“I guess we’ll see. You and I have more things in common than you might think. We both grew up in bad areas and we had parents who sucked. You don’t know who your mother is, and I don’t know who my father is. We both left that ugliness behind and built a new life, and…” He gritted his teeth, the muscles in his jaw bunching. “We’ve both been through rehab.”

The look in his eyes told her he wasn’t talking about physical rehabilitation. The pit of her stomach sank.

“My mother was an addict, Roni. She had Tru when she was fourteen. He’s nine years older than me, and they lived with our grandmother, who he said was a mess, too. Tru said things got worse after our grandmother died, which was about a year before I was born. That’s when our mother started using more openly, and heavily. He said she cleaned up her act when she was pregnant, but after I was born things got much worse. She was hardly ever home, and when she was, she was usually passed out cold, doing drugs, or having sex with a random druggie or a dealer.”

Roni felt nauseous knowing he grew up like that. She put her hand over his, her heart breaking for him. “That sounds awful.”

“It was all I knew. I didn’t realize how abnormal it was because I had Tru, who I swear was born having all his shit together. Thank God, because if my well-being had been left up to our mother, I may not have survived. Tru fed me, made sure I bathed, did my laundry, got me to school, made me do my homework, taught me to be respectful, everything. He shielded me as best he could from all the bad stuff, but our lives were so messed up. I learned to keep my mouth shut, and somehow I knew that as long as I followed Tru’s lead, I’d be okay. When he was a teenager, he met Bear, and Bear took him under his wing and taught him how to work on cars at Whiskey Automotive. Tru used to take me to the auto shop with him, and I’d do my homework while he worked with Bear. My brother was always there for me. He made sure that I was never alone, other than school, of course. He was my stronghold, my straight arrow to follow, and for some reason, that seemed to really piss off my mother. She was rotten to him.” He pushed to his feet and paced. “I’ll always carry a fair amount of guilt about that.”

“But that’s not your fault.”

“I know it’s not. Kids can’t be held responsible for their parents’ failings. But that doesn’t change the fact that I spent years wishing I’d never been born.”

That slayed her. “I’m glad you were born, Quincy, and it seemed like everyone we were with last night was glad, too.”

“Thanks, babe. Believe me, I know how lucky I am to have so many good friends and to have this time with you. And don’t worry. I no longer wish I was never born. A lot of things have changed.” He cleared his throat as he paced. “Anyway, Tru moved out when he was eighteen, and he tried to take me with him, but my mother sent one of her crackheads after him. I remember it like a movie in my head, because the guy had a gun. I was nine years old, scared shitless, and clinging to Tru. He was big, even back then, almost the size I am now, and he’s never been afraid of a damn thing. Well, except once, but I’ll go into that later. Anyway, the guy was waving the gun, and Tru shoved me behind him and ran at the guy, trying to take him down. They fought, wrestled, and the guy managed to get on top of Tru.” Quincy’s eyes were narrow and angry, hands fisting. “He put the gun right to Tru’s head, and I begged for my brother’s life. I’ll never forget the fear of seeing that. I said I’d go back home.”