Page 80 of Dirty Secrets

“Logan,” I sighed, raking my fingers through my hair. “Please let me have some space. I have my phone and can call you if someone starts following me or anything. You guys forget that I can fight just as good as you.”

He finally nodded, stepping aside so I could pass him. “Be careful.”

“I always am,” I replied before walking around him, ignoring Reid and his mother as I walked out the front door and slammed it behind me.

Why couldn’t Reid let his mom go? It wasn’t like he had a single good memory of her. He’d been looking after her since he was in diapers, and she’d left him sitting in his own filth for days at a time.

It wasn’t like she even wanted to change, she just showed up demanding shit, then left until she needed money again.

I’d been relieved when she’d been arrested two years ago, but Reid put himself into debt to bail her out. It was a never-ending cycle of her hurting him and him saving her, and I hated to admit it, but the day she finally died would be a blessing, no matter how badly it broke him.

We all had fucked up parents, but Reid’s mother was a pain in the ass because she was the only one that showed up to continue fucking with Reid’s head. He had no idea who his father was, so at least he wasn’t a problem.

Logan’s mother called from prison occasionally, but he never took the calls.

She didn’t deserve shit either, not after the things she’d put him through when he was a kid. He didn’t talk about her much, but those scars were still fresh for him.

His father had been his mother’s pimp, and the prick had died thanks to gang activity when Logan had been five. All Logan remembered about him had been how mean the asshole was.

At least both my parents stayed gone when they left. The last time I’d seen Dad was when he’d shown up to make sure Josh was dead before bailing again, and I was fine with that.

Reid, Logan, and Zavier were my family, and they were all I cared about.

I pulled my cigarettes from my pocket and lit one, puffing on it as I walked.

Reid’s words had stung, he knew how much I wanted to help, but he wouldn’t let me.

Now he was going to throw it back in my face?

I ended up at the abandoned school, making my way through the empty corridors and up to the roof. We’d spent a lot of time up here over the years, the guys drinking while we just hung out.

There was a bunch of smashed glass on the ground below to prove it.

I sat on the ledge and let my legs dangle, lighting another cigarette as I stared out at the view. You could see a lot from up here, and it was always pretty at sunrise and sunset. It was three levels high, and not a single brick was clean of graffiti.

Most of it was probably from us.

There were bottle caps littered all over the roof, and I absently tossed them off one at a time and watched them hit the ground, frustration twisting inside me.

I was going to try to find a job, even if it was just picking up trash. Something was better than nothing, and I wasn’t going to let the guys talk me out of it again.

The scuff of shoes behind me let me know I had company, and I glanced over my shoulder to find Zavier.

“What are you doing?” he asked, stopping behind me with a frown.

“If Reid sent you?—”

“No one sent me. Why? Did something happen? I was going over footage to try and see if I could find the car again, then I noticed you walking this way. Figured you were coming here, so I came to find you.”

“Isla showed up again,” I mumbled, looking out at the view again. “Why does he keep letting her in?”

He dropped down beside me, reaching for a bottle cap to toss it over the edge. “That’s just his abandonment issues. He’s always got hope that she’ll turn her life around and stay.”

“We all have abandonment issues, but I’d rather both my parents die than show up on my doorstep again. Your dad’s deadand you’re grateful for it. Logan could happily never see his mom again too.”

“That’s the funny thing about trauma, we all cope differently,” he shrugged, looking over at me. “Every time Isla shows up, Reid turns into that little boy who sat at the window for days waiting for her to come home. He still loves her, and as much as I hate her for having that kind of hold over him, I’m also kind of glad that after everything he can still feel like that about her. He’s a good person. Don’t be mad at him for caring about her.”

“I’m mad atherfor that. My anger towards him is because he threw it in my face that he makes the money so he can do what he wants with it, and that I’m just like her for relying on him,” I snorted, his eyes narrowing.