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“What the heck?” I deflate in my chair. “Is that true? Is that man my uncle? Was my dad killed in prison?”
Pearce kneels next to me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders. “I don’t know, Piper. But I think you should talk to your mother.”
Something about his voice gives me pause. I lean back, studying the hardness in his eyes. “What is it?”
He swallows, both of us oblivious to the silence of the restaurant, everybody awed by what just happened.
“You remember how I said I thought your mom seemed familiar?”
I nod.
“Well, that bastard just helped me remember. The last time I saw your mom, she was younger. Her hair wasn’t the color it is at the moment and she was even leaner than she is now. And…she was wearing a bandana.”
“Okay…”
He sighs. “Piper, the last time I saw your mom, I arrested her.”
The news sends me reeling back in my chair, as though he’s struck me in the chest. My blood rushes in my ears relentlessly as I try to convince myself he really just said that.
I’m not hallucinating.
“For what?” I whisper.
“Maybe you should talk to her—”
“For what, Pearce?”
He clenches his jaw and then says, “For dealing drugs.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Pearce
I asked Piper if she was sure she wanted me here with her.
Last night was mayhem. After the scene at the restaurant, the cops showed up and we gave our statements.
I got a call in the early hours of this morning telling me the suspect – Elijah Green – had been arrested. He was wanted not just for what he did last night, brandishing a knife in a restaurant, but also on a string of other charges.
“Drug dealing, money laundering, assault, attempted murder,” my police buddy told me. “It’s bad, Pearce. But we got him.”
Now, Piper, Bones, and I sit in my car outside Piper’s house. Or her mother’s house, since I already consider my home half Piper’s.
We spent the rest of last night in bed, Piper lying in my arms as Bones slept at our feet, curled into a ball.
My blood felt like it was pumping hotter after the fight, but somehow I managed to keep my hands in check, even as my manhood threatened to break the waistband of my underwear. She just wanted to lie together, and I needed to be there for her, to let her know she would never have to face any of this alone.
But this morning, she decided she wanted answers. She called her mother and arranged to meet, and here we are, Piper picking at the fabric of her pants as though stalling, afraid of what she might find out.
Bones stands in the back seats, looking between us, wondering what’s going on.
“I don’t know how I’m going to do this,” she murmurs. “We never talk about my dad. And now it makes sense. He was a criminal. They were criminals together.”
I reach over and lay my hand atop hers, stilling her fidgety movements. “You deserve to know the truth. But if you decide you’d rather wait, do this another time, then that’s okay too.”
“Thank you,” she says softly. “But I have to do this. I can’t keep living in a world of secrets. I don’t even care if that sounds melodramatic.”
“It doesn’t.”
She aims a smile at me, all shaky, with shades of her sassiness peeking through. “Really?”
I grin, moved by her smile. “All right then, maybe just a little.”
She giggles and slaps me on the shoulder. “How can you make me laugh at a time like this?”
Because you’re mine.
The more time that passes, the more difficult talking about this is going to become. But I can’t unload on her now, not when she’s already got so much to worry about.
Or is that an excuse?
“Let’s just go in,” she says, reaching for the door handle. “We’ll be here all day, otherwise.”
She steps from the car and begins walking across the street. I collect Bones, clip his leash on and walk with him toward the house. Bones cringes at the sight of his former home, whining softly as he pulls away.
I stroke him behind the ear as Piper waits for me to catch up.
“Don’t worry,” I tell him. “You’re never going back there again.”
Piper pushes the door open and it groans on its hinges. Once again my gaze is drawn to the threadbare carpet, my gut sinking. My woman’s family deserves better than this.
“Mom, it’s me. It’s us.”
“I’m in here,” she calls from the living room.
Piper walks in, but I hover in the doorway, gripping Bones’ leash. “Is he okay to come in?”
Jules looks up at me. She’s tied her hair in a tight bun and her eyes seem panicked, the same way they looked all those years ago when I slapped the cuffs on her.
“Yes, of course. I love dogs.”
Bones strains to be allowed closer to her. I kneel and unhook him off his leash. “Be good.”
