I didn’t bring your brother that deal…
That deal.
What deal?
Tempest was the one who told me.
That Reed had built his car himself.
She didn’t want to though.
She didn’t give me this piece of information for the longest time. Because she thought I had so much to deal with already. My heartbreak, rumors at school about the Thorne Princess falling for the Wild Mustang, her brothers’ enemy.
Everything happened publicly that night, didn’t it?
We fought at a party. I stole his car from that party. I didn’t show up for my own dance show.
I even got arrested; not publicly, but still.
So everyone at school knew everything and they all thought I was love-crazy. That whole month, they watched me like I was going to blow up any second.
But anyway.
One weekend while Tempest was hanging out at my place, it slipped out of her mouth. She said something about Reed working on his car and it snowballed from there.
I kept hounding her until she finally spilled the beans.
She told me that Reed loves cars.
He’s something of a car aficionado.
Not only that, but he worked at a garage out of town called Auto Alpha. No one knew about this, so I was supposed to keep it a secret, and that was where he got interested in cars and built his Mustang from parts.
I remember being so shocked. Speechless.
I was with him for months and I had no clue.
I had no clue that he’d built his own car, let alone worked at a garage. According to Tempest, he worked because he wanted to get away from their dad and also to stick it to him, even if secretly.
I also remember feeling a twist in my chest.
A sharp pinch.
Reed and his dad.
Even though I had no right to feel anything for him anymore and I shouldn’t even have felt the need to, I still couldn’t help myself from wanting to go to him.
Wanting to apologize about the car. About his dad.
Wanting to just… talk to him.
But it was so silly, wasn’t it?
He would never open up to me about his dad, and well, what would I have said to him anyway? It was better to keep my distance and so that’s what I did.
That was the last time Tempest and I talked about her brother, because that’s when we made the pact and so we never broached the subject.
I never sought out any information about Reed.
Never Googled him. Never stalked him on social media.
I buried him.
Somewhere deep inside of me. Somewhere only I could reach him when I wanted to remember and torture myself over my mistakes.
Until now.
Until today.
Because I need to know. I need to know what deal he made with my brother. What was he talking about?
Since today’s Saturday, it’s phone day at St. Mary’s.
Every week like clockwork my oldest brother, Conrad, calls me at 7PM. He calls me and then conferences the rest of my brothers in: Stellan, Shepard and Ledger.
Every week I eagerly wait for their call. I usually arrive at the phone room way before the time and hang out in the hallway until Miss Fletcher, the one usually manning the phones, calls for me. And when she does I run to grab it.
I run so I can talk to my brothers.
Whom I love to pieces.
Whom I only get to talk to once a week. Because of my stupidity.
Because of what I did, the crime that I committed and because of what I put them through.
You know, when I stole his car and drove it into the lake, I wasn’t thinking. Or rather, I was only thinking about the pain in my chest and the blow of his betrayal. Of all the lies he had told me.
I never once thought about what it would do to my brothers.
How it would upset them. How it would make trouble for them, having a thief for a sister.
Besides, I wasn’t the only one who got betrayed that night, was I? They got betrayed too. By me.
I was lying to them. I was lying to Ledger, the brother that I was closest to, and hanging out with his enemy. And then I went ahead and became a criminal as well.
I still can’t erase all the guilt of my sins. I still can’t get rid of this shame.
Even though they forgave me. They did.
God, did they.
Stellan was probably the first one, my rational brother. He got Shepard on board and Shep got Ledger. The brother whom I’d betrayed the most.
I still don’t know how he found it in his heart to forgive me, but he did.
I guess he was angrier at his enemy than at me. Whom he actually beat up after everything happened. I only know because Reed came to school that Monday with bruises all over his face.
Anyway, that whole summer, along with Tempest, my brothers helped with my grief too. They all had their plans — Ledger and Shep were set to go on a road trip with their friends; Stellan had a summer job in the city — but they all canceled everything and hung out with me.