Shameless (Made For Them #3)

22. A Woman Scorned

Crew

W e find our parents outside on the deck.

Tom is manning the grill, while Mom and Arianna are fetching sides from the kitchen and setting them on the wrought iron table that’s starting to become familiar.

The realization hits me that the Cutler's house is starting to feel like home and Stefan, Jules, Arianna and Tom are starting to feel like family.

Of course there is Lula, but she’s on a totally different level. I never thought it was possible to love someone this much.

The atmosphere is relaxed and festive. Jules explained that since his mother bought the Country Club from Dustin Hudson, the Fourth of July has been hard work for the entire family.

On the fifth, the club is traditionally run by a skeleton crew and the family celebrates at home with a huge BBQ.

Our parents are so focused on the cooking that no one notices the bag in my hands. I discreetly set it down under the table as I take a seat.

“Crew, would you like a beer?” Tom sets down a platter full of grilled meat in the middle of the table. “There’s a cooler full of light beer and a few microbrews from a new brewery in town that I’ve been excited to try. Jules, take one too. If Lula and Stefan want a beer or a wine cooler, today we’ve decided to pretend we’re in Europe. There’s no one under eighteen here, so one drink won’t kill anyone as long as you don’t plan on driving later.”

I decline politely, but accept the platter of steaks Arianna passes to me.

Lula, Stefan and Jules take a seat on my same side of the long, rectangular table, leaving our mom to sit on the other side and Tom at one end between Arianna and Lula.

Once everyone’s plates are full, Arianna lifts her glass of wine but stops short before the toast she was about to make. “Lula, Stef, are you guys ok? I can’t believe Tom just said you can have a drink and you’re not partaking. You always begged us to let you have a beer.”

Neither of them says anything in response. Silence descends on the table and I’ve never understood the expression “you could cut the tension with a knife” until this moment.

Mom looks at us, perturbed. “Is everything alright? Has anything bad happened? Is Jenna ok?”

Tom sets his fork back on his plate. “Yeah, what’s wrong? I’ve never seen you guys so quiet. And why are you all sitting in a straight line like that? It reminds me of the board of examiners when I tried to become president of faculty in New York.”

I exhale, trying to stay as calm as possible. “We were working on the new electric boat earlier with Tory and the team. We found this.”

I lift the black gym bag from the spot by my feet.

There’s no doubt that our parents are hiding something big, judging from their reactions.

Tom remains still, as if the sight of the bag had turned him into stone.

Mom covers her mouth with one hand and Arianna gulps the wine in her glass in one huge mouthful before getting a refill and drinking that too.

Tom is the first one to talk. “I assume you looked into the bag?”

Sometimes silence says more than a thousand words.

“It’s—it’s not what you think it is.” Mom’s voice is trembling.

Jules intervenes. “No? The blood on those clothes doesn’t belong to Eddie, Trevor and Maura? That phone doesn’t belong to Eddie?”

Arianna reaches for the bottle of white wine in front of her, taking it out from the ice bucket and decides to forgo the glass. “Then I guess it is what you think it is.” She drinks right from the bottle.

The sight shocks me more than anything else. I’ve seen Mom drink like that at her worst, right after Eddie left us, before she checked herself into rehab.

Arianna Cutler is usually composure personified.

She’s classy and poised and I’ve seen her send away a cocktail that wasn’t served in the right type of glass at the club.

Stefan takes the bottle from his mother. “Stop it. This isn’t the time to pretend we’re in Europe or on spring break or at a wild party. Are you seriously saying that one of you killed Eddie, Trevor and Maura Andrews?”

“That’s exactly what we’re saying.” Arianna says, looking straight at her youngest son.

“It’s all my fault. It was my idea.” Mom blurts out. “I stole that fancy shotgun from Tom’s bag while Tom and Arianna were… celebrating their anniversary in the private pool of their bungalow. I’m not very good at stealing though and Arianna caught me red handed.”

