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“But they”—Enzo gestures to me—“aren’t talking, so what difference does it make if you tell us?” he asks, the other guys nodding and murmuring in agreement.
“Fine,” Viviana says, waving her manicured hands around. “Here’s some of it, her mom was in some deep shit. Like crazy, soap-opera-level shit.”
“What?” I ask, my hand that was raising my beer to my lips falling between my knees.
“Yeah.” April nods. “It’s kind of crazy. I’m surprised that she’s not lost her mind with the mess she’s fixing.”
“Okay.” I wave a hand. “Start from the beginning.”
“Okay.” Viviana starts and launches into everything that’s been going on with Jane, all of us guys enraptured with her and April as they go back and forth, filling in details. Telling me about how her mother was in trouble back in the day and Carl Pierce bailed her out, how she had to pay him back and even though she did, he was still holding something over her head that made her have to make a deal with him about Jane.
“What could he possibly hold over her head that would make her do that?”
“Uh.” April pauses, her wide eyes going from me to Viviana. “I’m not sure we should say that part. It’s kind of…”
“A huge deal.” Viviana nods.
“Personal,” April agrees.
I sigh, exasperated. “Just tell me.”
“I don’t know…”
“In case you haven’t noticed.” I gesture around the room. “Jane and I aren’t doing so hot, meaning she’s hardly even talking to me because I was a dick who shoved her in a direction she wasn’t ready to go. So…” I set my bottle on the coffee table with a clunk and bring my hands together in prayer hands, frustration ebbing at my very core. “Please, just tell me.”
“Fine,” Viviana relents. “The truth was that Beverly was with some guy and he decided to leave her and pretty much immediately after they separated, he found the wife he has now, and well, he had a litter of kids with her or whatever. But what Beverly never told anyone was thathewas the one who fathered Jane.”
“Wait.” I hold up a hand. “You mean to tell me she’s had a real dad this entire time?”
“It… gets worse.” April grimaces.
“How?” I demand.
“She knew the guy,” Viviana tells me quietly. “The guy was the dad of one of her friends, she used to go over there, have sleepovers, all of it.”
“For fuck’s sake.” I grip my head. I can’t imagine what Jane is going through right now. Not only to be lied to her entire life, but to have known her own father, to spend time with him as your friend’s dad? That is beyond fucked up. “What did she do?”
“Oh, well, this is where it gets good.” Viviana smirks and tells me about the PI she hired, how she was going to fix everything for herself, how they staked out Carl Pierce’s place of work.
“Hold the phone.” Chris raises a hand at that, giving April a hard look. “You followed some guy, late at night, to catch him doing something sketchy?”
Archer sits up at that, as does Enzo, like they’re just catching on as well.
Garrett just chuckles.
“Why didn’t you invite me?” Derek asks, genuinely miffed. “You know what a bigCSI: Miamifan I am.”
“Sorry, Derek.” Viviana pats him on the knee, a mocking smile on her face.
“We didn’t know we would be doing that per se…” April hedges.
“You said it was girls’ night.”
“It was!” she defends, then shrugs her shoulders. “Which just sohappensto have turned into a stakeout.”
“Lord help me,” Chris mumbles and April chuckles, patting him on the back. “Wait, so why were you dressed like an old lady when you got back?”
“Uh, hello.” April waves her hand around like she’s willing us to see the whole picture. “We needed a disguise, obviously.”
