And she let me think it.
I didn’t begin to suspect it was mine until I saw her on her first day of school at college. Her hair was longer, she’d lost weight, her skin lacked color, and she couldn’t look at me when she spoke to me.
I watched her for a week, and so did Jett. By the end of the week, Jett had been busy. He was sure there was something else. He thought she was scared of the guy who had gotten her pregnant. She answered a few questions from him in the beginning, and then she clammed up.
We never expected to uncover what we did.
The more we dug, the more we found. Progress was slow, though, and it had only really been the last few months where we were getting anywhere.
The first time we saw that film, I remember how sick I felt. That could have been her. That could have been her bleeding out on the table as they ripped her baby,mybaby, out of her. It was horrific. Then they walked out of the room and left the girl dead on the table.
Forgotten.
I couldn’t forget.
It consumed me. I saw Quinn on that table every time I closed my eyes. The need to know if it was mine ate at my insides. And she didn’t see it. She didn’t see the damage she was doing by keeping her silence.
Or she didn’t care.
The night Jett texted me to say she needed me, I’d held her as she cried, and as she clung to me, I knew with no more doubts that it was mine.
Andstill,she didn’t tell me.
When she stopped crying, she pulled that fucking mask she wore so well on, thanked me for the comfort, and then held the door open and asked me to leave.
I could have challenged her, to be fair. I could’ve quite happily shaken her until she told me everything, but instead, I had walked out and left her. At her request.
I didn’t know who was right, but I knew we needed distance from each other now.
“Are you okay?”
His question brought me back to the side of the road, both of us standing in the dark, cool Tennessee night.
“No.”
Jett reached out and clasped my shoulder. “I’m truly sorry.”
My head hung low as I bowed my head, and I felt an emotion other than rage. Sorrow. My eyes squeezed closed as I fought it back. If I let myself feel it, it would consume me.
“I know,” I told him as I raised my head and looked at him. “It’s good she has you.” I hated it. I had always been jealous of their relationship, but in this moment, I was glad she had someone, even though it wasn’t me.
“You can’t do this anymore.” Jett’s hand dropped away from me. “This recklessness. Onyx is involved now, and we both know that’s dangerous.”
“He’s on my side.”
“We’reallon your side,” Jett snapped. “But we’re in the middle of something huge, and we would be stupid to think this is for us to fix.” At my glare, he held his hands up in acceptance. “I know. I know, I thought we could do this, but whoever came for Harry tonight, they aren’t fucking about. They were happy to leave him for dead in his basement.”
“Maybe we should have left him,” I grunted. Rubbing my head, I looked over at my brother. “What else did he say? Did he recognize her?”
“I don’t think so,” Jett answered carefully. “He didn’t tell us any other names, but you think you know one of the guys who came tonight?”
I nodded as I looked over the low wooded area we were parked beside. “He was film three, I’m sure of it. The second guy, him I don’t know.”
“Onyx is going to want to know everything.”
“Then we tell him everything,” I said easily.
“And Ash?” Jett spoke softly beside me.