Jules and Stefan’s Mom nods. “Yeah, you’re not, sweetie. That’s why I decided you needed my help.”

Lula is looking at the other two women at the table like you watch a tennis match. “You did it together?”

The story they tell us is worse than anything our imagination could have fabricated.

“Eddie and I were sleeping together.” Mom says.

I don’t even try to bite my tongue. “Mom, are serious right now?”

She toys with the cut up steak on her plate, moving it nervously from side to side. “You don’t understand, Crew. Your father was my high school sweetheart. The only man I’ve ever loved.”

“When did it start?” I ask.

“Pretty much straight after Eddie came back to town. You guys had tried out and made the team and we went out looking for Eddie to talk, remember?”

I feel sick. “Yeah. To make sure that Star Thunders wasn’t a scam.”

Mom nods. “Yeah, well. That night after Arianna and Tom dropped me home, Eddie came to see me. He wanted to talk.”

“And what? Did you fall on his dick?”

I know my reaction is immature, but I've never been so disappointed in my mom before. Even the idea that she could have pulled the trigger on Eddie is preferable to the thought that she slept with him.

“You don’t understand, Crew. After Arianna and I found out he was cheating, I didn’t even get any closure. Your father just left and I didn’t see him again until the day of the tryouts.”

That doesn’t help me understand why she would ever want to give Eddie the time of day.

“So what happened?” Jules asks before I can even begin to put my emotions in order.

“Eddie and I started seeing each other. He sent me flowers, presents. He wooed me in a way he never could when we were young and broke. He said he had never stopped loving me, that it had always been me. I thought that was it. That the last ten years had been a hiatus he needed to grow up and understand what he wanted. I thought that he had come back to Star Cove for me. He said as much.”

My fury turns into pity. I can’t even imagine how it must feel to love someone so desperately and to find out that person isn’t who you thought they were.

“Then we went to the gala,” Mom continues. “And I met Eddie’s girlfriend.”

Lula

Arianna takes Tilly’s hand, squeezing it in solidarity.

“Tilly was devastated. I saw her drinking whiskey at the bar and I asked her what was wrong. When she told me about her and Eddie, I couldn’t believe it. Eddie had been pursuing me hard from the second we saw him again.”

Jules shakes his head, disgusted. “Please don’t tell me you were sleeping with him too.”

Arianna covers her heart with her hands. “What? No,” she gasps. “I would have never gotten back together with Eddie. Tom has always been the love of my life. I would never have put what we have in jeopardy. Not for Eddie, not for anyone.”

Stefan gets up to get a beer from the cooler. “Thank fuck,” he sighs, retuning to his seat and taking one long drink. “So what happened?”

“I confronted Eddie,” Tilly says. “He swore left and right that he was going to break up with his girlfriend and denied he had been texting Arianna. He even showed me his phone as proof.”

I’m a little confused. “But the phone in that bag has messages to both of you.”

“That’s his burner phone.” Arianna scowls. “What’s that saying that a leopard never changes his spots or something? That’s how Eddie used to get away with having two families for years. He had more than one phone. He had other affairs when he was married to us too.”

Tilly is full-on crying now. “All I wanted was for him to love me. I wanted to believe that he had changed. But he kept lying. He said he loved me but he would carry on seeing his girlfriend and he kept trying to win back Arianna. Every time I confronted him, he would say I was paranoid and spin more lies. I didn’t know what to believe anymore. I gave him everything he wanted and it still wasn’t enough. I had been sober for eight years but he wanted to drink together, so I went along with it.”

The look of devastation on Crew’s face breaks my heart. “Mom, why didn’t you tell me? I could have helped you.”

She dries her tears with the back of her hand. “No one could help me this time. And you had your own problems, Crew. You always carry the whole world on your shoulders, baby. It’s not your job to fix everything.”

I know Crew doesn’t feel that way. He’s the most generous person I know. He’d do anything for the people he loves.

