Page 17 of Silent Verity

I frowned down at them. “These were in there?” I asked.

Tor nodded. “Yeah. We figured we’d start taking apart the living room, then work our way to her room, then to your room. I’m sure there’s nothing in the kitchen you want.”

There’d be nothing but pots and pans as old as I was and a few dishes she’d used as ashtrays more than she’d ever used for food and drinks.

I shook my head at him. “No, nothing from the kitchen,” I agreed. Gingerly, I sat on the couch, making a mental note to trash these sweatpants when I got home. Grabbing the first album, I flipped it open. Immediately, my throat closed up with tears. I’d never seen these pictures. Hell, I never even knew my mom had photo albums until that moment.

The very first picture was one of me and her. She’d just given birth to me. Her face was sweaty and flushed, and she was young—sixteen, if I remembered correctly. She wasn’t even looking at the camera. She was looking at me. Looking at me like I held the world in my tiny, bunched up fists. And she looked happy. Fuck, my mom was healthy. Her eyes were clear, and her sweaty skin was flushed pink.

But I couldn’t get past the fact that she was looking at me like she fucking loved me.

With shaking fingers, I flipped the page, coming face to face with more pictures of me and her. These were all in the delivery room, too. In the second picture, she was speaking animatedly to a dark-haired guy that looked to be the same age as her, and he was grinning down at me.

“Is that your dad?” Dalton asked quietly, taking a seat beside me.

“I think so,” I rasped. He sure looked a hell of a lot like I did at that age. “I never knew him,” I admitted. “Or I don’t remember him. Mom said he left. I never cared enough about him to find out who he was. If he could abandon me like that…” I shook my head. “Then he’s not worth my fucking time.”

“Agreed,” Kalin said from the floor where he was sitting cross-legged, going through a stack of papers. I looked back down at the photo album, a tear running down my cheek when I flipped the page again. We were here in my grandparents’ house in this picture, and she was sitting on this same couch, appearing to be cooing at me as she held my tiny fist in her delicate fingers.

“I think she loved me at one point,” I whispered, my voice hoarse. My throat was so tight, and my chest hurt looking at these pictures. But I was relived too. To know that at one point, she did love me. It helped me cope with all the bullshit she’d piled on me. “Drugs and alcohol just… changed her.”

“Do you know what her tipping point was?” Spike asked, helping Salem pick up trash. Bottles clanked as they dropped them into the trash bag they were sharing between the two of them.

“No,” I said. “I never cared to ask. And honestly, I don’t care to know now. She chose them over me, and I’ve known she loved her next fix more than she ever loved me. She might have loved me once upon a time, but her crutch was her biggest love.”

“I’m sorry, baby,” Dalton said quietly, truly sounding pained. He gripped the back of my neck and pulled me toward him so he could press his lips to my temple. I closed my eyes, letting his love soak into my pores. “But despite her, you’ve got a great family right here, and we all love you.”

Kalin snorted from the floor. “Some of us more than others, clearly.” He made a gagging noise for dramatic effect. And despite being in the midst of my mother’s chaos, I laughed. And fuck, the way Dalton beamed at me, as if my laugh was the only fix he’d ever need…

I leaned in and kissed him, letting my lips linger for a moment too long, but no one said anything. “Thank you for being here,” I murmured.

He smiled at me. “I’m wherever you are, baby. Always.”

15

Dalton

I groaned and buried my face beneath my pillow, willing my ringing phone to drop off the face of the earth or drown in a bucket of water. Something other than ringing. Grow legs and walk off, maybe? I was fucking exhausted. Jesse had kept me up most of the night, desperate to have me inside of him. I’d come so many fucking times, my balls felt pitifully empty and were actually sore from coming so damn much.

A few days had passed since his mother died. The first three days sucked. Clearing out her house was the worst, and receiving her ashes had sent him seeking comfort in the bottom of a bottle. The fourth day was spent recovering from a hangover. The fifth day, we all chilled in the pool, getting high and eating our body weight in pizza and cake because why the fuck not have cake, too. Yesterday, we spent all day in bed, and after showering together, Jesse became fucking ravenous.

And like fuck would I deny him when he wanted to ride my cock or have me rail him from behind. The more he’d whined and begged for me, the more feral I’d become.

My phone finally stopped ringing, but then, Jesse’s started up. Jesse groaned and rolled away from me to grab his phone from the other side of the bed. I made a pitiful sound in the back of my throat and reached for him, not ready to let go of him yet. He laughed softly and rolled back into the protective circle of my arm as he answered his phone.

“Hello?” he groggily answered.

“Are everyone’s phones broken?” Delia snapped.

“It’s not even been seven days yet,” I muttered, my voice muffled by the pillow. “Go away, Delia.”

She huffed. “You think I enjoy calling you boys?” she retorted. “I don’t, for the record. The only good thing you six do for me is provide me a generous paycheck. This request is coming directly from Richard himself. He wants the six of you in the office for lunch and a talk.”

“A talk?” Jesse asked. I lifted my pillow, squinting at Jesse’s phone. “That sounds… ominous.”

She scoffed. “You’ve got to really be the only band group or singer that doesn’t find themselves splashed in the media over bullshit, so I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. He just thought whatever he wants to talk about would come better directly from him. So, get up and get your asses here. He wants to do lunch at twelve.”

With that, she hung up. I grunted and shoved the pillow back onto my face. “She’s such a bitch.”

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