Chapter 12 #2
“You have no idea what it feels like to hear that. The only reason I wanted to read it was to make sure that he didn’t fuck with you. But then I realized if I read it ahead of time, it’d feel like a betrayal.”
“You could have read it, Flynn. You’re allowed everything that I have. We shared a womb for God’s sake.”
Flynn grinned, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “Womb to tomb.”
“Damn straight.”
“Will you take the fucking thing now? We can burn it together, but I thought you should get the choice. The will doesn’t specify that you have to open it.
Just that it has to get to you. But of course they went about it in a long fucking way because they’re dumbasses that like to break us. Or at least pretend they’re trying.”
I snagged the letter from his hand and stared down at the handwritten addressee.
“At least he didn’t call me dumbass on this,” I said, trying to be funny and yet falling flat.
“Let’s just burn it. I don’t even know why I brought it here.”
“You could have burned it on your own. But then you would’ve felt guilt. Because you have integrity. Unlike our father.”
“With our parents, it’s really shocking that we turned out in any form of normal.”
“I love that you think I’m normal.”
Flynn didn’t rise to the bait, and I wasn’t surprised. Neither one of us knew what we were truly doing.
“Are you going to open it?”
I nodded but didn’t move to open the damn letter.
“He typed the others. Did he handwrite their names too?”
“I know Aston’s was. I’m not quite sure about the others. I don’t even know what most of them say. Probably not the best thing.”
“All he does is berate us. Find a way to cut us from the beyond. He wasn’t a good man, Flynn. Why should we care what he says?”
“I don’t.” Flynn paused. “I do. Talk about needing therapy.”
“Do you go?” I asked, honestly curious.
Flynn shrugged. “Sometimes. You?”
“Not anymore. It got to be repetitive.”
Flynn just gave me a look and I didn’t bother answering. We all had our own reasons.
With a sigh, I tore open the envelope and pulled out the single sheet of paper.
“Looks like he spent a lot of time on this,” I said, looking at the small paragraph.
“It could be worse, could be the receipts of your wrongdoing.”
“No, Father just decided to do that himself with his own guilt and wrongdoing.”
Flynn shook his head, and I cleared my throat and began to read aloud.
Hudson –
You failed me. You always did. But you proved yourself in the end.
You fought for our country, and that was something to be proud of. At least they say I should be proud of you as your father.
The one thing I’m truly proud of is that you were never caught.
In order to survive as a man in this world, you have to get your hands bloody. And you did so.
And they never found you.
That is what fills me with pride over your other siblings.
Maybe you’re more like me than you ever knew.
- Loren Cage
I looked down at the note and burst out laughing.
“Well. He told me that he was proud of me. It’s practically a declaration of love.”
Flynn took the letter from my hand and shook his head. “So was he proud of you for being in the military or not? I have so many questions on his stance on the military and appointments.”
“I have zero questions for that man. I have my own issues when it comes to that, and he never entered the arena of people that I cared about or their opinions when it came to military service. I can be as conflicted as I fucking want to be about what happened over there, and he has nothing to do with it. But the fact that he’s proud of me because he thinks I killed a man? What the fuck?”
“So he never knew the truth?” Flynn asked, and I ran my hand over my chest.
“What truth is there? Michelle and Jefferson are dead. I might not have pulled the trigger, but he sure as fuck thought I did. Turns out I just need a hint of a felony and breaking one of the commandments for him to love me. Who knew?”
“I should have been taking notes this whole time?” Flynn said, laughter in his voice though it didn’t quite reach his eyes.
We were both failing and trying to make this lighthearted, but hell. Our father had been insane. There was no other word for it.
Without another thought, I did what I had planned on doing when I saw that letter and tore it into pieces before tossing in the trash. “Fuck him. Seriously. I got over Dad being a dick to me long ago. I have my own issues outside of him. Thank you very much.”
“I have a feeling you probably shouldn’t have tested the gods when you said that,” Flynn muttered.
I frowned, then turned as footsteps echoed in my living room.
The day was a day of family reunions, because it looked as if hell had frozen over, and Melanie Cage had decided to walk on Cage Lake grounds after swearing to never come back to this hellhole—her words—again.
“I’m so glad I caught you.” Her gaze went to Flynn. “You too.”
“What are you doing here, Mother?” I ask, confused.
Flynn took a step to me, and in that moment, we were doing our twin thing again, two against one. And honestly, with this woman, I needed the support. We needed the support.
“I’m here because I’m asking for help.”
If she would’ve said she’d murdered a man, I’d have believed before her asking for help.
“Why on earth would I help you?” I asked.
“What do you think we could do for you?” Flynn added right after.
“I’ve made mistakes, and I don’t know how to fix them. Everybody has cut me off, and I need to fix this. We cannot be a proper family if I don’t fix this.”
“How do you think I could help? It’s not like you and I have ever gotten along,” I said dryly.
“Hudson. That’s not the case. And Flynn, I’m your mother. I love you both. All of you.”
“You know, I’ve really had too much family for the day. Dad has already fucked up our family enough and you’ve made mistakes. You have been cruel to people in our family.”