“So what? You killed him?”

“Yes.” Tilly’s answer is cold, detached. “You have to understand, someone had to stop Eddie. Why do you think your brother developed a drug problem? When Rikki didn’t try out for the team, Eddie kept inviting him to his house to hang out with him and Trevor. He was pitting you guys against each other by making you compete even though you were teammates. He was back in town to destroy us all.”

Jules sighs. “I’m sorry Tilly, but I have to agree with Crew here. Why didn’t you tell us what Eddie was doing? We’re adults, we could’ve?—”

Dad interrupts him. “You all had your own reason why you thought you needed Eddie’s money. Would you have listened if we told you that we thought your father had an agenda? We had no idea where he got all that crazy money. No matter how much we looked into his finances, he seemed legit. We had nothing but our suspicions.”

“You aren’t wrong, Tom. Eddie fooled us all.”

Tilly nods. “That was what he always did. He always had a story, a justification for his actions. He gaslighted you until you doubted your own perception of reality. The night the race was canceled, he had convinced me to spend the weekend with him. I let him sweet talk me into it. We snuck out of the party in the main house and he swore he would break things off with Chanelle in the morning. I believed him. Again. I was in his bed while he was getting more champagne in the kitchenette of his bungalow when I heard a phone pinging with an incoming text. It wasn’t mine and when I checked Eddie’s there was nothing there. I heard the sound again and got up, I followed the sound to Eddie’s jeans and found his burner phone in his pocket. He had convinced me that Arianna was lying about him pursuing her. Instead he had been texting her.”

I look at my stepmother. “Didn’t you show her Eddie’s texts? I get that Eddie had a burner phone, but you must have had the text he sent you?”

Arianna looks embarrassed. “I didn’t. I deleted them in a panic. I didn’t want your father to think I was encouraging Eddie in any way. He had been a little… insecure since Eddie came back. So it was Eddie’s word against mine.”

Her words have a strange effect on me. Seeing our parents battle our same doubts and insecurities seems strange. I’ve always thought they were so confident, so sure of themselves.

“When I saw that he texted Arianna to try and get her to see him later that night,” Tilly continues. “I decided enough was enough. I wrote Eddie a note that said I was tired and I was going back to my room. Then I snuck into Arianna and Tom’s bungalow to borrow that shotgun. It was the only weapon I could have access to.”

Arianna covers Tilly’s hand with hers. “Tom and I heard you and saw you with my father’s shotgun.”

Tilly’s laugh is a bitter sound. “Yeah, I’m not a very good burglar. I thought you two would be occupied with your anniversary celebration.”

Arianna’s green eyes look remarkably similar to Stefan’s when she’s angry. “We should have been. Instead Eddie decided to text me right before he took you to his room and Tom and I were arguing about it. Once you were gone, Eddie texted me again.”

Dad rubs the back of his neck, embarrassed. “I’m sorry for doubting you, darling. But when I saw those texts, I thought I was going to lose you.”

What a fucking mess.

The rest of the story is even worse.

Eddie kept texting both his ex-wives though, eventually sending his final text in the exact moment when Dad and Arianna caught Tilly with the shotgun.

“So you planned to kill him?” I ask, shocked by their story.

“Not at first,” Arianna sighs. “The plan was to confront him with the shotgun and threaten him.”

Tilly backs her up. “We just wanted him to stop messing with us and with our sons. That’s why I wanted the shotgun, to make him listen.”

I’m not convinced. “But you said that Eddie needed to be stopped.”

Tilly nods. “Yes, by talking to him. The shotgun was just a way to ensure he would shut up and listen for once.”

“That was one hell of a conversation. It left three people dead.” Stefan observes.

“It was a shit show,” Arianna says. “The plan was that Tom and I would go to the quail hunt as planned and I would slip away to join Tilly and confront Eddie together. We just wanted to scare him, I swear.”

