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“Jesus, Kane,” I whisper, feeling tears springing to my eyes. “I feel the same.”
I flinch when I remember that Dad is sitting right there, the power of Kane’s words are enough to make me forget for a few moments.
I turn to find him staring oddly at me, and Mom staring with open warmth, a smile tugging her lips upwards.
“How wonderful,” she whispers.
“Henri,” Dad says, glancing at my mom. “You’re not saying you approve of this?”
“I do,” Mom says unabashedly. She tosses her salon perfect hair. “And to be honest, Jason, I think this is a wonderful opportunity for you two to finally bury the hatchet and let go of your pride. Just look at your daughter. Can’t you see how happy she is?”
“Are you?” Dad grumbles, staring at me. “We can talk alone, Kelly. He doesn’t have to be here. If he’s … coercing you in some way, we can discuss this just me and you and you can tell me the truth.”
A laugh escapes me like a cough, sudden and violent.
The thought that Kane is coercing me is so absurd I can’t help but let the laughter ring out over the garden, joining the butterflies and the other insects in the air.
“No,” I say, reaching across and grabbing Kane’s hand, an instinct I don’t fight, not even when I see Dad’s face contort in confusion. “Dad, Kane didn’t just choose me. I chose him. I want the life we’ve envisioned together. And yeah, I get it, there are obstacles. But if you could be okay with it, then I really think we could make it work. I mean, we’d make it work anyway. There’s nothing that could stop me from being with Kane. But I’d love your blessing, Dad.”
“So would I,” Kane says, giving my hand a squeeze of support. “Jason, the past is the past. We don’t have to live in it. We can move forward. I fucked up by letting Lance into my club. But he’s dealt with now. The Cartel is dealt with. We can join our clubs, the Chariots and the Talons. We can make it so no bastard can ever touch Aslado again. We can pool our resources.”
“Wait, wait,” Dad says, leaning back, sucking in a long breath. “You’re fucking with me, right? You’d just forgive me? Just like that?”
Forgive him?
“Forgive you for what, Dad?” I murmur.
Dad glares at Kane. “You really trying to tell me you haven’t told her?”
“You asked me not to,” Kane says with a shrug. “I don’t break my promises.”
Dad turns to me. “You know that Kane’s been to prison, right?”
I tighten my grip on his hand and sit up straighter.
“Yes, I do. But the past is the past and I’m more concerned about the future.”
“I wonder if you’ll feel the same when you know the truth,” Dad sighs.
“What truth?”
“It was me who robbed that store,” Dad sighs. “It was me, but I took Kane’s bike, and when the police came looking for it and found it at his place, he took the blame and went down for me. And ever since then, Jesus Christ, ever since then I haven’t been able to look at him, because it’s a fucking reminder, ain’t it? It’s just a fucking reminder of what a piece of shit I really am.”
The revelation hits me like a ton of concrete, slamming right into me.
I let go of Kane’s hand and spring up, pacing around the garden, the grass tickling my bare feet because I took my shoes off when I walked into the house.
Old habits die hard.
I pace and run my hands through my hair, as though I can get to my brain and put these events into some sort of order.
“So all these years,” I say eventually. “All these stories about what a bad person Kane was … you were lying.”
Dad’s face drops miserably as he scratches at the table with his thumbnail. He looks like a child finally caught in a lie.
“Yes,” he says after a long pause. “It was just a reminder, every time I saw him, every time I thought about him. The truth is, Kelly, Kane has always been the honorable bastard between the two of us. Even growing up, he was the one who knew right from wrong far sooner than I did. He’s a good man. I’m the fuck up.”
“Jason,” Kane mutters, leaning forward, looking like a man next to a child as he sits up straight. “I meant what I said. Join your club with me. We’ll lead them together. The Talons can use our legitimate business. We can find the straight and narrow. Together.”
“As a family,” I say, heart thudding in my chest as I walk over to the table and put my hand on Kane’s shoulder, clutching on as though for purchase, as though I might drift away otherwise.
