⌜ chapter twenty-seven ⌟

"Thank you." The older woman smiles as she takes the bag from Letty.

"Absolutely. If there's any problems with the size after you give it to him, just bring him and the boots in, and I'll see what I can do to help you." The teenager tells her.

"You're a very sweet girl." She says, and Letty offers her a smile before the older woman leaves the store.

"And that's why I hear she's employee of the month." Eric says from behind her, and Letty turns to look at him.

"Uh... Your dad's not here tonight. I'm closing up for him." She tells him, and he nods.

"I know." He says, and her eyebrows furrow.

"So...what are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to you." He tells her. "I've been listening to everything that Shawn's been saying, and I think there are a few things that I should clear up here."

"Eric, I..." She sighs as she looks down.

"Listen, please... Shawn's made some really good points, and I really want to talk to you." Eric says. "About everything. Especially that night at Chubby's and...and about last night."

Her eyebrows furrow as her gaze returns to him. "Last night?"

"Yeah, uh... I saw Mason kiss you, and it..." He shakes his head as he takes a deep breath. "It just didn't sit right with me. I'm really hoping that we can make time to sit down and talk."

"Talk about what? What's everything?" She asks. "'Cause I don't really wanna talk about the night that I broke down in Chubby's. I said a lot of things that I wish I hadn't, and..." She fights back tears as her gaze falls again, not wanting to look him in the eye.

The door opens again, and they both look over to see who's coming in. Eric turns, and Letty's jaw tightens, as she's not sure how this is gonna go...and she really doesn't want Eric here for whatever's about to happen.

"Gunshot won't make me freeze this time." The brunette says. "And if you touch him—"

"I'm not here to..." Julian shakes his head as he looks between the two of them. He seems different this time around. "Things got out of hand last time."

"Yeah, I'll say. You shot my friend."

"I didn't mean to pull the trigger, and I'm not the one who pulled the gun." He tells her. "Believe me, when I go for a gun, I don't miss my target." He says, and her dark eyes narrow as she looks at him. "That's not helping my case, is it?"

"No."

"It especially won't help after I call the cops." Eric tells him, and Julian looks between the two.

"I'll take it he's not a hunter." The older boy says as his eyes settle on her.

"No. He'd never heard the word in reference to people like us before you showed up." Letty says, and he nods. "Thanks for that, by the way."

"Look, I admit, I haven't been handling things very well." He takes a deep breath. "There are a lot of stories about your group of friends."

"Oh, yeah? Told by who?" She questions. "I'd love to kick their ass for spreading my business."

"It's mostly friends of my mom's. They're not telling everyone, but she likes to hear that you're all alright." He says. "The Price brothers, and their businesses. All the kids who got out and finished high school, beat the odds of being raised like one of us."

"Look — no more shit, no more going after Alec. You got me. Now, what exactly do you want?"

"I've told you, I want answers."

"Then ask questions." She tells him. "You never did try that approach, you know?"

"Do you know who I am?"

"You mean besides the asshole who's been harassing me and my friends, and made last weekend a living hell for me?" She nods. "Yeah, I know who you are. Doesn't tell me what you want."

He shrugs. "That's not obvious?"

"Look, buddy... I don't know you. You've given me no reason to trust you. We're related — doesn't make us family." She tells him, and he nods. "And I don't let just anyone near my family. In fact, I despise strangers, so..."

"You won't even give me a chance?"

"Do you need me to go through the list of all the shady shit you've done?" She asks. "The coffee shop, harassing me and Lina while we were trying to play a game of pool...attacking Jason and putting a bullet through his leg."

"I've made a few mistakes, but—"

"You've made nothing but mistakes every single time I've seen you." She cuts him off. "And after last time... I got kids in my family, and the alcohol — automatic deal breaker. I do not and will not ever let an abusive drunk anywhere near them. Now, you have a nice life."

"I don't usually drink." He argues. "It was a mistake. I've been having a rough go of it lately."

She scoffs. "I've been having a rough go of it my whole life. I've never had a drink. And our father is the reason why. Thanks for the reminder of the worst ten years of my life, by the way. I love a good walk down memory lane." She starts out from behind the counter where the register is, and he shifts uneasily on his feet. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to close up the store so that my boss doesn't fire me."

"Who, your boyfriend's father?" He asks, and she stops what she's doing as she turns to face him. "I think you're safe."

"I'm sorry... One more time?"

"I screwed up again, didn't I?" Julian clears his throat, squirming under her glare. "I did my homework. I know names, and a little more — who's related to who. I'm not here to hurt anyone."

She nods. "I'll be sure to pass that message along to Jason."

"I just wanna know what happened to our father. I wanna know why I got left out while you and our brother are—"

"First off — Alec isn't our brother. He's mine, even when I want to kick his ass. I'm kinda territorial, don't like strangers with guns. He's even worse than I am." She tells him. "You wanna know about us? Here's a crash course...

"My mom bolted when I was five, Alec bolted when I was seven. Until I was fifteen, I was abused by an alcoholic who constantly smelled like whiskey and stale beer. After my friend's father found out about the abuse, he kicked my father's ass. The coward bolted. Then he came back later and shot himself in the head. I then bounced from trailer, to motel, to a couple different houses. I've also been working since I was seven. Alec came back when I was sixteen or seventeen, and that was a rocky start — holds some similarities to your arrival actually. Not good on your part. Now I live with my friends, where I'm working on raising three children.

"I'm older now. There's less that scares me. I'm generally meaner, and easily hostile when someone threatens the people that I love. Also, currently a little unstable. So here's a tip for you: whatever you think you know about me, Alec, and the people in our lives — unlearn it, and get out of my family's store before I get really mad."

"Understood." Julian nods once before he turns around and walks out the front door.

Letty takes a deep breath and then moves to start doing everything that she's supposed to do when she closes up for the night. She's purposely keeping her gaze from landing on Eric as she goes.

"Are you alright?" Eric asks after a couple minutes of tense silence.

"Not in months, but thanks for pretending like you still care." She says as she walks past him to go back behind the register.

"I care. I just—"

"Eric..." She sighs as she turns to face him. "You broke up with me because you think I'm a violent killer. And while I haven't killed anything bigger than a spider in almost three years, you got the violent part pretty spot-on. I'd love to say that I'm not, but given the bruise on Alec's face... Not to mention my family... It seems to me like you made the right choice. And right now, I really don't have the energy to talk about whatever you came here for. I'm sorry, but I can't do it."

He nods, seeing the tears in her eyes as she tries to maintain her composure. Eric takes a deep breath, then he starts for the exit, leaving her alone inside like she clearly wants him to. But he doesn't leave the Matthews' Outpost until after she's locked up and left; he didn't want to leave in case Julian was still hanging around.