“Your filthy hands were all over that deal,” Zak said, making us all turn to face him. “We know that. Everyone in Sandland knows it too. You can argue all you want in here, but we all know the truth.”
Don swerved around like a monster ready to attack and focused all of his poisonous venom onto Zak.
“What happened to Winters was his fault. Nothing to do with me, my family, or my business. So, if that’s all you came here to say, you can leave.” He marched back to his desk to sit down and dismiss us like some kind of demon headmaster. “My son won’t be texting you again. You’ve got what you came here for. Now go.”
Like we wanted to stay for a moment longer than we had to.
“Why didn’t he text Brandon?”
We all stopped dead when Finn spoke. Don’s eyes grew wide as he peered over at Chase. Chase froze and swallowed nervously as if he was trying to gulp down the lies he knew would spout out of his mouth at any minute. And we all waited. Finn had hit on something here.
Suddenly, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and every muscle in my body tensed up as a gravelly voice at the door said, “Yeah, Dad. Why didn’t he text Brandon?”
We all turned to face Jensen, who stood at the door to the study. His face was bloody and swelling up badly. From the way he was leaning in the doorway, I could tell he was in pain, and that fact made this shit show slightly more bearable. I couldn’t keep the smirk off my face seeing how much he was suffering, but at the same time, I was pissed. He knew something about what was going on and I didn’t like him holding any cards. I should’ve finished the fucker off when I had the chance.
“What the fuck is going on?” I asked, looking between each of the Lockwoods. From what Jensen was implying, this went deeper than a grudge between Chase and the rest of us.
“You need to go the hospital, you’re a fucking mess,” was all Don Lockwood said in response, but Jensen wasn’t going to be deterred that easily. He hobbled further into the room and then put his hands onto his father’s desk as he leant forward to speak to him. The way he leered over him to try and get the upper hand was laughable with how broken and injured he was.
“Tell them, Dad. Tell them why Chase didn’t message Mathers. Why all of us were told to stay the fuck away from him.”
I frowned so hard my face hurt, and I balled my fists to keep myself in check and not lash out. I needed to hear this.
“What do you mean, all of us? You didn’t stay the fuck away, did you? You’ve done nothing but get into my face since I came back. Goading me, hurting my girl, making me fucking angry.” I took a step forward and Jensen flinched and moved back. He was scared of me. Good. He fucking better be.
He shook his head and chuckled sarcastically.
I’m not here to tell jokes, you fucker. Get to the point and stop pissing around.
“All of us were told to avoid you. I didn’t say we all listened.” He glanced down to his father. “He warned me, Chase, he even warned the fucking company.” He said the last part using air quotes to let us know exactly what sort of company he meant. Most likely the same businessmen who’d sold Alec Winters down the river and royally fucked him over when he couldn’t wash their dirty money anymore. “They’re probably the only ones that did take the order on board.” He concentrated his stare back on us. “Lucky for you, they listened. You wouldn’t be standing here today if Dad hadn’t put a ring of protection around you. You’d be right there alongside Brodie in that graveyard or rotting in a shallow grave somewhere. That’d probably be more fitting for you though, shitty king.”
“That’s enough!” Don banged his fist down on the table, then pointed his finger right into Jensen’s face. “You need to watch your mouth.”
Funny. Seemed Daddy Lockwood wasn’t too happy about the truths spilling out. But I wasn’t done. I needed to know everything.
Jensen grimaced and pushed himself off the desk.
“I’ve been watching my mouth for the last twenty years, Dad. I’ve had enough.” He turned to face me. “You want to know why you didn’t get any text messages?” He cocked his head then carried on, not waiting for my response. “It’s because we were told you were untouchable.” He took a step towards me. The motherfucker was getting cocky in the spotlight. One more step and I’d knock him out again. “And you know what happens when we go against his wishes? ... That.” He pointed over to Chase who was still clutching his cheek.
Don shot out of his chair, sending it spinning to the wall on its wheels. “I told you to leave it alone. I didn’t think I needed to specify which one of them to stay away from,” Don said, backtracking. His statement made no sense.
“Oh, but you did, Dad. You made it very clear after we were told to withdraw our statements about the fight that we shouldn’t have anything to do with Mathers. No contact, no talking, don’t even acknowledge he exists, I think were your exact words.”
I felt Harper’s distress like it was my own. The flippant way he was talking about the fight and what’d happened back then was like prising open a still very delicate wound for her. A wound I wouldn’t let them infect with their filth.
“And why was that?” she asked, speaking up in a small voice next to me. Her voice may have been quiet, but her presence drowned me like a tidal wave. She was the strongest woman I knew, and yet, I was beginning to second guess my decision to let her come. She didn’t need any more stress. She’d been through enough.
“Don’t get me wrong, princess,” Jensen said to Harper, making me want to rip him to pieces just for using that name for her alone. “It was an accident. But there are certain… things Dad wanted to keep buried. Isn’t that right, Dad? It wouldn’t look good if you got dragged into a court case, and that’s what you were faced with, wasn’t it? Or did I hear it wrong all those years ago?”
Don went to speak, but I jumped in. I needed to hear the truth. Not some garbled riddle from this punk. I was done with all this dancing about.
“Spell it out for me, Jensen. Pretend I missed a lot of school, you know, through all the bullying, and I need things explained a little more than most.”
Don glared at Jensen as I mentioned the bullying. Was he surprised that his offspring had turned out like him? He shouldn’t have been. Everyone knew what cowards the Lockwood boys were.
Jensen laughed.
“The bullying! You know, we didn’t pick you because of what you wore or how bad you smelt. We didn’t even pick you ‘cos of the whole living-in-your-own-shit story that went around in school. I picked you.”
He scowled as he stared from me to his father and then back again. Then he looked over at his brother and said, “I’m sorry, man. I didn’t want you to hear about it like this.”
“Just say what you’ve got to say,” Chase replied, sounding as fed up with this whole farce as I was.
“Oh, I will. I was about four years old,” he said, smiling like he was telling us some kind of heart-warming childhood tale. “I couldn’t sleep one night, so I came downstairs. Mum was out with one of her friends. She hadn’t been here to put us to sleep and Dad being Dad had just sent us off upstairs to put ourselves to bed. I couldn’t rest though. So, I crept downstairs to get myself a snack.”