“But things went horribly wrong from the get go.” Tilly adds. “Eddie arrived at the stables in a Jeep. I confronted him the second he got out of the car.”

Arianna swallows, visibly shaken by the memory. “Eddie tried to lie again and Tilly yelled at him to stop lying.”

“I’m sorry,” Crew interrupts. “But didn’t he get spooked by you holding a fucking shotgun, Mom?”

Tilly shrugs. “He didn’t look worried. He probably thought I was headed to the quail hunt after we talked. Your father had always underestimated me, Crew. He thought he could talk himself out of any situation, that’s why I had that gun, to show him that I was over his lies. But he wouldn’t stop talking, so I threatened him. I told him to shut up or I’d shoot him.”

Jules shakes his head. “Let me guess. He didn’t shut up.”

“No,” Tilly’s tone is grim. “He laughed at me. He said ‘ don’t be ridiculous, Tilly. We both know you wouldn’t harm a fly. ’ I was furious, so I yelled that I would shoot him. He grabbed the end of the gun and I pulled away. We fought and… and…”

Tilly covers his mouth with her hand.

“The shot that killed Eddie was an accident. I had just arrived from the hunt and I saw everything.” Arianna says.

“What about Trevor and Maura?” I ask.

“That’s the worst part.” Arianna’s tone is resigned. “That shot was so loud. Trevor came out of one of the stables. He was there with Maura. Probably for a drug deal.”

Stefan is skeptical. “Did the police find any drugs at the scene?”

Dad explains. “No. But they found plenty in Trevor’s bags. Maybe they were negotiating a deal, I don’t know.”

The end of their story is the most tragic part.

“Trevor came running from one of the stables, yelling at me. I—I never thought shooting someone was so messy. I was covered in Eddie’s blood. Or at least, my clothes were. My hands were shaking and I couldn’t feel my own legs.”

Arianna completes the story. “Trevor was yelling threats. He said he’d call the cops. Isn’t it ironic? A drug dealer expecting help from the police? I took the shotgun from Tilly, I just wanted to make him stop yelling, before he attracted someone’s attention. That must have scared him because he started running away, toward the stables. I realized that there was no way Trevor would keep quiet about what he saw, so I?—”

Jules’s eyes are full of pain. “That’s why he got shot in the back. He was running from you.”

His mother nods. “Yeah. I’m not proud of what I did, but there and then I told myself that Trevor was a lowlife and the world would be better off without him. The one I really regret is Maura. She saw everything and she begged me. She swore she wouldn’t say anything. But there was no way that could be true. I don’t even remember shooting her, but I guess I chased her.”

Fuck.

“What about Rikki?” Crew asks. “Were you going to kill my brother?”

“Of course not!” Arianna gasps. “But he got there, he had probably been following Trevor. He freaked out when he saw his friend, he was trying to resuscitate him, I don’t know. We needed him away from there though, so I started chasing him too. I wanted to scare him, that was it. I would have never hurt him. You have to believe me, Crew. Your brother is like a son to me. So are you.”

I play with the piercing in my nose, sliding the ring back and forth. “But Rikki came back and that’s when Jules and I saw him. What about you, Dad?”

My father doesn’t have the courage to look at me.

“I was at the hunt, when Arianna and Tilly found me and explained what happened. I helped them hide their clothes. Then I went to Eddie’s bungalow to get his burner phone. I knew the cops would look at all our texts and calls and for once I was grateful that the piece of shit kept a secret phone. If the texts to Tilly and Arianna had been in his regular phone, we would have gotten caught. The cops can look at deleted messages too, but they wouldn’t have a reason to look at ours in depth if they didn’t find anything in Eddie’s.

“I was sure the police would search every bungalow, so I hid everything in my old gym bag and put the bag in the gym in the main house until it was time to go home. Then I kept it here, but the sheriff was looking into everyone in town more in depth to rule people out. I couldn’t risk a search.”