91. Chapter 91
Go home.
No. Nonononono.
Jase didn’t even bother going inside, just went straight for his bike. She heard it start up and watched him drive away from the house.
Away from her.
Come back, Lindsey screamed from inside the hole where her heart used to beat.
“What are you doing here, Linds?”
Her dad was still there. She’d forgotten about the sturdy pillar in her periphery, in his button-down shirt as if he’d come from Sunday dinner with her mom.
“What happened to Graham?” he asked. “How’d you get mixed up with his brother?”
She looked up at her dad after Jase was out of sight. She thought she was going to throw up.
“Oh jeez, I’m sorry, pumpkin.” The deep lines in her father’s face softened. He brought her into his chest, saying, “I didn’t think I’d still worry about my kids this much.”
Lindsey broke against the crisp press of his shirt.
Leroy Adams had a mean bark from all his years in the service, and he put the same ferociousness into taking care of his family.
His was a love she didn’t have to work for or question—and hadn’t realized she craved until her dad’s heavy hand smoothed the hair down her back.
“What the heck happened to you, Linds?” he asked as she sobbed and the smell of wet stone and ozone collected in the humid air with the first drops of rain.
I loved a man then I loved his son and now I’ve lost them both.
Her father’s shoulders shielded her from a sudden gust of wind.
“Come inside and tell me everything,” Leroy said.
From the kitchen table they watched dark clouds roll in, and Lindsey told her dad the story of Jason and his sons, starting with the inheritance they would never collect.
She skipped the parts she didn’t want to answer for (the shootout at Saul’s, the nights she spent with Jase, Chloe and her baby) and was telling him about Graham flying to Austin today when hail stones battered the patio door.
Lindsey trailed off midsentence and checked her phone in case Jase called needing a ride. What did he do on the road in bad weather?
There were no new calls or messages. Without Jason, who would Jase rely on now? Graham? Why did he insist on being alone?
Her dad pried the cell phone from her fingers.
“Sweetie, breaking up with Graham—”
“He broke up with me,” she reiterated.
He sighed as if she’d pointed out an insignificant detail. “That relationship ending was your chance to get the heck out of this family,” he said. “This thing with the brother…what is it going to take for you to walk away?”
From what? Jase had already ridden away from her. She stared at the pea-size ice stones collecting on the bricks rather than her father who wouldn’t understand why Jase leaving hadn’t irrevocably severed their connection.
Maybe it should have.
“I’ve never seen you like this,” her dad said. “I want you out of here.”
“I lo—”
“Where’s Jase?” Luke appeared in the kitchen clean-shaven and wearing his own outfit. He set a pile of Jason’s clothes on the table. “I need to give these back.”
Lindsey’s weeping eyes dragged from the folded clothes to her brother, who took one look at her and flew into a rage.
“Where is he?” Luke seethed. “What did he do?”
“Luke,” their dad sighed. “Let it go.”
His phone was out, fingers flying across the screen. “I’ll kill him.”
Leroy stood. “Is this the kind of attitude that got your face smashed?”
“No,” Luke said. “No way. There’s no way after everything—”
“Luke.” As much for her brother as for herself, Lindsey said aloud, “He’s gone.”
“What are you going to do about it, Linds?” Luke asked, as if there was anything she could do.
She reeled back. “Are you serious? It wasn’t my choice.”
“You can’t make a man stay,” her dad added.
“No.” Luke shook his head. “This isn’t happening.”
He turned and stomped toward front door, hollering bullshit along the way.
“Language,” Leroy called after him. “And, hey, it’s hailing out.”
The front door slammed shut behind her brother.
“I need to get him out of here,” her dad said. “Go pack a bag.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“You said so yourself. The grand plan failed. You don’t have to stay here another night. You know that, right?”
“I can’t—”
“And don’t try telling me you’re in love with this boy. You hardly know him.”
Lindsey huffed and shut her mouth. Years of arguing with her dad and never actually winning had taught her when to save her breath.
“Dad,” she said as evenly as she could muster. “I hear everything you’re saying, but I have some things to take care of here before I go anywhere else.”
Leaving that house would make this ending final and she wasn’t ready to do that.
He frowned and seemed to consider it. “Is that all it is?”
“Yes.”
Mostly.
Her dad grabbed the house paperwork off the counter, saying, “I’m taking the deed to have my attorney go over it. People don’t just leave their son’s ex-girlfriend a house.”
“Fine.”
“I don’t like leaving you like this.”
“I’m fine Dad,” she said. “I’ll be fine.”
“Okay. I mean it, Lindsey,” he said, the bags under his eyes showing he was tired of worrying about his kids. “Come home.”