CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX
CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX
Jericho POV
As I rush over to Cassie’s I think about how I’m going to explain to her about Sarah making her presence known.
I can see her face already trying to comprehend it.
She doesn’t have the full story, so she won’t understand why her coming back is such a disaster.
Well, there was nothing I could do about it now.
I had to finish what Alex had started.
I had to tell Cassandra the story.
All of it.
And not just the parts that Alex forgot to mention.
The full story.
Gory details and all.
It was the only way I would be able to prepare her for the shit storm that was about to come.
I pull up outside her place.
My palms are so sweaty.
I never thought I would be in this situation.
I never saw it coming.
But then, I never thought I would care enough for someone that I would be in this situation.
And that’s why this needs to be done.
Meeting Alex earlier to decide what needed to be done about Sarah had shaken me to my core.
He was shaken up also.
We never thought we would ever hear from her again.
20 years is a long time to stay gone.
But to pop back up now, it had us both questioning why?
Why now?
Was she tired of being alone?
Or was it just pure boredom?
We both had no clue and that’s the scariest thing.
We didn’t know who she was now.
What kind of person she was.
Her mental and emotional state.
For all we knew she was a total psychopath.
Loose cannon.
Back for revenge.
And I’d be damned if I let her bring that upon Cassandra.
Me and Alex both agreed.
Which is a first.
That this was for the best.
To tell Cassie everything.
About the party.
What had happened to Sarah.
Why she left.
And what we did in the aftermath upon finding out who had done what they, done to her.
And finally…
Why Alex was accused of rape.
It wasn’t about sibling rivalry anymore.
Alex was right.
We had bigger fish to fry.
And her name was Sarah Mansfield.
Alex POV
Pulling up outside Jericho’s place, I see his car wasn’t here.
I’m sure he said morning.
I grab my cell and dial his number.
The call connects.
“Where the fuck are you?”
I ask frustratingly.
“Who is this?”
Great.
He sounds like he’s just gotten up to answer the phone.
Which is weird.
Jericho was always the one up at the crack of dawn.
“It’s your brother, dumbass.”
“We were supposed to meet this morning to discuss a certain someone we both have in common.”
He grunts.
“What’s the time Alex?”
“9:45.”
“Anyway, what does that matter.”
“Just get your ass down here.”
I hear him start moving around.
“Ok, I’ll be there in 30.”
And he hangs up the call.
Fuck.
Am I the only one taking Sarah coming back seriously.
I mean…
I would be lying if I said that hearing her voice again didn’t take me back to a time where things were simpler.
But that wasn’t the point.
The point was…
What did she want?
After she left and we found the scumbags that did what they did to her me and Jericho thought that would be the end of it.
She was in a bad way.
She just couldn’t handle it anymore.
Being there.
Seeing those people that let her down.
People like me and Jericho.
Dennis was distraught he lost his daughter.
Blamed us of course.
He didn’t know what really went down.
Sarah insisted we never told him.
She said she didn’t want him to look at her the way me and Jericho had started to.
When I asked her what she meant by that she simply said we weren’t the same anymore.
The way we look at her now is the way you look at someone who’s broken.
And she wasn’t broken.
She said she was the same person she had always been.
But that we could only see the damage.
The damage they had done to her.
So, she had to go.
At the time I had no idea what she had meant.
But looking back now she was right.
Me and Jericho did start treating her with kid gloves.
As if she were fragile.
But she was the strongest person I knew.
To survive what she had gone through.
She wasn’t the one ready to break.
I was.
I loved her so much and they just took her from me.
I lost myself for a while after that.
And then I got run out of there.
I never looked back though.
Not until these last couple days anyway.
Being back in the Hamptons.
Reliving my teen years with Cassandra.
It all came flooding back.
Sarah, the incident, all of it.
It was like it all had happened yesterday.
As I go deep into thought.
I hear the roar of Jericho’s engine sound.
Finally.
I nearly spiralled then.
Jericho gets out of his car.
‘Christ, he looks like crap.’
I mutter.
