Loving Ashlynn (#Wattys2016)

Chapter 56 - Truth (Brennan Conrad POV) Pt.3

Grandma runs a hand over her blonde locks, nodding.

When she sighs, I swallow.

"Javier is... he's falling apart and it was bad enough when I learned why Silas died, but he said that in truth it is Shannon and-" I stop when the door opens and Talia and Harleigh bust in the kitchen. It's painfully obvious that something is up and my sisters' gaze dart between my grandmothers' eyes and mine.

All traces of the smiles they walked in with gone. "Is something wrong? With mom and dad, the others?" Talia asked nervously twisting her fingers at the same time.

I shake my head, trying to gather control of my emotions at the same time. My face was worn and I'm sure showed the tiredness I felt. It hurt to blink so I'm sure my eyes were just enough swollen and red to garner the worry their faces expressed.

"No your parents are just fine," Grandma Bess coos, her smile reassuring.

As she walks towards my sisters, I abandon the search for Antone and head back onto our bus quietly. Just staring down at his hands Javier jumps a bit in his seat when I close the door behind me. Wiping at his face, green orbs shine in the low light, highlighted more by the red rims and lines in the whites of his eyes.

"You can have the back room," I blurt out, knowing that soon all my siblings would get on the bus. Rushing to the said room, I start grabbing out their go bags, and products left around, before lifting my chin to point towards the empty space.

Giving him the room, time to grieve in private that is the least I could do at the moment. My family was feeling the loss of Silas all over again, but in my heart, Javier had lost so much more and had been putting up with double what anyone or I truly realized.

When he heads back, I rush back to the garage and grab the foam mattresses that my grandfather had spares of, rolling two out in the open space of our bus.

I've just tossed blankets onto them when Thaddeus, Caterina, Paige, Talia and Harleigh all start climbing the stairs, stopping right at the front.

"What the hell is going on?" Caterina asks waving a hand at the new sleeping situation. Shrugging, "The back room is occupied so we're sleeping out here." I answered with a hint of finality.

"Who is occupying that room?" she asked again, showing every bit of her fifteen-year-old petulance. My eyes shifts from left to right, ending on Talia who is the only one to hold my gaze. We both ignore Caterina for a few beats, before Talia shifts her gaze to over my shoulder.

Narrowing her eyes she pushes her brows together. "You know who is back there Cat, ignorance does not become you," she says dryly.

Talia was toeing the line and though I didn't want to be in between her and Javier, I also knew that I couldn't abandon him either. Lame and clichéd, moms say all was what I thought of: treat others the way you'd like to be treated.

~ 0 ~

With the bed closest to the back room, the night after Javier learnt of his families demise, at Taylor's hand no less, I heard him letting out his emotions, trying to keep it unnoticeable.