“What the hell was all of that?” Annie asked.
I opened and closed my eyes. “That’s Weston.”
She gaped. “Oh shit. I need to go talk to Jordan.”
I grabbed her arm. “I think…we should give them a minute.”
“What am I missing?” Piper asked. “Should that name mean something to us?”
Sutton sighed. “It appears that Owen has another kid, and no one knew about it.”
Piper gasped. Blaire went pale.
“They’re all mad that he didn’t tell them?” Blaire asked softly.
“That he lied about it. Plus, it’s three kids, not just one.”
“What?” Sutton breathed.
I explained about the PI and the three kids. It’d all be out in the open soon enough. No reason to hide it any longer. They all looked shaken and horrified by this news.
“Fuck,” Annie said. Her eyes went to the door, tracking her boyfriend.
I went back to work, shooting the rest of the party and trying not to think about the people who were still absent from the room. Julian and Jordan never walked back in through the front door.
I opted for a break and headed into the backstage after Campbell finished his short set. I startled when I saw Jordan and Julian were back there, seated around a circular table, with a half-empty bottle of bourbon between them.
Campbell laughed when he saw them. “Hey, pour me a glass.”
Jordan tipped the bottle to his lips and took a swig, passing it to Julian, who did the same.
Campbell shook his head. “One of those nights, huh?”
“You have no idea,” Jordan muttered.
Campbell laughed, unaware of what had happened, and headed into the dressing room.
I took a breath and then sank into a seat next to them. “Hey, how are you holding up?”
Julian held the bottle up to me in cheers. “Today can fuck right off.”
“I’m sorry about your dad. What happened with Weston?”
“He felt terrible and apologized a dozen times for barging in,” Jordan said. “He didn’t know about the party.”
“How’d he even know to come to the winery?”
Jordan rolled his eyes. “That damn interview Julian did for the opening.”
“Hey, you all thought it was a good idea at the time,” he slurred slightly.
How much of that bourbon had he already had?
“Hindsight,” Jordan grumbled. “Anyway, when he looked us up, that comes up on the Google search, and it said we were open tonight. We hadn’t posted that we were closed for a private event. We’d just canceled tours and such.”
“Wow,” I whispered. “I can’t believe he’s really your brother. You looked all over for him online.”
“Yeah, he’s not on social media,” Jordan said. “He said that the musician work he does is backing band for tours. So, it’s not like he’s…Campbell.”
“I didn’t know people could be offline,” Jennifer said.
“Apparently,” Jordan said, reaching for the bottle. “And apparently our dad can have a son that no one knows about.”
“And a twin and another sister,” Julian said, dropping his head back. “Our dad is a real son of a bitch.”
“Yeah,” Jordan said with a sigh. “He really is.”
“So, what’s the plan? What are you going to do?”
Julian shrugged. “We have to tell Mom.”
“Ugh,” I groaned.
“And we’re meeting Weston for breakfast tomorrow to talk,” Jordan added.
“Really? Do you want to get to know them?”
“That’s what we need to figure out.” Julian downed the rest of the bottle in long gulps.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Jordan said, snatching the bottle back. “You don’t have my tolerance, little bro.”
Julian dipped his head back and flipped him off. “I’ve had a night. I can indulge.”
Jordan shot me a pained look. This was hitting Julian way harder than Jordan. Even though Jordan had been the optimistic one about Owen’s repentance. He’d been the one to convince Julian to give him another chance. But Jordan was hardened, and Julian wasn’t. Jordan had always protected him, and now, he’d pushed him right into the thick of things.
“Maybe you should get him home,” Jordan suggested.
“I’m fine,” he muttered, pointedly taking back the bottle and finishing it.
Jordan winced. Alcoholism ran in their family. None of them liked to talk about it, but it wasn’t a good sign for Julian.
“Hey, come on. Let’s get going.”
“You have to work still,” he mumbled.
“I got everything I need,” I assured him.
Jordan got an arm under Julian and helped him out of the chair. Together, we hauled him out the back way and toward his Audi. I fished in his pocket for the keys, unlocking the behemoth. I’d never driven the thing, but I’d come over with my roommates, so I didn’t have Bertha here.
Once Jordan got Julian into the passenger seat, I waved him good-bye and pulled out of the parking lot in halting, nervous sputters. The SUV was twice as big as my car, and the last thing I wanted was to wreck his car as I drove him home. Julian spun the radio on and rolled the window down to let in the hot, dusty summer air. Rap music blasted through the speakers, but I didn’t turn it down. He was drunk and hurting and probably needed a shower and a good, long nap. If he had to face his brother tomorrow, face telling his mom, he deserved to do whatever he wanted to cope tonight.
I thought that I might have to carry him through the house once we got there, but he jumped out of the SUV on his own and stepped inside without a word. I dumped the keys onto a table next to the garage door and followed him. I found him in the kitchen.
“Julian,” I said.
“Hmm,” he said as he popped the top on the unopened whiskey and poured himself a full glass. “Want some?”
“No thanks.”
I didn’t know how to help or what I could do. But drinking was probably not the answer.
“Do you want to talk about what happened?”
“You know, I really don’t.” Then he drank it back like a shot.
“Do you think getting black-out drunk will make things better?”
“Nope,” he said, smacking his lips. “I really don’t.”
“Okay.”
He dropped the glass into the sink and carried the bottle with him to the couch. “But I think it’ll make me forget that tonight happened—at least for a few hours.” He patted the couch next to him. “Come. Sit.”
I dropped the camera on the nearby table, kicked off my shoes, and curled up onto the couch next to him. He turned on the television and wrapped an arm around me. I wanted to believe that things would be better in the morning, but I’d never seen Julian like this before.
I worried that what had happened with his dad had broken him in some fundamental way, and I wasn’t sure who he was going to be in the morning.
37
Jennifer
The next morning, I woke to the sound of Julian vomiting in the toilet.