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Luke signaled the waitress, who quickly came so they could place their beer and wings order. At the same time she placed menus down in front of them.
“You mentioned something on the phone about being out of the loop,” Luke said. “What was that all about?”
“I was at your family’s house earlier. Lionel sent me to see if I could have some sway over Callie. I suppose it’s no surprise to you that she moved out of the mansion.”
Luke grimaced. “It’s been a rough couple of weeks, Jax. What do you know? You seem to be hinting at something.”
“Nothing other than Callie packed up and left.” He quirked his mouth. “Oh and that she was assisted by this tall, brawny guy who she introduced as her brother.” Jax met Luke’s gaze head-on. He expected nothing but the truth from his friend. Anything else just wasn’t his style.
Luke let out a sigh. “Yeah. So that’s the big news in the Duvall family. Callie’s birth brother tracked her down.”
Jax couldn’t help but feel there was way more to the story. It didn’t explain why Callie had left home or why she seemed to be brimming with disgust for her father.
“Care to tell me the rest of the story?” Jax asked.
The waitress came and plopped their beers down on the table. “The wings will be right up,” she said. “Need a few more minutes to look over the menu?” she asked, snapping her gum as she waited for their response.
“A few more minutes would be great,” Jax said with a nod.
Luke splayed his hands on the table. “This is Callie’s personal business. And Duvall family business. Anything I tell you has to be kept quiet. If this were to show up in the Savannah gossip rags it could really hurt my family.”
“Luke, I’ve known your family almost my entire life. I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize it…or Callie.” Jax could hear the tenderness in his own voice when he said Callie’s name. Luke’s raised eyebrow indicated that he might have picked up on it as well.
“So, am I right in assuming that your interest in this is more than a casual one? For a while now I’ve wondered about your feelings for my sister.” Luke locked gazes with Jax. There was something in his friend’s eyes that let him know his secret would be safe with him. Jax let out the breath he’d been holding. It was becoming increasingly difficult to hide his larger-than-life feelings for Callie Duvall.
“I care about her…more than a friend, Luke. I always have.” Jax delivered his statement as matter-of-factly as he could. His feelings for Callie were way too strong to deny, especially to someone who loved Callie as much as he did. Their server walked up and placed their wings down on the table and quickly took their order.
Once the server walked away from the table, Luke quickly got down to business. “Are you in love with her?”
“I think so. I’ve never felt this way about anybody else. Ever since we were in high school these feelings have been brewing inside of me.” He let out a hollow laugh. “Who am I kidding? I think I fell for her back in grade school, although way back then it felt like a crush. Now it’s like I’m being crushed with all of these feelings weighing on me.”
Luke smirked. “Have you told her yet?”
Jax sat back in his chair and sighed. “Nope. Not a word, although I think she might know something is up. There’s this weird tension between us whenever we’re together.”
Luke raised an eyebrow. “So you think she might feel something in return?” Luke’s tone sounded a bit dubious.
“It could happen,” he said in a defensive tone.
Luke held up his hands. “No offense. It’s just that the two of you are always arguing about something or other. Matter of fact that sort of goes all the way back to childhood.”
Jax frowned. “I call it banter, not fighting. There’s a difference.” He picked up a wing and took a big bite. This was his first morsel of food since this morning’s eggs, grits and toast.
“Whatever it is, it’s pretty intense, which makes sense if the two of you are into each other,” Luke noted.
“I didn’t say Callie was into me. But I’m hoping she is.”
Luke took a swig of his beer. “You need to tell her how you feel. If your feelings are that intense, you need to lay them on the line.”
“You’re right,” Jax said with a nod. “Words left unspoken mean nothing in the end.” Jax leaned forward on his elbows. “So, are you going to tell me about her secret brother?”
Luke scowled at him. “I’m serious, Jax. You can’t say anything. Not a word.”
“I won’t. Southern gentleman code of honor.” Jax held out his hand and waited for Luke to shake hands with him.
Once they had done so, Luke began to talk. “The man you met, Mac Donahue showed up at the house a few weeks ago with his lady. He’s Callie’s biological brother from Massachusetts. He hired a private investigator to find her. It seems that he wasn’t dead like Dad told her. Mac and Callie were separated in the foster care system and my parents illegally adopted her.” Luke ran a shaky hand across his face. “It seems that they wanted Callie to sever all ties with her past, so Dad made sure she believed that her brother was dead.”
Jax was so shocked he almost couldn’t form words. “Dead? Callie was led to believe her brother was dead?”
