when he was a kid.
So much of his life was out of his control, and I'm just guessing here, but I think … he enjoyed the power he had over your mom. He liked that he could just go and take whatever he wanted from her, whenever he wanted it. It was a sure thing, and it was easy.”
“He made our lives a living hell.”
“I have no doubt about that,” he said, lifting his cup again to his lips. “And you have my deepest condolences, kiddo. You were the most innocent victim in all this bullshit. Your mom … no offense to her or anything, but … she could've called the cops, told her daddy or something, but—”
“She was terrified,” I interrupted harshly, looking up and into his eyes with a burst of seething rage. “She thought he'd kill us if she said anything, and if he didn’t, she thought you would.”
He stared into my eyes for a solid beat of my heart before nodding.
“I understand, Noah,” he said, and the compassion in his tone surprised me.
“I do. But it wasn't me she should've been afraid of.
I would've never laid a finger on either of you.
For whatever it's worth now, I swear, I never wanted you or your mom to get hurt.”
“But you never stopped him,” I muttered, looking away.