She opened her mouth to argue then closed it again.
She remembered only too well what Kane’s experience of the police had been back then. The Wheeler clan had been hated and feared in equal measure. If something went
wrong in Heathdale, from house invasions to drunken brawls, from the cobblestone set on the dock road being taken up to the copper on the church roof disappearing, the Wheeler clan had likely been involved. People—everyone—had been desperate to get rid of them. All of them. And Kane was a Wheeler.
Still...
‘You waited for them, didn’t you, and then you drove them home? Or wherever they were going.’
‘I didn’t know what else to do, Matz. I was fifteen and I was in shock. I knew they were bad but even I had no idea what they were capable of.’
‘And afterwards, when the shock wore off?’
She hated the bleak look that clouded his dark eyes.
Hated it.
‘I ditched the car and I went home. I expected the police to show up on the doorstep any minute. I was ready to confess everything, and I was ready to take whatever punishment I was given. But one hour turned into two, then twelve. Then a day, a week, a month. So I stayed quiet. But from then on I tried to keep my distance. I told them to leave me out of whatever they did next, or I’d turn them in. I never let myself get dragged into anything with them ever again.’
‘My God, Kane.’
‘That was also when I got myself a motorbike. I figured I couldn’t be tied to them if people always saw me around town on that thing.’
‘I remember it.’ Her body flushed in spite of everything. It had been a few more years until they’d started dating, but the number of times she’d been on the back of that bike. The delicious things she and Kane had done on it. ‘Why didn’t you ever tell me?’
He shook his head.
‘Why would I risk losing you? You were the first person who had ever treated me with anything other than contempt. You told me that I wasn’t like them, and that I was better than anything my life had to offer. I couldn’t stand to see the look in your eyes when you realised that you were wrong.’
‘I would never have thought that!’ she exclaimed. ‘I would have believed you and I would have helped you.’
‘Would you, though? Really?’ Kane challenged. ‘You knew my family’s reputation. Would you really have been that quick to trust me over anyone else if you had known?’
She opened her mouth to argue, then closed it again. As much as she balked at admitting it, maybe he was right.
‘You changed me, Matz. You. And your family showed me there was a different way. A better way.’
‘So what happened?’ she asked at last. ‘How did you end up leaving that night?’
She was afraid to hear, but afraid not to. It was impossible to shake the feeling that his story was leading somewhere she didn’t understand. And yet the urge to finally understand the truth, after all these years, was sharp and driving.
‘In the end, my past caught up with me.’ Kane twisted his mouth into something that was more bared teeth than any kind of smile. ‘I was heading home after being with you when the police came for my brothers. They’d held up another off licence, but this one had CCTV.’
‘The police identified them?’
‘They had a hunch but no clear identification. Still, I saw the lights, heard the commotion, as I was about to turn into the street, so I just kept going. I didn’t stop. But I figured it was only a matter of time before the police put the two crimes together and came for me. I couldn’t think of any way out. So... I rode straight back to your house.’
‘You came to my dad.’ She froze, her brain desperately trying to make sense of it all, piecing the puzzle together slowly.
Yet at least now she actually had the pieces.
‘I came to see you. To apologise.’
‘Why?’ she whispered.
He paused.
‘Because you were the only one who ever believed in me, and I had betrayed your trust.’