Across the Vanishing Sky (Starlight Grove, #1)(60)

I scoffed. “I highly doubt that.”

“Your bravery stops me in my damn tracks. You face everything. You don’t look away. You don’t give up. You keep fighting.”

My eyes burned. Because I wanted to believe I was all of that. “Sometimes, I’m so damn tired of fighting.”

Empathy washed over Dex’s face. “You just need some reinforcements. I’ve got you covered.”

God, that scared the hell out of me, but I wanted it so badly I could taste it. “Tell me about who I’m going to meet at this family dinner.”

He was quiet for a moment before giving in to my subject change. “Well, you know Wylder, my sober brother who owns the bar. He’s the eldest.”

My brows lifted. “I didn’t know he didn’t drink.”

“Not a drop. And I’m not speaking out of school. He’s pretty open with that journey and his involvement in the program.”

“Good for him. That’s a tough road.”

Dex nodded slightly. “Like I said, we all had our ways of coping, and some of them were more destructive than others.”

A heaviness settled over me, like one of those coverings they gave you when you got an X-ray. A lead blanket. Because I couldn’t imagine the stew of damage these brothers had had to deal with.

“We do what we can to get by. We keep going,” I said quietly.

“We do.” Dex swallowed. “Kol, the second oldest, turned inward. Guilt. Feels like he should’ve been there. Should’ve seen something. Protected us. Honestly, I think the surprise of finding out he had a daughter saved him.”

The war found me again, the one where sadness and hope battled. “Skylar seems like she could light anyone’s world.”

“That little princess has us all wrapped around her fingers. She sort of centered things. Gave us all a focus outside ourselves.”

“I get that.” My gaze found Owen, who was now lying in the grass with Yeti, yammering away as if the dog could understand every word. “It cures the self-pity in a snap, gives you instant perspective.”

“It does. And damn, they’re amazing to watch grow.”

“They are.” My gaze flicked to Dex.

“What about her mom? In the picture?” I asked.

A different sort of shadow passed across Dex’s face as his jaw turned to granite. “No. Not in the picture.”

There was a story there, but it wasn’t Dex’s to tell.

I gave him an out. “What about Maverick?”

That tension eased—the way Maverick’s presence seemed to do. One corner of Dex’s mouth kicked up. “Youngest brother. Hell on wheels. Always looking for the next adrenaline high. Extreme sports, risky jobs. Anything he can get his hands on.”

I grinned. “He seems like a character.”

“That’s one word for it.”

A soft laugh escaped, and Dex turned, staring at my mouth as if trying to memorize the sound.

I forced my gaze away from the temptation—too much. “And Orion?”

I felt the change in Dex more than I saw it. His hand stiffened under mine before he pulled it away. I missed the contact and steady pressure almost immediately. But I welcomed it, too. It was a reminder that even Dex would go away. I couldn’t lose sight of that.

“Middle brother. Everything that happened…it was the hardest on him.”

I shifted, forcing myself to take Dex in again, to make myself accept the pieces of him he was willing to give. But when I saw his face, everything that was so focused inward melted away. Because what I saw there was pure and utter agony.

The emotion was so strong and sharp it forced me to suck in air. I wanted to reach for him again. To tell him I was there. But I stopped myself.

Instead, I simply waited. For whatever Dex wanted to lay at my feet.

“Orion saved us. When Mav and I found things we shouldn’t have. When our father caught us. It was Orion who saved us. He got a gun from our father’s stash and shot him. Killed him. And that cost him everything.”

My heart hammered in my ears, creating a sort of whooshing sound that was difficult to hear through.

“Everything was so fucked,” Dex croaked. “Cops came. They took Orion away. Think they went at him pretty hard. At least until they realized who my father really was and saw the trophies. Until they found the women’s bodies buried in the orchard. Thirty-six. But they think there may be more.”

My body jolted. Every revelation a blow. But it was nothing compared to what Dex had faced. The blows he’d been dealt.

“After those days in custody, Orion stopped speaking. It was like his words had been turned into weapons against him, and he refused to risk it anymore. He used to write to communicate, and he learned to sign—but only to our family. Now…it’s just less and less.”

God, everything in me hurt. My heart ached for Orion—for all of the Archer brothers.

“But he texted you today.” I couldn’t help trying to give Dex a sliver of hope.

The corners of his mouth lifted in a sad smile. “Maybe pissing him off is the key.”

“It makes sense…that he doesn’t trust easily.”

“I don’t think any of us do. That’s what happens when someone so close to you turns. It makes you think anyone could. Or worse, that the ability is in you.”