Tired of shouldering the responsibility for their father's death, Russell was relieved when Dory managed to convince Colter to talk to him. Sure, needing his help tracking down an old Army buddy and then getting arrested wasn't part of the plan at all but it did help ease some of the tension. He blew out a breath and eyed his younger brother in concern after they solved the mystery. "Can we talk about Dad now?" he asked.
Colter whirled around to glare at him. "Why?" he spat, eyes blazing.
Russell held his hands up in defeat. "I know you don't believe this but I didn't push him. It also wasn't an accident either."
He narrowed his eyes. "And what in the goddamn fuck does that mean, Russell?"
He almost flinched in anticipation of his brother decking him but he stood his ground. Colter didn't intend to make this easy for him then, which meant Russell had to spell this out. "I know you don't want to think badly of either of them, especially Mom, but Dad was an abusive piece of shit who deserved what he got. Ask yourself why she's so against us talking. Ask her what happened that night, and don't let her deflect or lie. I'm tired of shouldering this responsibility and taking the blame for this. I'm out. Fuck this bullshit."
Colter clearly couldn't believe what he was hearing and his mouth dropped open. "I'm not listening to this."
"I just want you to know the truth - you deserve to hear the full story, Colter. That's all this is. I'm not telling you what to believe. You don't even have to believe me. Hell, maybe I'm full of shit. But you trust Mom, right?" Not that he probably would after this - maybe their relationship could withstand this, but Russell sure as hell didn't trust the woman after she threw him right under the fucking bus (he empathized with her to a point, and he didn't blame her for ending their father's reign of terror at all, however) - but at least Colter would know everything once and for all and could make up his own mind, would no longer live in the dark about all the shit he was naively unaware of.
Colter scowled at him but still nodded anyway. "I'll call or text you after I talk to her," he decided.
"That's all I ask." He clapped Colter on the shoulder, the two of them awkwardly hugged, and then they went their separate ways. Russell didn't expect to hear from his younger brother again for a while but Colter didn't do anything by halves - he called him less than forty-eight hours later. "You talked to Mom already?" a surprised Russell deduced. When his brother didn't immediately answer, he panicked but patiently waited him out.
Colter finally blew out a breath. "She told me everything," he told his older brother, sounding wrecked.
"Everything?"
"Everything," Colter repeated. "I know what happened, what he did to her and how she finally responded. Why she disappeared that day. That he didn't fall, that you took the fall in every way but legally all this time. You let me hate you, Russell!"
"I did but couldn't fucking deal with it anymore, which is why I kept trying to call you. Are you pissed?"
"My head is spinning. I don't know what the fuck I'm feeling right now," Colter responded, sighing.
"Well, I'm here to talk if you need me, I guess. And Dory too. Just sit with this for a while. Go find another job. Talk to Reenie," Russell encouraged. He'd be there for his brother but unfortunately knew they had to take this slow after years of estrangement. And ugh, talking about their feelings was going to suck.
They had a lot of shit to work through but Russell, Colter, and Dory were determined to fix their numerous issues and deal with the unresolved trauma.