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“Better than being busted by yours.” I wink at her before I spin around and see my father trying to reach for the water beside his bed.
“Here, let me get that,” I say as I hand him the plastic cup.
He accepts it gratefully and takes a few sips before handing it back.
“I wasn’t drinking, son,” he says as he looks up at me.
“I know.”
Tears fill his eyes and I have to look away, but Lucia is by my side, squeezing my hand reassuringly. “It’s so lovely to see you awake, Harvey,” she says with a huge smile. He grins back at her. I mean she’s pretty hard not to smile at.
“They told me it was you,” he coughs.
I sit beside his bed. “What exactly did they say?”
He licks his dry, cracked lips. “Jackson wants you gone, o-old man. He paid us good money to do the j-job.”
“What?” Lucia gasps, covering her mouth with her hand. I forgot she doesn’t know about this latest development. She was too pissed at me to allow me to tell her.
Fuckers! “I didn’t…” I shake my head.
“I know that, son,” he laughs and coughs at the same time. “If that were true, you’re man enough to do it yourself.”
“I can’t believe somebody would say… that it was you?” Lucia looks between me and my father and then her eyes settle on my face. “Why?”
“To get me thrown in jail? To cause a bigger rift between me and my family here. I don’t know yet, angel, but I’m damn sure going to find out.” I turn back to my father. “Can you describe them? How many of them were there?”
His eyelids flutter closed and he takes a deep breath.
“Jax, he’s exhausted,” Lucia whispers.
“Yeah, I know,” I agree with a sigh.
“You want me to give you two some time alone?”
I shake my head. “No. You can hear this too.”
I have so many questions about what happened that night, but his eyelids are already drooping again. I know that if he knew who did this, he would tell me straight away. That doesn’t mean he can’t point me in the right direction, but I guess I can wait a few more hours.
I take a deep breath before I speak. “I did think you were drinking,” I admit. “It was the first thing I thought when they told me you’d been at that bar.”
“I know.”
“I know why you were really there though. To buy that crib?”
“Yeah,” he nods as his eyes flutter closed. “Was gonna fix it up real nice for them babies of yours.”
“I’ll find you another one to fix up if you’d like?”
“Uh-huh,” he murmurs.
“Maybe one day you can rock your grand-babies to sleep in it too?”
His eyes are closed and he doesn’t speak, but a single tear rolls down his cheek. My hand is on his bed and he reaches for it, curling his fingers around mine. I don’t think I’ve allowed him to touch me since I was a little kid, but I hold his hand in mine until he drifts back off to sleep.
“Did you mean what you said in there?” Lucia asks as we walk down the hallway to the parking lot. My father is asleep and we’ll call back to see him in the morning. “About your dad and our babies?”
“Yes,” I say, lifting her hand to my lips and kissing her knuckles.
