AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Mom? Thanks.”
“You’re welcome, son,” she said. “But first, you should probably sleep this off.”
I dutifully climbed the stairs to my bedroom but took my bottle with me. The only time I ever remember being this drunk was when I found out Greer had moved to Louisiana—that she was starting her career in a completely different part of the country, thousands of miles away from me. I’d assumed she’d had a boyfriend. That she hadn’t thought about me in years. This felt like that, but worse because I hadn’t known who grown-up Greer was back then. Hadn’t had weeks to appreciate her logical mind, her courage. Hadn’t seen up close how fucking beautiful she was. Hadn’t kissed every part of her body and fucked her like I owned her. Crude but true, I decided. True love.
With that thought in mind, I fell face-first into my bed and slept.
* * *
The next morning,I woke up with only a slight headache, which I cured by slugging back nearly a gallon of water. I was surprised, but I took it as a sign. Sheryll was right. Greer and I couldn’t talk right now. Something about it just wasn’t working. But I could show her that I loved her, and I always would. I could give her something she’d wanted forever—to know who her father was.
I didn’t have a plan. While I performed research and procured artifacts—sometimes documents and archives—I wasn’t a detective. My specialty was maritime, not…whatever this hunt entailed. But I had to try.
I showered and dressed in jeans and a charcoal-gray T-shirt before taking the elevator to the top floor and my office. I was surprised to see Janae sitting at her desk, AirPods in, probably listening to some sort of murder podcast while she worked on a stapling project.
“Janae? Why are you here?”
“Well, good morning to you too, Jace Blackwell,” she replied, snapping her gum. “I’m here because I have a job at Blackwell Artifacts, and it’s Friday morning at eleven a.m.”
“It’s Friday morning? Christ.” The past few days had blurred together. A million projects needed my attention—a million and one, by the looks of the pile Janae was working through. But some things were more important.
“Janae, we’re starting a new project today.” Her jaw dropped open, and she gathered steam to give me a piece of her mind.
“Just—hear me out. Greer…we broke up last night.”
Janae’s eyebrows shot to the sky. “You broke up? Who broke up with whom?”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“That means she broke up with you. Right? How’s she feeling anyway? After what happened to her?”
“It was more of a mutual thing. And she’s fine. I think.”
“Oh, okay. So, you better not be telling me that this project has anything to do with getting her back. Since the feeling was mutual and all and she’s fine.”
Sometimes Janae got on my goddamn nerves. But she was right. I was going to have to lose the pride and tell her what really happened. Or tell her to shut up and that if she wanted to keep her job, she’d work on any project I gave her, but somehow, I didn’t think that was going to go over well, and I needed her here.
“Fine,” I said. “It wasn’t mutual. I’ve been…behaving badly. And unsure of how to move forward—”
“And distracted as hell.”
“Yes, and distracted,” I gritted out. “But I never would have ended things with her. I…I love her. More than I’ve ever loved anyone. And I want to be with her.”
“Seems to me you only want to be with her if she does things your way. You don’t want to be with her the way she is.”
“I do. She’s perfect. I just…want her to trust me. Need her to talk to me.”
“Well, I think you should get used to the idea that some people just ain’t like that. Now, what’s this project that’s supposed to win her back until the next time you mess up?”
“There’s one thing Greer wants more than anything in the world. She’s wanted it since she was a kid.”
“If this has anything to do with that creepy old house on the island, I’m not here for it.”
“It’s a peninsula. And it’s not about Richmond House per se. But it is about what happened there.”
“What happened there is that white girl’s family kept slaves chained up in the attic. Creepy as fuck.”
Janae had told me what she’d discovered in the attic of Richmond House. I wasn’t surprised, and the idea of Greer in the attic, cold and in shock, had done things to me.
