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“Clay,” I whisper, tears springing to my eyes as I think about our mother. “Don’t you think if there actually was evidence to find, someone would have found it by now?”

“They set him up, Luke! The police and the judges and the lawyers, they all set him up.”

“Why would they do that? Think about what you’re saying, Clay. It doesn’t make any sense.”

He scoffs. “Then how do you explain it all?”

“Look, can we meet and talk about this? I’m worried about you.”

“No. I’m not meeting you until I have the proof I need.”

“Clay,” I snap but the dial tone greets me. I grip the phone in my hand as I grit my teeth and let out a roar of frustration.

“Lucas,” Quinn whispers and I glance back at her, expecting to see fear and feeling like shit for not being able to control my temper, just like my father, but instead, she scoots closer with furrowed brows and lays her hand on my back. “What’s going on?”

“Shit,” I hiss, turning back to look at her and this time I’m not even trying to hide the riot of emotions controlling my body right now. “There are things I haven’t told you, Quinn.”

She nods, vulnerability flicking through her eyes for a second and I hate to see it. “Okay. Tell me now.”

“I don’t…”

“No, Lucas. I can tell by your side of the conversation that this is serious and you’re going to tell me what’s going on.”

I sigh. “Babe, I lied to you.”

“About?” she asks with an edge to her voice that I’ve never heard before and my stomach rolls. Fuck, what if she doesn’t want to be with me after I tell her everything? My past is dark and I couldn’t blame her for not wanting this crazy in her life or her daughter’s.

“About my past, my parents.”

“They’re not dead?”

I shake my head. “My mom is dead… and my dad is serving life in prison for murdering her.”

“Oh, God,” she gasps and when I look back at her again, there are tears in her eyes. I scoot back to her side and kiss her softly. When I pull back, she yanks me back to her and presses her forehead to mine and my fear subsides. “Will you tell me what happened?”

“Only if I can do it while holding you,” I answer and she nods before climbing onto my lap and straddling my hips. I suck in a breath as I wonder where to start this story but before I can, she lays her hand flat against my chest, right over my racing heart and the same peace that I’ve felt since the moment I looked into her eyes settles inside me.

“You okay?” She grabs my other hand and holds it tight. I nod.

“Yeah, I’m good now.”

She waits patiently for me to begin my story and when I’m finally ready, I take a deep breath and look up at her.

“I was ten years old when it happened and Clay was five. Dad had lost his job a few months before that and he and Mom had been fighting a lot. I used to lay in bed at night and listen to them scream at each other until the sun started coming up.”

“Is that when the insomnia started?”

I shrug. “I always blamed it on the night she died but I guess it makes sense that it started even before that. Listening to the way they would go at it terrified me but I knew it scared Clay even more so I had to be the big brother. It was my job to protect him and tell him everything was going to be okay.”

She nods and for the first time in my life, I don’t question if she really understands because she’s always understood Clay and my relationship more than anyone else.

“On this one stormy night, I remember that I just couldn’t shake this feeling that something was really wrong and when Mom and Dad started fighting that night, something in me was telling me to run but I didn’t listen to it. The screaming got louder and it woke Clay up. He laid in bed and cried and I tried so hard to keep him quiet because I didn’t want Dad coming after us. And then there was this deafening bang and the whole house went silent, too silent, you know?”

A steady stream of tears pour down her face and I reach up, wiping them away before pulling her down for another kiss, this one a little salty.

“What happened after that?”

My hands shake as the memories flood my mind and she moves in closer, offering me her silent comfort. “Clay was damn near hysterical but I got him to cry into a pillow so Dad wouldn’t hear him as I crept to the door and peeked down the hallway.”