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Dana had known he’d had a hard childhood but she hadn’t realized just how bad it had been. He’d always acted as if it wasn’t a big deal.
“The first time I failed Asher was not long after our mother left. It was after school and I was gone. Looking for work. Not many people wanted to hire a nine-year-old. I came home to find our bastard father beating the hell out of Asher.”
“Oh, God, Levi. I’m so sorry. But that wasn’t your responsibility.”
“Yes it was. I was all Asher had.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets and stopped and looked at her. “Do you know why he beat him?”
Dana shook her head.
“Asher, who was seven, was crying because he missed our mother. God knows why he missed her, but he did. The bastard said no son of his was going to be a pansy-ass crybaby. So he beat him until he passed out and wasn’t crying anymore.”
Her throat constricted. “Oh, my God. How horrible.”
“It was. After that I made sure I was his whipping boy. And I sure as hell didn’t cry. I don’t remember Asher ever crying after that either. As much as I tried I could never protect him totally.”
“Was there no one to help you? No adult you could turn to? A teacher? A neighbor? Anyone?”
“No. I don’t think that my friends’ parents knew how bad it was. Besides, I was afraid to say anything to them in case he decided to pay me back by hurting one of my friends. He was cagey. Never used anything but his fists and didn’t go for the face. Usually.” He shrugged. “By the time I was fifteen I had started fighting back. And winning. The third time I beat the crap out of him I told him if he touched either of us again I’d kill him. I guess he believed me because he stopped.”
“Were you that big? At fifteen?”
“I was that smart. I played him. The angrier he was the less he thought. He just reacted. And I’d learned all kinds of dirty tricks.”
“Levi, have you talked about this with anyone?”
“No. It’s not something I dwell on.”
“Travis, Tobi and Zack didn’t know?” she persisted.
“They knew he was a drunk and an abusive bastard but I…I never told them how bad it was.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “Pride, maybe. I didn’t want their pity. I had their friendship. That was enough.”
“Oh, Levi. This breaks my heart.”
“It’s a long time in the past, darlin’.”
“Not far enough that you don’t feel it. You said that was the first time you failed Asher. But, Levi, you were just a little boy. That was on your father, not you.”
“I should have been there,” he insisted.
“Then he’d just have gone after you both, wouldn’t he?”
He lifted a shoulder. “Maybe.”
“What happened after that when you believed you failed Asher?”
“I was seventeen and Asher was fifteen when the son of a bitch wrapped his car around a tree. He died instantly, the lucky bastard. We both went into the system. I wanted to take guardianship of Asher, but the state wouldn’t let me. They said I couldn’t support us both and provide a stable home for him. I was only a couple of months away from graduating, so I stayed in school and got my degree. Then I went to work in the oil fields.”
“That’s when you made your original fortune, isn’t it? Wasn’t it some kind of pipe?”
“Pipe fitting. Yeah, but not soon enough. Asher was in and out of foster homes, in and out of juvie. When he turned seventeen he had a choice. The military or jail. He chose the military.”
“He must have felt like he’d found his place. He’s been in it for ten years or more, hasn’t he?”
“Yes. Until he was shipped home minus a leg. And now, one more time, I’m the only family he’s got left. So this is it.”
