“I know what you’re talking about,” Kaelin said, advancing into the den. She pressed her lips together briefly. “And I want you to know the truth.”
She knew…wait. What?
Nick followed behind her, and Tyler’s eyes shot to Nick’s face. Tyler’s eyebrows lifted in a question. He jumped to his feet. “Did you tell her?”
Nick nodded somberly.
“Jesus fucking Christ.” Tyler lifted a hand to his forehead and turned away. He’d never wanted Kaelin to know about that. Never, ever. Had sworn his family, Nick and especially Avery to secrecy, to never tell her what he’d been accused of doing that night. He did not want her to know. His throat tightened. Shit.
He looked at Kaelin, expecting to see hatred and anger and who knew what else.
Instead he saw warmth and love and concern. His chest constricted.
She turned to his parents. “There are some things you need to know,” she said quietly. “That night ten years ago—I was there.”
Mom gasped. Dad’s mouth fell open.
“I wasn’t supposed to be,” she said. “They didn’t know I was coming over.” Tyler’s heart tightened even more and he clenched his hands into fists and closed his eyes. “When I saw Tyler and Nick and Tracy, I was shocked.” She didn’t look at him. “But I…I was…” She bent her head, her hair obscuring her face. She was what?
“I watched them,” she said, so quietly Tyler could barely hear. “For about ten minutes.”
Tyler had to sit down. His legs pretty much gave out on him, and he collapsed onto the chair he’d been sitting in. He stared at Kaelin. What was she saying? Did she know who she was saying this to? If this had been any other time, he’d wonder if she was drunk. But no. She was not drunk.
She’d watched them for ten minutes?
Oh Christ. He covered his eyes with his hand. He never knew that. Oh Christ.
“Tracy was definitely there of her own free will, Mrs. Wirth,” she continued. “I can attest to that. She wanted everything that was happening. She was begging for it.”
Mom’s mouth opened and closed like a fish, her eyes buggy, her face scarlet. His dad didn’t look much different, running a finger around the inside of the collar of his Ralph Lauren polo shirt.
“I interrupted them,” Kaelin said. “They were all shocked to see me there, including Tracy. I ran out as soon as they saw me, but Nick told me nothing more happened after that. Tracy changed her mind and they took her home. And I believe them.”
“You don’t know for sure nothing happened after that,” Dad snapped. “She said—”
“You’d rather believe a stranger over your son?” Kaelin asked slowly, her eyebrows drawn down. “Really? Because I believe Tyler and Nick. I believe them because…” She drew in another long breath. “Because it was me at the hotel with them Friday night.”
Jesus Christ. All Tyler could think was a string of shocking curse words. What the fuck was she doing?
His mom was choking. Was she having a heart attack?
His dad reached for her and drew her down to the couch beside him. “Are you okay, Margot?” he asked.
She shoved his hands away with a glare. “Yes. I mean, no. I mean…Kaelin, dear…”
“Kaelin.” Tyler spoke up. “Stop this. Now.”
She faced him. “No. I’m not stopping. I want them to know the truth. About you.”
“But what about you, for Chrissake?”
“I don’t care about me. I don’t care if they know the truth about me. I am who I am.” She held his gaze steadily.
Now he was the one having a heart attack, the pain in his chest so severe it took his breath away. She had no fucking intention of leaving this damn town and she was standing there trashing her reputation in front of the two people to whom reputation meant the most. Meant more, apparently, than he did.
“I was with them Friday night. That whole thing was my idea. I was the one who wanted to do it. Don’t blame Tyler. And…I can assure you that based on my experience, there is no way either of those men would ever force a woman to have sex.” Her voice started quavering despite the way her jaw was lifted. “I won’t be so crass as to share details with you, as I’m sure you don’t want to hear it, but I want you to know that.”
Tyler looked at his mom, who sat there with her hand pressed to her heart, and strangely, a faint smile on her lips.
“Since we’re confessing…” They all swiveled to look at Avery in the now open French doors to the living room. Her flushed cheeks indicated she’d been listening to them. She took another step into the room, and Scott followed her and closed the door behind him, a worried expression creasing his high forehead. “You might as well also know that it wasn’t Tyler who wrote off the car that first summer I was home from college. It was me.”
“Avery!”
So many people in the room gasped her name it was like a chorus. Tyler covered his eyes with one hand. What the fuck now?
“I’d been drinking,” she continued. “He took the rap for me because he was sober. And because he’s my brother…” Her voice cracked. “And he loved me. And it always killed me that he never bothered to tell you the truth about so many things, just let you assume the worst. And then you kicked him out and…” A sob escaped her. Scott wrapped his arms around her and hugged her.
Tyler leaned his head back and looked at the ceiling.
“I tried so hard,” Avery sobbed. “I tried so hard to be perfect so everyone would be happy, and it never worked. It only made things worse.”
Silence filled the room, other than a few small sniffles from Avery against Scott’s chest. Tyler’s lungs burned as he filled them with air, straightened his shoulders and looked at everyone.
“You are all fucking nuts,” he snarled. “Avery, why the hell did you do that?”
“It doesn’t matter anymore!” she cried. “The truth matters! I can’t stand it anymore. I wanted you home for my wedding. I wanted us to be a family and there was all this tension and I hate it!”
“Oh, Avery,” Mom whispered, her hands to her mouth.
He groaned. Then looked at Kaelin. She watched him, eyes still full of concern and a kind of wariness. “Kaelin.”
She lowered her chin and looked at him through her long eyelashes, her pretty mouth tight.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” he said to her through clenched teeth. “Are you crazy?”
“I did it for you,” she whispered. “Tyler…”
Oh hell. There they went again. Like that summer, that hot, aching, wonderful summer, she’d started to get all gooey over him when he didn’t deserve it. Not from her. “Don’t! You shouldn’t have done it for me!” he shouted, aware that everyone in the room was staring. “I’m not worth it! And you were wrong about one thing. One little detail.”
She blinked at him, eyes glossy, fingers trembling.
“That night you walked in on us…I did know you were coming. I heard you talking to Avery about coming to get some books from her room. I knew you were coming and I planned that little scene and timed it perfectly so you’d walk in on it.”
Her gasp felt like a blade in his chest. Pain ripped through him but he kept going. “I wanted you to see it. I wanted you to know what an asshole I was. How sick and depraved Nick and I both were. You needed to know the truth, and I did that on fucking purpose.”
Kaelin put out a hand as if trying to find something to hold on to, but there was nothing near her and she stumbled and almost fell. Nick took two steps and grabbed her, held her up, his arms wrapped around her. Tyler wanted to put his fist through the wall, kick down the goddamn perfect French doors. His jaw was so tight his teeth hurt, his belly muscles rigid, his short fingernails biting into his palms.