Page 124 of Joey

And that’s how we leave.

Once and for all, we are four.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO - BROOKE

“Why do you think they brought him there?” I ask. I’ve been thinking about this the whole ride home. How did my mother’s boyfriend end up here? It makes no sense at all. I just don’t understand it. “Why him? Why now? Why did they need to hurt me like that?”

“Just… let it go,” Wald says. “Those people are fucking insane.”

“I don’t think that’s it,” I say.

“You don’t think they’re insane?” Huck asks. “Or you’re running reasons through your head and can’t agree on one? Because listen to me, Brooke.” He turns around in his seat so he can look me in the eyes. “That was a shit show of epic proportions. I can’t even make sense of it.”

“I didn’t do anything to them. I don’t even know what that was about. All I did was stand with my friend. That’s it. And they planned this. They found them—”

“They didn’t find them, Brooke,” Joey says, cutting me off. He’s sitting in back with me. Just staring out the window. “They were part of this before you came along.”

“How do you know that? And part of what? What was that?”

“Just… drop it for now, OK? I don’t have answers for you. And even if I did I don’t think I could tell you.”

“You don’t have answers? How do you not understand? That whole thing was about you!”

“I know,” Joey says. “I get that much. But everything else… I just don’t know.”

He growls the last part. Maybe he’s angry. I’d be angry. But Joey’s growl isn’t anger. It’s frustration.

“OK,” I say. “Fine. I’ll drop it.”

But even if he isn’t angry, I am. They brought my mother and her boyfriend to that… dinner. Meeting. Whatever it was. Just so they could rip apart my memories. All my good memories.

And they were real memories. That was my real life. Wasn’t it? Suddenly I have no clue which parts were the lies and which parts were the truth.

I don’t know what that means. I don’t know how to process that. Because lies… I’m good at those. I know them. They’re my family now. Or they were. Now I can’t tell the difference and everything is upside down and backwards.

When we walked out of the ballroom there was no one in the house. Not one person. Not a single family member. Not a single child. They weren’t even outside. There were no carousel rides happening. There was no pre-party celebration.

We headed straight for the door and we could see that Wald’s truck was waiting for us in front of the house. Our luggage was lined up neatly on the curb.

They packed us up and brought them down and got our car because they knew we’d be leaving.

And you know what the added insult to injury was?

That guard didn’t wave goodbye when we passed through the gates. We didn’t even have to stop. The gate was open. And when we drove through I could almost hear Michael Conner say, Don’t let it hit you in the ass on the way out.

We were never invited to that party. We were never going to spend the weekend at that special place. They wanted us here tonight so we’d go away and let them have their party tomorrow.

We were never part of the family. We were never going to be a part of that family.

It was an ambush.

“I don’t get it,” I say.

Huck looks over his shoulder at me. “Don’t get what?”

“Why?”

“Just drop it, Brooke,” Joey says.