FANG
“I’ve gotgood news and bad news.” I walk with my fingers jammed in my pockets to save from reaching for her. Pulling her to my side—where she fits. “Good news is, you’re allowed to stay.”
Jenna glances up at me wide-eyed, bundled in the same sweater she wore the first day here.
My sweater.Hersweater.
“But before we go any further, we need to talk about what happened before I got there.” I swallow the lump of unease that settles in my throat. “Why you went to see him.”
If we’re to move forward, I need to understand all of her. We need to be honest with one another. No more secrets.
Jenna stares at the slick ground beneath our feet, seemingly counting the moments between each step.
“Doyouknow why you went there?”
“For the truth.” She sighs, hands fisting inside the knitted cuffs. “He told me one thing, you said another, my thoughts came up with a third possibility.” She laughs, awkwardly. “I needed to make my head stop spinning. I needed closure.”
I wait a few more steps before I ask. “Did you get it?”
She sighs, glancing up to the recently felled trees in the near distance. “Yes and no.”
I wait for her to elaborate.
“I know the truth about why he sent me to work there. But learning that created so many more questions. Ones I don’t think I’ll ever get answered.”
“Such as?”
Jenna stops, encouraging me to do so also and turn to face her.
“He knew they would traffick me, Fang. He sold me to Smoke to clear the debt. I was never there to earn the money; I was there to put me in arm’s reach. Like a goddamn animal that waits in the field beside the slaughterhouse.”
The air’s too thin. Too hot despite the chill that surrounds us.Fuck that asshole.I should have kept shooting when Loki told me to stop. Should have chased down that fucking truck and put a bullet in both of them.
“Fang.” Jenna’s hand finds my arm. “I’m telling you the truth. I swear.”
She thinks I shut down because I suspect she lies. “I know you are.” Her gaze is desperate for someone to be in her corner. To take her side.
Truth is, I’ve been there all along, haven’t I? Otherwise why would I have pushed her so hard to get where we are now? I could have sent her packing like everyone wanted those first days and washed my hands of her bullshit. I could have told Chaos what I knew with minimal context and let him put her to ground. Done. Finished. Forgotten.
But I didn’t.
I waded in and played in that goddamn mess until she took my hand and let me convince her there was a way out.
“Is that all?” My voice threatens to break. I swallow away the risk.
Jenna shrugs one shoulder. “Mostly. The rest was simply a man telling his daughter that she never really mattered and she was always a means to an end.”
“I’m sure there was a time when he cared.” How bad I wish that were true.
How bad I hope she believes me—for her own sake.
Jenna glances back at the farmhouse, wetting her lips. “If there was, why wait nineteen years to meet me? Wouldn’t he have been curious before then?”
“Perhaps he kept his distance for your safety?”
Her critical gaze finds mine. “Are you defending him?”
“Fuck no.” I jerk my hands from my pockets and fold my arms.
