Page 22 of Finding Storm

Jasper taps the screen on his phone and then sets it on the table between us.

“Okay. Well, I’m just gonna start with a few basic questions, things the readers want to know. Like who your favorite bands are, what music is on your current playlist—the basic shit. What’s next from you guys. What you’re currently working on. Then, we’ll move on to the night Jonny died.”

I pause. My eyes snapping up to his. “What?”

“I want to talk about the night Jonny died and how you feel, knowing you were the reason he was in his car that night.”

It’s like water has gushed into my ears. All voices and chatter around me disappear. Time seems to slow to a stop.

“I … I …” I shake my head. “What?”

I don’t miss the smile that appears in his eyes.

“The night Jonny died, he received a phone call from a”—he pulls a small notepad from his pants pocket and glances at it—“Marie Walker. She was your mother’s employer and friend, correct?”

I don’t answer. I can’t.

“Marie called Jonny the night he died. She told him about you. That he had a son. Jonny got in his car—loaded to his eyeballs, enough drugs and booze in his system to take down a horse—because he was coming to see you. He was driving to the airport to catch a flight, which, of course, he never made. It wasn’t suicide, like many have hypothesized. He didn’t drive his car into that ravine that night on purpose.”

Jonny knew …

He knew about me.

He was coming to see me.

The smile in Jasper’s eyes turns to a smirk on his lips. “But, by the look on your face right now, I’m guessing you didn’t know, did you? You had no idea that he knew of your existence. No clue that your father, one of the greatest musicians to have ever lived, died that night because he was coming to meet you.”

The dirty bomb that was just dropped in front of me has fired off shrapnel straight into my chest.

I can’t breathe.

Jonny knew.

He knew.

He was on his way to see me.

He died, coming to see me.

“Storm, do you have anything you’d like to say in response?”

Jasper’s voice flickers me back to life. I drag my eyes up to his.

The smirk in them makes me want to wipe it off his face.

My hand twitches at my side.

My heart is pounding against my ribs. Adrenaline coursing through my veins. My mouth dry as fuck.

Standing, I shove my chair back, and it falls to the floor with a clatter.

I’m well aware of the silence that hits the restaurant, but I ignore it. Ignore everyone but the little prick across the table from me.

I grab my wallet from my pocket, pull some bills out, and toss them on the table.

“You’re talking shit. And this interview is over.”

Jasper stands, pushing his chair back. “I can assure you, I’m not. Everything I said is the truth.”