Heists and Vengeance

Nineteen

Brett

Brett felt like a prick. And an idiot. A pridiot.

His mission had gone so well, but he'd been prideful. He'd been arrogant enough to believe that if they could do it once, they could do it again. And it was all because of him that Lana was now injured.

And then after that, he'd spilled the beans about Ryder's dad, effectively ensuring that Ryder would never tell him about his past ever again.

He leaned back, sinking into the mattress of his bed. He was such a failure.

And the others knew it too – Ryder was no longer speaking to him, Cole had been kind of distant, and even Erin was acting slightly cold to him. And Lana...

He hadn't been to visit her – he'd been scared about how she'd feel about seeing him. She'd probably react badly – understandably, as he was the reason she'd been injured.

He groaned. Stupid. So, so, stupid.

He thought back to Ryder. As bad as he felt for revealing his secrets, he was also a bit curious as to what exactly had happened. How had his father wound up in a mental hospital? Why hadn't Ryder visited him in five years? He'd been so close to getting answers, before Lana had walked in on them, and Ryder had shut up again.

The need to know how Ryder had become Ryder consumed him, and he thought about ways to find out. There was no chance Ryder would tell him if he asked, especially not after what he'd said, and so he figured his best bet was to use the internet.

He pulled out his computer, and hesitated, wondering what to search. What was Ryder's dad's name? His secrecy regarding his past was not helping Brett's case.

Finally, he decided on simply searching Donahue mental hospital. The results that came up were varied, and completely irrelevant. Apparently, people with that surname were prone to mental illnesses.

He bit his lip, and decided that he needed to be more specific in his search terms.

Donahue mental hospital amnesia. Click.

The first few links were all duds, but finally Brett found what he was looking for. He sucked in a breath as he read the article. No wonder Ryder was so messed up.

"Your dad was beat up by debt collectors who hit him too hard and gave him amnesia?" was Brett's opening line as he stormed into Ryder's study. Granted, he could have been less direct for that, but there was no time for niceties.

Ryder gaped at him, and uttered the first words he'd said to him in ten hours. "How did you know that?"

"I did my research. I felt bad about telling everyone about your dad yesterday-"

"And you thought that finding more about him would make me feel better?" Ryder looked so genuinely upset that Brett rushed to explain himself.

"It's just...you're my friend Ryder, you have been for years. And yet, despite that, I know next to nothing about you. I just wanted to...get to know you better. Wanted to see where you're coming from." He shrugged. "I'm a programmer. I like knowing how things work. And that applies for people too – I'm good enough at reading people, and understanding them. But I've never really understood you."

Ryder regarded him for a long moment, before turning away. "Well...you know everything now."

"No. I don't. I didn't read the full article – I wanted to hear you explain it to me. If you're okay with it, of course. If you don't want me to know, then I'll stop reading about it. Really." And he meant it. Fixing things with Ryder was important to him now, and he was ready to keep his word.