“I might have misstepped, but there has to be a way for me to atone,” my mother added, and I shook my head.
“I’m not the one you need to apologize to. You decided that you didn’t care about me long ago.”
“That’s not true, Hudson. I might not have understood why you joined the military.
Or why you came back to Cage Lake. Or why you decided to be your own land baron out here by owning this property and the properties around you.
But it made sense. You’re a Cage. I might not understand everything, but I’ve never not loved you. ”
My mother kept speaking, but Flynn had stiffened beside me, and I realized that today was a day I really should have fucking locked my door.
Scarlett stood behind my mother in the open doorway, linen grocery bag in hand and a frown on her face.
I wanted to pinch my nose and groan. Because Scarlett didn’t know I owned the land. But as the wheels turned in that brain of hers, she knew now.
Secrets were never good, I knew that. They always broke those around them, but for once, why couldn’t the world just let me breathe for a minute so I could handle things?
“Mom, Mom! Mom!” I repeated as my mother ignored me. “I’m not the one you need to deal with. That’s on the others that you hurt. I don’t know why you’re here, but this isn’t the time.”
My mother frowned at me before she turned back to look at Scarlett. “Oh, Scarlett Blair. Is there something that you need with the resort? I didn’t know you were making house calls with my son.”
Scarlett’s face drained of color before she narrowed her gaze and opened her mouth to say something.
I knew that whatever she did, it would just egg my mother on. Because no matter how much my mom wanted to apologize right now, she couldn’t help but cut people down. She had married my father for a reason.
But Scarlett already had to deal with enough people in her life. Scarlett already had to deal with enough people in her life who tried to break her. I wasn’t going to let my mother be one of them.
“Mom. Get out. You said your peace, but it has nothing to do with me. And as you can see, I have plans for the evening that don’t include you.”
“Hudson!” she gasped, trying to come closer.
Then Flynn was there taking her by her elbow. “Come on, Mom. Let me walk you out.”
Flynn raised a brow as he stared at me, and I gave him a chin nod. We would talk about everything, but first, I needed to fucking fix what my mother had decided to shatter. She might not have realized what she was doing, but she would have enjoyed the consequences nonetheless.
As Flynn practically dragged my mother out, Scarlett stood to the side, studying me.
“Hudson?” she asked, and I rub my fingers over my temples.
“This has been the longest day, and I have no idea why everybody decided to do this at once.”
“You own the land underneath my home.”
With a sigh, even though it wasn’t yet dinner time, I reached to my cabinet and pulled out two glasses and a bottle of decent bourbon.
“I’m going to need a drink if I’m going to continue this day. You?”
“I guess so. And then you can tell me what the hell was just going on. What was your mother doing here?”
I poured two fingers of bourbon in each, before taking the glasses and walking over her. I handed her one, took the tote from her hand, and set it on the counter. Flynn had thankfully shut the door behind him, leaving the two of us alone.
“You knew the Cages owned the land. It’s what we do.”
She looked down at her bourbon and then up at me. “I didn’t know you did.”
“Because I didn’t want you to hate me more than you already did.
” And with that, I tossed the bourbon back, even though it was more of a sipping kind.
It didn’t burn, but I already regretted the action.
I set the glass on the counter. Scarlett stared at the amber liquid, before doing the same thing I had.
When she didn’t flinch, I was afraid I had fallen just that more much in love with her.
Scarlett Blair was some kind of woman, and she scared me.
There, that was as honest as I was going to be in that moment.
“It’s been a really fucking weird day, Scarlett.”
“Tell me about it. There’s a power issue at the resort, and we finally got it fixed. I had to come home and change. I thought I would bring my groceries for later, and here I am drinking in the middle of a workday.”
With a sigh. I put my hands on her hips and drew her near.
“I own the land. I’m sorry for not telling you.
There’re a lot of things that I own in this town because it was going to go to waste if I didn’t.
Or a developer was going to come in and hurt this town.
But things just added up. I didn’t want you to hate me before, and then I didn’t want you to feel like you owed me.
So I didn’t tell you. Even though I was trying to think about when I would. I’m sorry.”
Scarlett set down her glass and cupped my cheeks. “Okay. Okay.”
I raised my brows. “That’s it?”
“Between the look on your face, and the fact that your mother was here even though I know she’s estranged from the family, I have a feeling that you had a longer day than I have.”
“Maybe. Probably. Do you need help with the resort?” I asked, knowing that if she’d had to change, she’d had a hell of a day.
“No, we have it figured out. But of course you would offer.”
I leaned down and brushed my lips against hers. “It’s been a hell of a day.”
“Why don’t you tell me about it?”
“You don’t want to hear it, Scarlett.”
“I really do. So please, tell me. And then I’ll totally forgive you for not telling me about the property.”
I raised a single brow. “A bribe?”
“Damn straight.”
I leaned down, lips twitching, and took her mouth with my own.
“Should I start with the letter, the ghost, or my mother?”
“That sounds like the start of a really bad joke. I’m in.”
And with that, I pulled her into me and did something that I never did with anyone other than Flynn, I told her about my day.
And afterwards, she did the same for me, and neither one of us tried to fix the other.
And I had no idea what that meant.