Mitchell - Memories of Us

Prologue

W HAT THE FUCK HAPPENED .

A thick fog clouded my thoughts as I attempted to open my eyes. Their heavy weight made it feel like Id been asleep for days. I tried to shift in the soft bed, but my legs and arms wouldnt cooperate.

Nothing was working as it should.

Youre okay son. Pappys gruff voice cut through the fog easing a bit of my growing apprehension.

After several attempts my lids lifted. I took several slow blinks to clear away the remaining haze. Pappy sat in the chair next to my strange bed. The room was large, but not one I recognized.

White walls. White sheets. Monitors.

Where the hell am I? I gritted out as I pushed to sit up.

A facility, he responded.

What kind of facility? I held my head between my hands and attempted to focus on the last thing I remembered.

Nothing. Not a single damn clue to what I was doing in this place or how I ended up here.

A detox center inside a rehab facility.

Why am I here?

Pappys gray brows rose high on his forehead. You dont remember?

Fuck. What did I do this time? It had to do with drugs or booze that much I was certain. I didnt remember details but being a coke head was something not easily wiped from my memories. Is Caleb here too?

Pappys lips dipped in a slight frown. No son just you.

Right. So whatever I did didnt involve Caleb. Good.

You dont remember her? Pappy asked leaning forward like he was asking the most critical question of his life. As he leaned forward, a few papers slipped from his lap and floated to the floor.

His question shot a bolt of fear to my core. Her? If I did anything to a woman while high that she didnt want, like my fathers living legacy, I'd never recover.

No, I have no idea what youre talking about.

Like the weight of the world was removed from his slumped shoulders Pappy leaned back and gave a sigh of relief. You didnt do anything wrong, Brenton. Dont worry about that; everything is fine. Youre fine.

Why am I here? I bellowed. Frustration boiled the blood in my veins. Dumb ass memory needed to fucking start working.

Locking his green eyes with my own, he gave a small smile. Fate, my dear boy. Fate brought you here.

Beneath the frustration, something else simmered. Something that told me that he was not only wrong about the fate shit but also holding back the truth.

Chapter 1

T HIRTEEN YEARS LATER ...

Yeah, I'll be there, I said through a deep exhale to the man on the other end of the line. Thank you for calling and the condolences. I'll see you at the ranch for the funeral in three days.

With a deep West Texas drawl, the older man detailed the specifics of the service before ending the call with another He was a good man sentiment.

I slipped the phone back into my suit breast pocket as I moved toward the wet bar. The dark liquid of the various half-empty bottles called to me, begging me to pop one open for a quick swig. With a steady, focused hand, I reached past the whiskeys siren call to grab the near-hidden bottle of Perrier. It had been my mind trick during rehab and still was. With a little lime added and enough ice, it took the edge off the constant urge that simmered just below the surface for something stronger.

Bubbles rose to the rim of the crystal highball I had pulled from the cabinet above. Drink clutched in hand, I stepped out onto the penthouse balcony and leaned against the warm metal railing. Bright green lights glowed a few blocks over from downtown Dallass Green Monster. The unobstructed view of the famous building was one reason Caleb and I chose this building, this exact loft, what seemed like a lifetime ago.

Back then, having a place large enough to host all our friends at one time, along with great proximity to the high-end clubs we frequented, was the priority. Some people might call those the good old days. Maybe for them, those who leached off us for so long, they were. For me, not even close. If I looked back now, from what little I remember of those years, I'd see a lonely, shallow shell of a boy who was on a fast track to nowhere.

But tonight there was no raging party, no Caleb begging me to join him for a wild night out. Tonight it was just me, the busy streets forty stories below my feet, and fizzy water. After the five-hour therapy session earlier, the quiet was exactly what I needed.

Ice snapped and shifted in the highball glass from the unbearable eighty-five-degree heat. As suffocating as it was, something was reassuring about the Texas summer heat that I'd in some ways missed the past few years. To a true Texan, it was merely a reminder of the constants in our lives. Your life could be shit, you could have no clue which way was up, but you could count on it being balls hot during a Texas summer.

After today, and the unexpected call just now, I needed that specific comfort.

Dead.

Gone without me there. Hell, I hadn't been back in years. Too busy was always the excuse, but looking back at the wasted opportunities to see the old man, was I really? Yes, this was the most extended leave I'd taken since joining the army, but would it have killed me to fly over and see him one weekend? I shouldve stayed after Caleb's funeral months ago instead of jumping on the jet moments after the final prayer.

I pressed the sweating glass against my forehead and rolled it back and forth in an attempt to settle the self-accusing direction of my thoughts. Pappy knew why I had to leave and never come back; surely he didn't hold it against me in the end. His death wasn't a big surprisethe man was ninety after allbut I guess I still thought there was more time before this moment. Maybe a future weekend when I could've flown out to see him, show him who I'd become since being the prick he knew: the idiot teen through my young adult years when I terrorized his ranch hands, stuffed enough powder up my nose to kill an elephant, and fucked any willing female.

Most importantly, I wanted an opportunity to show him I wasnt my father, or my brother for that matter. But now that chance was gone, and he'd never know that I wasnt the person I used to be.

Well, mostly. I'd grown from a spoiled prick to an arrogant jackass, if you believed the few girls I'd dated.

With a sigh, I downed the last few sips and tipped my gaze to the bright night sky. Against the lights of the city, not a single star blinked. Hell, with the pollution, even the moon was barely visible. At Pappy's ranch, the stars peppered the sky every night when I visited during those extended summer stays and holidays. Those stars and the vastness of the night sky were my favorite part of the family estate.