He had a 6 o clock shadow.
Sunglasses on.
And he looked like his clothes hadn’t seen an iron.
What’s happened to him in the last 24 hours.
I get out of my car also.
“Bro, you look like shit.”
I say to him.
“Don’t start with me Alex.”
“It’s way too early for your bullshit.”
Jeez, someone crapped in his cheerio’s this morning.
“Let’s just go in and get this over with, shall we.”
He leads the way inside.
It’s quiet.
The weekends here always are.
Jericho doesn’t expect everyone to be in on the weekend.
Which is nice of him, I guess.
We walk on through straight to his office.
On the way he asks the receptionist to grab him a black coffee when she has a minute.
She nods in acknowledgement, and we carry on to Jericho’s office.
He heads behind his desk.
Takes the shades off.
His eyes are blood shot.
I’m about to start talking shop when there’s a soft tap on the door.
“Come in.”
Jericho shouts.
It’s the receptionist.
‘That was fast.’
I think to myself.
“Mr Dean I have your coffee.”
She walks ever so carefully towards his desk.
“Thank you.”
She places it down, turns and closes the door as she exits.
I open my mouth to say something snarky.
Jericho holds up his hand already prepared for my smugness.
“Don’t start Alex.”
I hold up my hands in defeat.
“I wouldn’t dare.”
He looks at me with a whatever look.
“So…”
I start.
“How are we going to handle this then.”
I don’t need to say anything else he knows exactly what I’m talking about.
“I went over this in my head so many times.”
He starts.
“And all I keep asking is Why?”
“Why now.”
“She’s had 20 years to make contact.”
“But just decides to pop up out of the blue.”
“That was never Sarah’s style Alex, and you know it.”
“So, what is she playing at?”
He wasn’t wrong Sarah was never the quiet type.
She was the type to make sure you knew she was there.
Sometimes she didn’t need to.
She had this aura about her that made people notice her instantly.
I thought about this for a moment.
“I don’t know Jericho.”
“What I do know is that when she called me last night all the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.”
“And I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing.”
He grabbed for the coffee and took a swig.
“Not like you to scare easily.”
He mocks.
“That’s my point.”
“I don’t scare easily Jericho, but there was just something in the tone of her voice that terrified me.”
“Plus, like you said…”
“It’s been 20 years.”
“I never thought I would hear her voice again.”
“It was like talking to a ghost.”
There’s a silence that sweeps upon us.
I didn’t like it.
Finally, Jericho speaks.
“So, what do we do?”
Now I needed to make a joke.
“Run and hide might be a good start.”
He smiled.
Sometimes Jericho got me.
Other times we were at each others throats.
“Solid plan, if we were kids.”
We both start chuckling.
Then I remember…
“We need to tell Cassandra and Alexis the full story.”
Jericho’s eyes widen.
“In all this madness I totally forgot about how this might affect them.”
“Do you think Sarah would come after them?”
“I mean why would she though.”
“I’m not sure.”
“But it’s best they know.”
“So, they’re prepared for it if she does.”
“Plus, I did start already telling Cassandra so maybe I should tell her.”
Jericho looks at me with a look that could kill.
“I’m not falling for that crap Alex.”
“I’ll tell her.”
“Don’t try and use this as a way for you to get in with Cassandra.”
“We’re together now.”
“You lost.”
“Deal with it.”
I’m shocked to hear him say they were together.
But that isn’t the issue here.
We needed to be on the same page for this.
“I wasn’t trying anything brother.”
“But if you want to be the one to tell her, by all means.”
I look to my watch.
I needed to get to the construction site.
“Look, I have to get going but give me a call when you’ve told her.”
“And I’ll let you know if I get any more calls from you know who.”
He nods.
“Alright.”
I stand to leave.
As I turn and head for the door.
Jericho says.
“If she does anything to hurt Cassandra.”
“I will take her down Alex.”
And I believed him.
I turn to look into his eyes.
“It will never come to that brother.”
“Let’s hope so.”
He responds.
I turn and leave.
Hoping I can stay true to my word.