“So, what…what happened?”
“Well, the girl was upset and crying, and he claimed it was because I’d embarrassed her, but there was no doubt in my mind she was scared and he was hurting her in some way. Honestly, I don’t think he would have stopped had I not walked in.
“The girl left and Luis told me to keep my mouth shut because I sounded like a stupid kid. I know I should’ve done more that night, but I didn’t know. I was too young to understand, I guess. I figured she’d go to the cops or something. I was completely ignorant. But days passed with nothing. And I started to doubt myself. Maybe I hadn’t seen things right.
“Then about a month later, it all happened so fast. Suddenly, I was being questioned as a witness. He was being charged with attempted sexual assault. She’d finally confided in someone.
“Luis came to me first, trying to convince me to defend him, to tell everyone the girl had made it all up, but I refused to lie. So your dad came to me next, told me I’d destroy your family if this went public. That was a hard one for me. But I couldn’t just forget what I saw. If I was questioned, I’d be honest. It was all I could do.”
I shook my head. The knot in my stomach now creeping up my throat. “How did I not know about this? Any of it.”
“Well, after they failed to silence me, they went to the source. The girl and her family. Eventually they settled out of court, and she agreed not to press charges. For a large sum of money, she would never have to be ‘embarrassed in a trial’…your dad’s words. Like he was doing her family a favor.” He scoffed and shook his head. “They were protecting their image, and Luis, who thanks to money and influence, walked away without so much as a slap on the wrist.”
“This is awful. Horrible. I can’t believe my family would…I mean I knew they weren’t the best people…but this, this is horrific. This is disgusting and low and I don’t even want to be associated with people like that.” I pressed my hand to my stomach, wishing I hadn’t eaten so late, considering my dinner was thinking about making a reappearance.
“You’re nothing like that.” He moved from where he sat and put his arm around me. “I never told you any of this for this very reason. I’ve never cared about protecting your piece-of-shit brother, but I’ve always cared about protecting you.”
“It’s just not right. No punishment? No remorse? Like you said, not even a slap on the wrist.”
“Hey, that doesn’t mean he didn’t get a punch to the jaw.” His mouth twitched up like he wanted to smile.
“You didn’t?” I asked with a grin.
He shrugged, his expression going grim again. “From the time it happened to the time her family settled was almost a year. For months, I’d watched him walk around like nothing could touch him, and the whole time I kept thinking he’d get what he deserved. And then he didn’t. It was hard—it made me mad, and I was forced to accept it wasn’t my decision. But what really got me was after it was all said and done, he had the audacity to look me square in the eyes and say, ‘It’s not like I forced her into that bathroom,’ and I just lost it.
“Thankfully Landon was around to defuse the situation. Or I would have ended up with a few charges of my own.”
When I thought the story couldn’t get any more vile…“So through all of this Landon and Luis stayed friends?”
“Luis thought so. He seemed to think Landon had been in the dark the whole time, and Landon never cared to clear it up either. To him, it was a ‘keep your enemies closer’ kind of thing. We were all grateful when Luis finally left town. Your dad too.” He turned to me, his eyes wide. “No offense. I know they are your family.”
“Not anymore. They barely treat me like a member of it anyway, and it’s pointless to even try anymore. They don’t deserve my respect. And here I’d always thought I’d wanted theirs.” I threw my head back on the couch and stared at the ceiling. “That poor girl. Do I know her? Like does she have to see me around town and think about how horrible my family is? And assume I’m just like them?”
He pulled me against his chest. “She was here on vacation. Doesn’t live around here and probably never wants to come back. Her name was Annabeth. That’s all I know about her.”
“Do your parents hate me?”
“Not at all. They know you don’t know. And I’ve asked everyone to keep it that way. The matter has always been kept extremely private. And as far as I’m concerned, it was out of respect for you and that girl, never for him.”