Page 36 of Angels and Skulls
I look away, blushing. He chuckles lightly.
“You sure do remind me of this girl I just met,” he says, settling back in the wooden rocker.
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. She’s the damn reason it’s taken me so long to get up here.” He taps his beer on his knee as if he’s contemplating what he says next. “It’s a crazy story.”
“Most of your stories are,” I tease.
The way he smiles at me makes my stomach flutter. Not that I can do anything about it. I know he’s married, and I also knowhe’s an honorable man. I think that’s what I like most about him.
“This one is off the charts insane. You remember me talking about my new bartender, Lily?”
“Yeah,” I say, my heart aching for a Lily I once knew. I wonder if she ever got away from her father.
“Well, she had one hell of a story. Turns out she was running from her father, a senator. Can you believe that?” he asks.
I feel the blood drain from my face.
He shakes his head. “It’s a long story, but the short version is her dad found her and forced her back to his mansion. Dan had to kidnap her just as she was about to be married off to some abusive asshole.”
My heart is beating out of my chest. Bill is talking about my Lily. I scoot to the edge of my seat, anxiously waiting to hear the rest of my friend’s story.
“Her dad was a real s.o.b. He was a goddamn pervert who deserved to be put in the ground, but we had to let him live.”
“No,” I say.
His gaze narrows. “Don’t worry. He’s locked up, but we had to let him live so we could take down a few other assholes just like him.”
I nod, listening intently.
“Well, she happens to find this journal left behind by one of her dad’s victims, and you’re not going to believe this.” He stops.
“What?”
“Lily is Jackson’s sister.”
My heart completely stops. Lily is with Jackson. They found each other. Somehow they found each other.
Suddenly, the organ in my chest decides to pump again, and I cough. “Oh, what a sweet story.”
“You okay?” he asks, reaching over and firmly placing his hand on the back of my head.
When my eyes meet his, a silent conversation passes between the two of us. He can’t tell me he knows who I am, because then he’ll also have to tell the club. He’s giving me a choice. To keep quiet or come clean.
I blink, tears falling off my lashes at an alarming rate. “I’m sorry. That’s just … like I said, it’s a sweet story. It’s a little unbelievable. It sounds like it was fate Lily and Jackson found each other.”
Bill has always talked to me about the club, his family, and especially about Jackson. I had no way of stopping him, even though it sometimes hurt my heart to hear. What could I have said? Anyway, he always makes a point to let me know how Jackson is doing, making me wonder if he somehow knew …
Now I know he does. He just can never admit it.
“Crazier yet, Raffe knew Jackson’s angel mom, and he’s always kept in touch with her parents.”
I don’t want to know anymore. I stand up, but Bill pulls me back into my chair.
“Jackson has always known them as his grandma and grandpa … turns out they biologically are. They were ecstatic to find out Jackson was their daughter’s son.”
“Please let me go,” I say calmly. “I’m not feeling very well.”
