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I’d retreated to the confines of Rhys’ room, as they all prepared to do whatever it was, they needed to with the flash-drive.
I needed to talk to Emery. I needed to find out who I was supposed to be now that the old me was dead. And then I needed to figure out what my next step was. With Rhys, since he obviously had no intention of letting me go.
Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. The bedroom door swung open, and Rhys slipped in, shutting it behind him.
“You left.”
“I didn’t think I was needed. I gave you what you wanted.” I eyed the thick folder he was carrying in his hands.
“Pier Fifty-Seven.”
“Pier Fifty-Seven?…The restaurant?”
“You were there on vacation two years ago.”
Oookay. “Yeah…with my mom and dad.”
I side-eyed him. “How do you know that?”
“Because I was there too. We all were. Your dad didn’t know that, though. That’s how we found out about you.”
“His dirty secret,” I repeated what he’d called me.
“Yeah, but if it’s any consolation, he was more of a father to you than he ever was to Evie. Her mom was his high-school sweetheart. She left him when she found out about you, but we didn’t know that until later.”
Ouch. I couldn’t fathom finding out the man I loved had another family stashed away in some rinky-dink town.
“Did my mom know?”
He shrugged, coming to sit beside me on the bed. “I can’t say for sure. I never met her.”
I smiled. “She would have lost her mind over you.”
“No pun intended?”
I was momentarily shocked. “You are such an asshole. That was so distasteful.” I smacked his arm, laughing. “Anyways, so you saw me at the restaurant?”
“The pier, actually.”
I thought back to that night, the memory not that hard to recall. “Oh, my god.” Heat spread from the back of my neck to the tips of my ears. “Noooo.” I covered my face and flopped over.
“Don’t be embarrassed,” he laughed.
“You’re laughing!”
He took hold of my wrists and pulled my hands away from my face, partially leaning over me. “Do you know what I thought when I first saw you?”
“She’s crazy. She’s crying and talking to herself.”
He laughed again before turning serious. “I thought a girl like you shouldn’t be alone.”
Aw. That was unexpectedly sweet. I had felt alone that night, as I often did. Dad and Mom had an epic battle of words. Things were said that couldn’t be taken back, and all I’d wanted was one night where we could be a normal family on vacation.
“They were so toxic together,” I sighed. “Kind-of like--.”
“We’ll never be them,” he stated bluntly. “We have an unorthodox way of doing things, but it works for us. Our toxic pieces are two halves of one puzzle.”
I blinked up at him. Its like he’d plucked that right from my brain.
