Liars and Liaisons by Sav R. Miller
7
My one conditionbefore we leave is telling Kal.
Grayson gives me a few days to say my good-byes in general and to set up the meeting with my brother, but when he comes back, it’s all business.
Cora was easy—a simple text about a new job and the promise to give her a play-by-play the second I left was all it took to keep her at bay. If I tried to do the same with Kal, he’d come looking for me.
A car service takes me to a little seaside café on the north side of Aplana Island. Though Grayson sits across the back seat, he didn’t say anything when he picked me up, and doesn’t even look up from his phone when his driver pulls into the small parking lot. I get out and tell him I’ll be back in a half hour.
He grunts, and that’s it.
I find Kal sitting with his wife and two daughters at a table on the far end of the patio. I approach slowly, clearing the notifications from my phone and pointedly ignoring one specific text.
When can I get the next drop?
Our messages are short and vague, in case anyone has bugged my father’s phone. Since mine’s a cheap pay-as-you-go one, I don’t have to worry so much, but he can’t risk losing his contacts or communication with my mother.
But I don’t want to deal with him right now. I’ll send my new checks as soon as I have an envelope and stamps.
When I get to the table, the breezy sea air shifts into something less cool and free. I can’t tell if that’s me or Kal. Maybe both.
Elena, simply put, is stunning. Her long, dark brown hair shimmers in the sunlight, her hazel eyes bright as she assists her six-year-old with a coloring book. There’s a springtime radiance that emanates from her, like she really is the queen of my brother’s little underworld.
Slung across Kal’s chest is a sleeping, dark-haired toddler. She sucks on her thumb while my brother presses slow, clockwise circles into her back. The pink onesie seems at odds with her parents’ mostly black attire. Even their older child has a glittery rainbow top and a white tutu. Sort of like they’re trying to preserve as much color in their lives as possible.
Before it’s too late and they realize genetics are a powerful thing.
“Q,” Elena says to the little girl, running her hand down her jet-black ringlets, “do you remember your aunt Violet?”
I glance at the sunflower maze she’s running a bright yellow crayon through. “Wow, you’re really good at that. Is this your first try?”
She turns big, dark eyes up to me. Her father’s eyes—my father’s eyes. Emotion clogs in my throat as she scans me up, down, and then goes right back to her maze.
Rocking back on my heels, I smother a smirk at her clear judgment.
Elena sighs. “She’s not really into speaking right now. Wonder where she gets that from.”
Her husband ignores the obvious jab. “You’re late.”
My hand pauses on the back of the iron bistro seat, and I frown. “I called you to come here.”
“And it’s now fifteen minutes past the time we agreed upon,” he says, taking a sip from a small ceramic mug. “Which tells me you likely contemplated not even coming because you knew whatever you’re going to tell me, I won’t approve.”
“Kallum,” Elena murmurs, elbowing him in the gut. “Jesus Christ. Let her speak.”
As I lower myself into the seat, Kal’s stern glare grates into my skin. I chew on the inside of my lip, silently cursing my cousin’s big fucking mouth. “Cora already told you, didn’t she?”
Elena, at least, has the decency to look ashamed. Her husband just continues glaring.
“I don’t know why anyone in this family even tries to keep secrets,” I mutter, earning a twisted grin from my sister-in-law.
I’m sure she’s reading into the fact that I called us a family, and while I don’t exactly want her to get the wrong impression, I don’t have it in me right now to disappoint her doubly.
“I thought you were trying to make your relationship with the producer work,” Kal says. “Now, suddenly, you’re running off to be his brother’s housekeeper? Are you in some sort of trouble?”
My jaw drops. “How do you even know that?” I didn’t give Cora specifics.
He scoffs. “I have acquaintances in many places, Violet. I know everything.”
There’s a threat in those words, but I don’t have time to dissect it. Grayson’s waiting on me, and if I’ve learned one thing since meeting him, it’s that he has as much patience as a tornado. And is willing to inflict just as much damage.
“Suffice it to say,” Elena cuts in, reaching for my hand across the table, “if you did need something… we’d be able to help.”
She squeezes my fingers, and I give her a small smile in return. I’m tempted, as always, to take them up on their offer. To let them welcome me into their dark, twisted little fold and wipe away the problems I have sitting in limbo.
My life is proof enough that being good and doing good don’t necessarily mean the universe will reward you. These two seem to be happy and well-off, so maybe being bad does pay.
Still, I can’t do that to my mother. Can’t bring the wrath of poor decisions down on my family when I’ve worked the last several years to keep them safe.
“I don’t need anything,” I tell them, pulling my hands into my lap. “I just thought the courteous thing to do would be to tell you guys I’m leaving the island rather than just… leaving.”
“That hasn’t stopped you any of the other times you’ve done it. You’ve been on and off Aplana for six years.”
“This is different. I don’t know if—when I’ll be back.”
Kal’s stare hardens, those black eyes turning to granite. “I see. Then, I suppose we’re done here.”
He shoves back from the table, keeping his toddler’s head pressed firmly to his chest. He pauses, looking down at Q; she lifts her head, a wide smile breaking out across her cherub face.
“Daddy can take me to see the gulls?”
Her soft voice feels like a tiny punch to my gut even though it shouldn’t. Now, the rejection is twofold.
Something softens in his face, and he extends his long arm. “Absolutely.”
Q scrambles from her chair, leaving her book and crayons to push her fist into her father’s hand. They walk off together, leaving just me and Elena in a cloud of discomfort.
She drops her face into her hands and groans.
“He’s a good dad, isn’t he?” I ask her, watching them exit the patio area and head down to the beach.
A knot solidifies in my throat, memories assaulting me—of watching the kids back home do the same with their parents. Mine were always too busy working or praying or gambling their savings away to take us to the beach even though we lived up the street from it.
Elena smiles. “Better than I could have dreamed. He spoils the shit out of them, but I’m okay with that. Better than the alternative.” She sobers up a bit, straightening her spine. From across the table, she looks regal, like a queen presiding over her court. “I meant what I said about you needing anything. If you’re anything like Kallum, I’m sure asking for help isn’t something you’re accustomed to, but… we’re here, you know? Always.”
One of my brows quirks. “Are you sure he feels the same?”
“I can’t speak for him,” she says, reaching to twist the solitaire diamond on her left ring finger. “All I know is that he’d do anything for the people he loves. Anything.”
“Cryptic.”
Another smile, this one mischievous. “Well, like he said, he knows everyone and everything.”
She reaches out again, turning my hand over; something cold and solid weighs against my palm, and she curls my fingers over the object, holding my gaze as she sits back in her seat.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” she tells me, “but I can’t send you off without at least giving you something to protect yourself.”
When she sits back, I pull my hand close and uncurl the fist, my face going slack at the rose-gold pocketknife she tucked inside.
I lift my eyes to hers, and she stands up, waving a hand.
“Use it; don’t use it. I don’t care. Just… don’t get yourself killed, okay?”
After I nod, she leaves the table to go join her family on the beach, and I sit there a little while longer, turning the cool weapon in my hands.
Like always, I try not to drown in the overwhelming guilt of not letting Kal close. Because clearly, he didn’t need a real family to teach him how to be a decent husband and parent. He didn’t need nature to show him how to love or protect.
Those are things he somehow picked up along the way, and I can’t help wondering if, between the two of us, I’m the real monster for keeping him at bay.
