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“Because you deserved better. We all did. And selfishly, I might enjoy seeing him get knocked down a peg. He’ll probably just throw money at you to keep it quiet, but I’d say take it and open an art gallery,” he gestures at me, “or keep this place open” he gestures to Jackson, “or take it and run far away from him.”
“Why do you stay?”
“I’ve never felt like I had a choice. He’s… controlled me… my entire life. He’s been grooming me to take over this business, but I don’t want it. Part of me has just been going along with whatever he wants, waiting for him to die so I can dismantle it all.”
I actually believe him.
“Damn man.” I’m starting to get the feeling that he wasn’t a whole lot better off growing up afterall.
Jackson looks at us both, “I’m a big fan of getting things all out in the open. My mother… she was a really depressed person. She held things in, and then everything she was holding in would bring her farther down. Every once in a while, she would sort of ‘pop’ and spiral. And then she’d be okay for a while. And it would start again, a vicious cycle that kept going until the day she popped so hard she killed herself. She swallowed a bottle full of pills and flung herself off that balcony in the hall.”
My head jerks up at the mention of pills. I barely even hear the rest of what he has to say, my mind is stuck on the pills.
“I don’t want your pity, that’s not my point. My point is, keeping things in just brings you down. You’re brothers now. We are brothers now. Both of you had shit for family until right now, and I think that means something. So, shit or get off the pot. Decide whose side you’re on. Get it all out in the open before it brings you down.”
There’s a brief silence before I blurt, “What kind of pills?”
“What? What does that have to do with anything?”
“What. Kind. Of. Pills?” I repeat slowly.
“I don’t know, I honestly kind of checked out and I’ve never gone through her things or the investigation report.” I feel bad for him, he was obviously close to her and is in a lot of pain still. But the mention of pills sets off alarm bells. I’m still unsure how much I can trust Bennet.
“If you’d like, I can help you go through her things. Despite how it looks currently, I’m well organized and good at categorizing.” Bennet offers, watching me curiously.
“I could help with that,” I say. If I can find out whether the pills are connected, then maybe I could link two deaths to Jackson Adley. Plus, I can use the time to get to know Bennet better and decide if I can trust him.
Jackson thinks for a moment, then agrees. There’s so much else going on, but I want to push for this information. We decide to work on it over the weekend, since Bennet is still waiting for some intel from one of his contacts.
Bennet gets up and rustles around some boxes, finding a bubble envelope and sitting down at the table. He rips open the envelope and pulls out multiple clear bags with tubes inside. I wonder how long it’s going to take me to stop being surprised that Bennet is continuously one step ahead.
We follow the simple directions, each of us swabbing the insides of our cheeks and dropping the swab in a little tube. Bennet packages it all up.
“A courier will be here shortly, and then we should have results in around 24 hours.”
“Wow that fast, huh?” Jackson seems impressed.
Bennet shrugs, “I know a guy.”
“You know a lot of guys.” I laugh sardonically.
“Damn useful though,” exclaims Jackson. He’s right.
I start towards the door. “I’m going to go in and check on our girl. Micah and I were coming up with a plan to help her bathe.”
Bennet gives a nod as if to say, “I’m in”.
They follow behind me as I push open the door to her room and walk into the strangest tea party I’ve ever seen.
“Six”
The moment Lukas’ lips touch mine I freeze, too shocked to react or do anything other than sit here paralyzed as tears stream down my face. I poured my heart out to him, giving him permission to leave, or permission to stay and have nothing to do with me. Instead, he’s kissing me.
I finally break out of my paralysis and find the nerve to kiss him back. His lips are soft and tentative. The floral notes of the tea he was drinking linger, blending with my salty tears. I lean into him, chasing the taste.
My first kiss.
I mean, it might not be my actual first kiss, it’s not like I have any way of knowing for sure. But this… this is my first kiss in my new life. I’ve decided that nothing before matters. Living this life, hopefully with these five men, is what matters. This kiss matters.
