“Jagger, that girl is lying to you to make you think—”

A harsh huff left Grey, but she didn’t say anything as her hitched breathing started again. “Really? You’re really going to try to utter that bullshit when she’s standing right here? Tell me who Keith’s parents are.”

“You and LeAnn,” Mom said immediately, and Charlie turned quickly to look at her—her eyes wide.

“Tell. Me. Who. Keith’s. Parents. Are,” I gritted out. As soon as Mom started repeating herself, I yelled, “Stop f**king lying to me! I know LeAnn would have said something! Charlie,” I barked, and turned my attention to her. “If Keith isn’t Mom’s, then who are his parents?”

Charlie didn’t say anything; she just stood there with a ghost-white face and eyes wider than I’d ever seen.

“Don’t try to pull your sister into this,” Mom hissed.

“You don’t want me to pull her into this? You did that all on your own when you told Grey to ask Charlie about Keith!”

Charlie’s eyes flashed to Grey before going back to Mom. “What did you say?” she whispered, her tone full of horror.

“I told Grey the truth,” Mom said simply.

“What truth?” Charlie asked louder.

“That I’ve been taking care of LeAnn’s son since day one, and it was time Jagger started paying.” Mom finally looked over at Charlie with a challenging stare, and immediately I knew she was lying again.

“Bullshit! You think I don’t know your manipulative looks by now? Charlie! Tell me who Keith’s parents are. Now!”

“I can’t!” she responded, her answer sounding more like a plea.

“Jagger, let’s just go. Please,” Grey begged. “She’s not going to tell us, this is just going to keep going in circles and getting worse.”

“Listen to your whore, son, she’s smarter than you are, and maybe this one will actually tell you when she gets pregnant with your child.”

“Shut the f**k up!” I roared, and took a step inside, but Grey pulled me back. “If this is how you’re going to be, and if Keith really is mine, then I want him.”

“You can’t have him,” Mom shot back, and held up a silencing hand when Charlie started to talk.

“You can’t even take care of him! I’ve been taking care of him since he was born anyway. Now I’m taking him, or I will go to court to get him from you.”

“You really think I’ll just give up custody of him because you finally decided to acknowledge that he’s yours?”

“I still don’t even think he’s mine! But I can be a better f**king parent than you’ve ever been!”

“You can’t take—” Mom began, but was cut off.

“Keith’s my son!”

Chapter 20

Grey

December 21, 2014

EVERYONE FROZE AT Charlie’s words. The only sounds in the house were Charlie’s quiet sobs as we all stared at her. Jagger and me in shock, Mrs. Easton with a look that was beyond my comprehension. She looked like the very incarnation of evil, and all of that evil was directed at her daughter.

“Shut up!” Mrs. Easton hissed, and I watched as Charlie shook her head back and forth.

“I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for more than you could ever imagine,” she cried as she looked from Jagger to me. “Keith is my son.”

“Charlie, no,” Jagger finally said. “Don’t do this—don’t try to save Mom. She’s not the kind of person you think she is.”

“I know all about her,” Charlie responded with a sad smile. “We hid the pregnancy from you. It wasn’t hard since you were always with Grey that summer, and I just wore loose shirts the more I started to show and stopped leaving the house when it became obvious. Then you didn’t even come home that winter break after Keith was born—it wasn’t hard to play it off as Mom’s son. I’d given up custody before I even gave birth to him because Mom didn’t think I could handle being a mother. That’s why I never went away to college, and that’s why I don’t like leaving here. I can’t be away from him for long, and Mom refuses to give custody back to me.”

“She’s lying!” Mrs. Easton cut in. “Don’t listen to her. She’s just trying to take the blame so you won’t have to.”

“Just stop!” Charlie shouted. “Stop with everything. You are hurting everyone, can’t you see that?” She took deep breaths in and out, and we waited long moments for her to continue. “Grey, you know I loved Ben. I’m sorry for loving him when he was yours, just as I know Jagger was sorry for loving you when you were Ben’s.”

I went still. I wasn’t sure if I was breathing. I wasn’t moving or blinking. All I could do was think about the couple of times Ben and I had been in Thatch in the months before his death, and that Charlie was now crying about her baby and because she’d been in love with Ben. Jagger turned to look at me when he felt how still I’d gone, but I couldn’t look at him.

A choked sob burst from her chest, and she dropped her face into her hands. “Spring break of your sophomore year at Washington State, you all came home. You all had gone to a party that first night you were home, and Jagger didn’t come home after, he went to LeAnn’s.”

“Charlie, where are you going with this?” Jagger demanded.