Southern Secrets (Southern #7) - Natasha Madison Page 0,73
something. I thought for sure I would wake up one day, and you guys would have figured it out.”
“I can’t," she says. I take one step forward, and she looks up at me, stopping me. The look of hatred fills her face, and it cuts me off at my knees.
Quinn steps forward. "I’ll take her," he says to Jacob, who just nods at him. He puts his arm around her and turns her, walking out the door.
"I have to," I say, and Jacob and Casey both shake their heads at me.
"You need to give her space," they tell me, and I just look at them.
"Fuck the space," I say, angry. "I was going to tell you guys tonight. It’s why I texted you. I was so fucking over this cloud hanging over me. I was so fucking fed up with keeping this fucking secret. I thought if you guys knew who I was and if you got to know me, it wouldn’t matter who the fuck my father was."
"He is not your father," Jacob says. "No matter what you have to say, that man is not your father." I blink away the tears in my eyes. "You share DNA with him. That’s it." I try to swallow, but nothing goes down, my mouth is dry again. "The question is, what does he want from you?" He looks at me, then at Ethan. "What does he want from either of you?"
"He doesn’t want shit from me because he knows if he looks my way, I’ll put a bullet up his ass," Ethan says, looking at Beau. "When was the last time he reached out to you?"
"The envelope," Casey says. "Where is this envelope?"
"I have it in a safety-deposit box two towns over," I say. "Why?"
"The barn you lived in," Casey tells me, and everything around me starts to turn. "You lived in the barn, and it goes up in flames."
"Then you live with Amelia, and she gets knocked over the head," Ethan says, looking at his father.
"Then your car is ransacked along with Amelia’s," Jacob says. "All this time, he’s been out for you."
"I didn’t even know he existed, and I doubted that he gave me a second thought,” I tell them.
“The pieces are all here,” Casey says, his hand going in a circle. "We just have to put it together."
"Great," Beau says. "Another fucking puzzle."
"We need to see the envelope," Casey says, and I nod at him.
"I can go get it tomorrow," I say to him.
"I’ll come with you," Jacob says. "We don’t know if he’s waiting for you or following you."
"I’ll come with you also," Ethan says to me. "We’ll figure this out."
"I have to go,” I tell them, not sure what the fuck will happen tomorrow, but I know that one thing has to happen right now, and that is me going to Amelia. “I can’t leave her with her space. It’s going to fucking kill her." I look at Jacob. "I was also going to tell you that I’m in love with your daughter."
Ethan laughs, and I turn to look over at him as Beau’s head is down, and he laughs silently. "It’s the worst-kept secret of life,” Casey says.
“Everyone knows,” Beau says.
“She won’t forgive me for this,” I say my fear out loud. “I know she won’t, and I have to accept it." The numbness comes to me. "But I have to at least see her."
"Do you have a place to stay tonight?" Jacob asks, and I just look at him.
"Even if I’m not in her house," I say, "I’m not leaving her. I’ll sleep in the truck in front of her house." I swallow down. "And if anyone fucks with her, I’ll kill them. I have nothing left to lose. I can spend the rest of my life in jail as long as she’s safe," I say, walking out of the bar.
Chapter 30
Amelia
I don’t say a word as we make our way to my house. “Are you okay?” I hear from Quinn beside me. He walked me out the door, but as soon as the door closed behind him, he picked me up. It didn’t help that my knees buckled, and I almost face-planted into the gravel road.
"No," I answer him honestly, staring out at the blue sky. My stomach is a ball of fire. "Not in the slightest," I say, my eyes never leaving the front of the truck.
"Do you want me to call Chelsea?" he asks, and I just shake my head.