Page 121 of Secrets That Bind Us
She. I hold in the sob that wants to escape me. “What’s her name?”
“Savannah.”
My brain glitches. It feels like my entire world crashes around me and my chest rips wide fucking open. “And you didn’t think to tell me? I missedeverything!”
“Dean.” Marie shakes her head at me. “She doesn’t belong in this town, and you know it.”
“I missedeverything.” I repeat on an inhale. Tears prick my eyeballs, and I let them fall. Why wouldn’t I? Marie and Verity have been the only people who have ever seen my vulnerability and never judged me for it. I scrub my hand down my face. “I told her over and over andover againthat it didn’t matter where we were. I would follow her to all four corners of the earth and back, over and over again. As long as I was by her side. She could be whatever she wanted.Dowhatever she wanted– and I would support it all.”
I used to think Verity Huntington was made for me, but the truth is,Iwas made forher. She said if she stayed here, she would follow me around like a puppy and let me ruin her– but that’s not the truth. The truth is reversed. She is my master. Owner of the key to my heart, my soul, lips, teeth, tongue, and my mind. I’ve been a puppet on her strings since that first kiss, and I don’t care. “I have to go. I have to go up there. I have to get them both. I want to know my kid.”
“Dean-”
I call Zoey, ignoring Marie, but she doesn’t answer. So I call again. And again.
Angry, I call Evan. “Yeah?”
“Hey man, where are you?”
“I’m at home.”
“Where’s Zoey?”
“She’s in London with Verity. They’re on a book tour.”
“Can I ask you something, man?”
Evan clears his throat, but I can tell he knows what I’m about to ask him. For fuck’s sake– he liked the goddamn video. “Of course.”
“Why didn’t y’all tell me Verity had my kid? All this time I thought it was Micah’s.”
Evan stays silent. “Well, you know Verity and Zoey didn’t speak for, like, six months after she left for New York.”
“And?”
“And then it took Zoey about a year to visit...”
“Hurry up.” I snap.
“I didn’t know either, man. Okay? I thought it was Micah’s when Zoey told me she had a baby. It wasn’t until I saw her with my own eyes that I knew she was yours. Zoey begged me not to tell you– said Verity would do it on her own time. But she started going on longer book tours, extending them. Her publisher and agent wanted her to establish herself right in the industry, and it got so fucking hectic, man. For all of us. That year that Zoey was with her in London was the year Verity traveled almost every continent. She was only in the US for four months.”
I watched every podcast episode and YouTube video that even mentioned her name. “Are she and Micah together?”
A few heartbeats pass, then he sighsheavily–like he’s aware of the havoc that’s wreaking in my brain. “Shit, man… yeah. Okay? They just officially started dating about a year ago.”
A. Y e a r. A g o.
I look at Marie and shake my head. “A year ago?” She looks away from me and steps back into the house when Reverend Bishop shows up behind her, tugging her to him. I look away. They’ve gotten very cozy together the last few years, and I’m happy for her. “No, man. That can’t happen. I want my kid. I want Verity.”
Evan stays silent. “I agree.” And then, “Micah’s been giving me these weird vibes, man. Every time I go up there with Zo it’s like… I dunno. I can’t explain it. But a part of me thinks they shouldn’t be together. At first I was happy for them. It sucks to say that, but you know, you want to be happy for your friends. But since they officially started dating… it’s been weird. I don’t like it.” He inhales again and lets it out slowly– like his mind is also whirring about. “Look, Zoey will be back here in the next few days. I think you should pick her up from the airport with me. There’s things we should talk about.”
Zoey is surprised, to say the least, to see me in the Jeep when we pick her up. I help put up her luggage, and then Evan nonchalantly throws the keys at me, and I climb into the driver’s side beside her. “Dean… what are you doing?”
I look in the rearview mirror, and Evan nods at me. Never thought he’d be my partner-in-crime, but you know what? They’ve been friends with her longer and know her life way better than I do right now, and so I’m taking every ally I got. “You posted something last week. You remember what that was?”
She puts her seatbelt on, faces forward, crosses her arms and legs, then sucks in her cheeks. Always fucking full of sass, this one. I start the engine. “No?” She replies casually. See? Full of fuckin’ sass.
“That’s funny, ‘cause I do. And you’re gonna help me get her back. That’smykid. The last thing she needs to do is be raised by fucking Micah of all people. That motherfuckerhatedme. You think he’s gonna be good tomykid?”
