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“No, she talked about the man that did it, and how sorry she was for lying to you about it. She wished she could’ve told you the truth at the time, and wished for you to forgive her if you could.” I said softly.
At the shake of my head, he told me everything. Absolutely every single detail of what happened leading up to him joining the army, and what happened after that when he found out about his daughter’s death.
“Your dad sounds like a huge dick.” I said into the silence afterwards.
“Massive.” He said dryly.
“You haven’t spoken to either one of your parents since?” I asked, finally turning to him.
He looked sick. His eyes were haunted. His skin was pale and clammy. His fists were clinched so tightly that I was worried for the state of his knuckles if they got much tighter.
Going on instinct, I reached out from my comforter cocoon and touched first one, and then the other fist with one hand, which he relaxed immediately.
“My mom, one or two times around my birthday. My dad’s pretty opinionated though, so it’s rare if she breaks through his hold on her and works up the courage to call. I always talk to her though.” Kettle explained.
“So where does your sister fit into all of this? How did she get kicked out?” I questioned him.
“My sister’s really flighty. She’s a great girl, and I love her to death, but I don’t know. I guess she didn’t conform to my father’s wishes on not talking to me or something. He told her it was the trust fund or me. Of course, she was stupid enough to choose me. She’s one of the best people in the world, once you get to know her.”
I nodded at him. “Your sister must be special to give up something like that. She must really care about you.”
“She does, and I care about her.” He nodded in agreement.
Moving out from under the comforter, I crawled to him until I was straddling his lap. My front plastered to his. It wasn’t sexual though. Not then.
Looking into his eyes, I framed his face with my hands before leaning in slowly and kissing him softly on the lips.
“Don’t shut me out again. Please,” I whispered against his mouth.
He shuddered. “I won’t. I love you.”
I smiled widely and hugged him a little harder. “I love you, too.”
“I need to tell you about your brother. It’s what I was doing after my father dropped off the letter.” He said hesitantly.
I sat back, putting some distance between us, but he didn’t like it and wrapped his arms around my lower back and pulled me back into his chest.
“Okay,” I said cautiously.
His huge hands rubbed my lower back soothingly as he started explaining. “It’s a major clusterfuck, but as far as we can figure...your brother’s right there in the middle of this whole fucking thing. The boys that were responsible for your apartment decided to play the blame game and tell the big boss that it was entirely your fault. He recognized your name immediately. Your brother owed him for some drug habit he couldn’t support fully, and his price was to be the go between with him and the makers. And you.”
“Me?” I reared back.
Kettle nodded. “Yeah. Gustavo Amadeus can’t let one of his employees get narked on and let it pass. He was set to make an example of you by putting every criminal in Northern Louisiana on your trail to bring you in, but then your brother’s debt fell in his lap, and he charged your brother with bringing you to him.”
“Jesus.”
Kettle nodded. “Your brother was supposed to meet Silas the next day but never showed. Silas is working magic on his end, but other than just starting to turn over rocks, we’re not real sure where to find him.”
My head collapsed on his chest, and I shivered in dread.
“You were right about the danger.” I rasped.
His arms went around my middle and pulled me in tight. “I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise. They’ll have to get through me, and the entire Dixie Warden MC to accomplish that, and that sure as hell won’t be happening.”
• • •
“Will you come home and spend Christmas with me and my family?” Kettle rumbled against my ear.
