Page 15 of Angels and Skulls
It’s just like Aspen’s!
“Oh! Oh, fuck no!” I begin hopping around despite the gun that is still pointed at me. “Oh Jesus Christ, Rachel.” My hands grip my hair, pulling at it.
“Rachel?” The woman stops, and then she hurries out of the gate and spins me around, pressing her hand against the patch on my back. “You’re a Skull?”
“Yeah, I’m a Skull. And you’re Jackson’s birth mom.”
She stumbles, falling to the ground. She starts to crawl away from me. “No. Please tell me he’s okay. Oh my god!” She begins to cry uncontrollably.
Oh shit. She thinks I’m here to tell her he’s dead.
“Hey.” I drop to one knee and hold my hand out to her. “Jackson is fine. He’s just fine.”
She stares at my hand but doesn’t take it. “Then why are you here?”
I shake my head and chuckle. “Well, I really don’t know.”
We stare at each other, and slowly her face begins to relax. Wow, she’s a very attractive woman. I turn away because fuck, this is my best friend’s mom.
“You’re his friend,” she whispers.
I nod still not looking at her.
“Why are you here?” she repeats.
“Again, I don’t know.”
She jumps to her feet. “Oh … oh you can’t tell him.”
The panic in her voice breaks my heart. She leaves the shotgun on the ground and hurries toward the house. The woman is so stunned by my arrival that she enters without closing the door behind her.
Slowly, I pick up the gun. I tip my head and glance at the clouds. “Woman, you better be securing me a place up there, because fuck …” I shake my head and step through the gate.
I find her dumping cash in the middle of a table. She rushes to another drawer, pulling it out. Another wad of money is tossed on the pile.
“I’ll give you everything I have, just please don’t tell him.” She pauses and covers her face with her hands.
I walk up behind her cautiously. “Jenny, I’m not here to cause problems. Let’s just talk.”
Her head shoots up at the sound of her name. “Jackson’s really okay?”
“He’s probably at home right now chasing Aspen around.”
“Aspen?”
My heart falls fast. She doesn’t know she has a granddaughter. I take her hand and pull her over to her couch, then I go back to her kitchen to get her a glass of water.
“Here.” I place it in her shaking hands, then lower myself beside her. “I apologize for startling you the way I did,” I say.
She sucks in a deep breath. “Is it … is Raffe okay?”
I drop my head, shaking it. Fuck. This is fucked up. So fucked up.
“Please tell me why it is you’re here,” she pleads.
Her gaze bounces over my face, and she begins to pull herself together when she realizes I’m as clueless as she is.
“You’re as surprised to see me as I am you,” she deduces quietly.
