Treading carefully, not to cause another Noma meltdown, I asked, “Do you think Grandpa bought the house here for the reasons someone was after Dad?”
A moment lingered before she cryptically answered, “Possibly yes and no.”
I blew out an exhausted breath while letting my head rest in my seat and peering back out to the raindrops, almost telling them goodbye since I’d most likely never swim in my magical friend’s waters again.
1 ? “Orange” — Delilah Montagu
Chapter 5
Librarian Secrets
Illusion or imagination…?
The pizza parlor was a quaint place that usually had a few tourists visiting, but winter had barely ended, so outsiders hadn’t returned yet. It was only us locals who still got to enjoy the parlor almost hidden within the tall Cali reds. The outer wooden walls were old and silently spoke of secrets they held inside. As if they had heard many tales to be told. An odd perception for a young man, but it was soon confirmed.
Following Noma up wooden steps that were embedded in the inclining earth, I almost tripped when she quietly spoke over her shoulder. “You keep wanting answers to the wrong questions.”
My mouth parted. My breath caught in my chest.
Alone on the steps surrounded by green moss, she stopped and faced me. We were eye-to-eye since I was two steps below her. Noma’s hand cupped my cheek as if wishing she had better news to deliver. An outside light shined on her aging face that was full of sympathy. “Baby boy.”
Heart stammering, I laid my damaged hand over hers. “I can take it.”
Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears as I saw her chin quiver. “Your father is gone. Nothing can change that.”
Her unshed tears had dancing stars in them, causing me more anger, even beyond her frustrating comment. My hand fell from hers, and I growled. “I. Know. That.”
After a pause, her voice cracked. “Then why don’t you ask why he was killed when with—” Her mouth shut. She couldn’t voice what had been so clear, I was now lost to how blind I had been.
Oh my God. “With me.”
As if she was positive this would crush what was left of my broken heart, she nodded, eyes and hand falling to the space between us.
In one last attempt at denial, I asked, “H-how do you know it’s because of me? I-I just happened to be there.”
A deep breath filled her lungs before she exhaled so heavily, her eyes observing our surroundings again. “I wasn’t sure but…” She finally took hold of my disfigured hand. “The surviving brothers of your father’s club have either suffered before dying or have disappeared altogether.”
When visiting a local library, I knew she googled names to keep track of friends, but she never told me of anyone getting hurt, except someone from the hospital. That’s why my lips moved, but no sound rang from my constricted throat. My uncles…
Sorrowfully, she nodded. “Tortured… to find?—”
When she didn’t continue, I rushed, “How do you know it wasn’t for some MC revenge? Or—or to kill Dad’s remaining family?”
Her shoulders drooped. “Because?—”
“Because why, Noma?—”
She rushed to say, “They didn’t know he had family, honey!”
I kept blinking. She was back to making no sense. Of course, he had family. He had me!
Suddenly, her wringing hands on my tenth birthday seemed so much clearer now. She had warned it was too soon.
Running a hand down my face, I demanded, “Noma, please tell me I wasn’t some sort of secret—” I couldn’t even finish my sentence. The fact he passed on my birthday was painful enough. Now to wonder if it was due to my actual existence?—
My souring stomach was begging for the answer I could handle. After all that had transpired, I didn’t want another earth-shattering revelation.
But that’s not how Maddox Gentry’s life rolls.
