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18
Libby
Rejection Hurts
Pandemonium.
Straight up murderous, vicious pandemonium, but it’s all in Kane’s eyes. He wages a war that no one else can see. His jaw grinds, his eyes sparkle with the kind of rage I’ve seen in his mugshots, and his hand holding Jess’ clenches until she hisses.
She snatches it away on a curse, but practically dives into his lap when he tries to stand.
She wraps her arms around his neck, and forces him to grunt when she drops nine months of twin pregnancy weight into his lap. “I’m gonna sit here until you get your shit under control. This is what Soph and I could see that you guys can’t.”
“Same jaw,” Soph murmurs. “Same hair.”
“Same lips and teeth,” Jess continues.
“Eyes are different.”
“They’re his mother’s eyes,” I supply.
“What was your mother’s name?” Soph asks quietly. Jay remains beside her, curious rather than angry. “Theo, what was your mother’s name?”
I turn to the man beside me, but I don’t see Theo Griffin. I don’t see the man he so carefully crafted for so long, I don’t see the cover he insists on wearing, or the empire he built on the back of hunger and grief. I see the boy. Innocent, and hurting. I take his hand when his lips refuse to open.
He thinks I don’t see that he prefers not to speak. That he prefers to be a silent observer. He thinks I know nothing about him, but I know it all. It only takes a moment of staring into his eyes to know his every thought.
It’s like a superpower that belongs solely to me; no one else can read his eyes. But I can. I’ve always been able to.
Shuffling my chair, that may or may not have explosives attached to the bottom, closer to his, I slide my fingers between his and squeeze. When his gaze remains on a pen in the center of the table, I squeeze again and try to lend some of my strength.
Yesterday was the day my world changed, because I got my family back.
Today, he gets his.
“His mother’s name was Jacintha.” I bring his hand up, then I press my lips to his knuckles and let my heart race.
I’m nervous. I’m scared. I’m giving up everything I worked so hard for. But this is important, and it’s all I’ve dreamed about for two thirds of my life.
“She was a single mother who worked hard to provide for her only child. She was beautiful, and Gunner shares her eyes.”
“Gunner?” Kane’s brows furrow. “That’s his real name?”
I feel his pulse racing. I feel it all the way through his arm until it beats against my hand. “He was not born with the name Theo Griffin.”
“We already know that,” Soph inserts dryly.
“Gunner Bishop.” I meet Kane’s eyes. “The day I met him in Hayes’ club, he was Gunner Bishop. I thought he died that day. His mother was murdered, I was stuffed into an office, and he ran. My father…” I swallow the lump that lodges in my throat. “I saw my father shoot at that boy. He was eleven, and he threw himself down a flight of stairs to escape, and when my father and the others chased him, I thought he was dead.”
“But he’s not…” Jess murmurs. She remains in Kane’s lap, her feet almost in Jay’s lap, and rubs circles in her belly. “He didn’t die.”
I shake my head. “I didn’t know he was alive until last night.”
“In the office,” Soph says in a quiet tone. “It’s why he was watching you. Why he couldn’t focus on a single damn thing once you walked into the club. It’s why he caught you. Carried you. It’s why you cuddled against him.”
My cheeks flame with humiliation. Not for cuddling a man, but because I needed to be carried somewhere like a common damsel. “Yes.”
“We left you in the office with him. A little while after that, we came back, and he was gone.”
