My shoulders slump in disappointment because I know she’s being completely honest. She would never lie to me, unlike my father and Barrett.
“I was hoping you would recognize him or know what connection he has to dad. He was the man who was after me. I don’t know why.”
“I’m sorry, sugar. I wish I could help you. Want me to try and pry it out of my son?”
Smiling at her, I say, “You can try, but it probably won’t work.”
“I’ll try my best,” she promises. “You be careful on the road. Are you taking Holly with you?”
“I can’t ask her to miss work, but there’s someone who might be willing to come with me.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Barrett
“What are you doing in here drinking alone in the afternoon?” Greer asks when he slides a beer in front of me.
“I fucked up with Lyla.”
“Can you unfuck it?”
“I don’t know. It’s complicated. She’s upset because I kept something from her, but if I tell her the truth, it’ll destroy her.”
“So you’re keeping a secret from her for her own good?”
“Exactly. But she doesn’t believe that.”
“Secrets always come out eventually.”
“This one can’t,” I tell him.
“Is there anyone else that can tell her?”
I nod, then take a long sip of beer. Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, I tell him, “Just her father. And he won’t say a word.”
“Then I don’t know what to tell you. How would you feel if someone kept something from you but told you it was for your own good?”
“I would hate it. I know that. Trust me, I get it. But that doesn’t change anything in this situation.”
“Then you may have to let her go.”
“What?” I exclaim.
“Sorry, man, but it sounds like you’re shit out of luck.”
“I don’t want to lose her. I can’t. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me!”
“Then you have to make a choice – hurt her with the truth or figure out how to live without her.”
“Both of those options suck.”
Lyla
Before I swing by Bear’s, I drive over to Holly’s to tell her goodbye and vent a little.
I didn’t think much about the Harley in the town house lot at first until I realized it’s right in front of Holly’s door. Oh, and it looks just like my dad’s. The last thing I was expecting to find was a Harley in her driveway.
Please, god, no. Everyone in my life is keeping secrets from me. I’m not sure if I could handle my best friend lying to me too!
Maybe he’s just here looking for me.
Getting out of my car, I march up to the front door and bang my closed fist on it because it’s more therapeutic than ringing the doorbell.
When the door finally swings open, my father is filling it. When he sees me, his eyes widen in surprise. It’s maybe the first time I’ve ever seen the man caught off guard.
“Lyla? What are you…”
“What are you doing at my best friend’s house?” I snap at him.
There’s a brief hesitation before he says, “I was looking for you after you stormed out of the bar! Where the hell have you been?”
Holly appears beside him and says, “Oh, good, you’re okay.”
“Oh my god. Stop with the lies! I’m so sick of being lied to by everyone I know! Now you’re gonna have my best friend lie to me too?”
“Isaac was looking for you,” she says. “He didn’t believe me when I said you weren’t staying here, so he busted into the town house to search it!”
Okay, that I can believe.
“I was just coming by to tell you I’m going to Atlanta.”
“Atlanta!” my father exclaims.
“If I get the job, then I’m moving down there.”
“No, Lyla. Don’t go,” he says.
“I have to.”
“You were happy with Barrett, weren’t you? I know you were. Hell, I heard you even helped him start up a charity.”
“I was happy with him,” I admit. “But now I don’t know if he wanted to be with me or if you made him.”
“What?”
“Keep her safe or it’s open season on the Savage Kings,” I quote his handwritten note to Barrett.
“That man would’ve done anything to protect you, baby girl. He didn’t need my threat hanging over his head to do it. He wanted to be with you.”
“Then why did you threaten him? Their MC?”
“I thought they were going to try and shut my club down. I couldn’t let that happen. You know how many men depend on their place in the Devil Hounds.”
“Maybe that’s the truth, maybe not. It’s impossible to believe anything that comes out of your mouth,” I tell him before I walk back to my car.
Since I’ve reached the maximum amount of hurt and anger for the day, I decide to suck it up and go on back to Barrett’s house to get my things. I stormed out earlier before I packed.
Hopefully, Bear won’t be home, and I can be in and out without another confrontation.
The garage is closed when I pull up, so I can’t see how many bikes are currently home.
RJ thankfully answers the door since I didn’t feel right using the key Barrett gave me. There’s a white bandage still wrapped around his head.
“Hey, how are you feeling?” I ask him with a wince. I may be angry at his brother, but RJ nearly died to protect me, just like Thane.
“I’m good. Few headaches here and there, but no biggie.”
“I’m so sorry that happened to you, RJ.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” he says with a smile. “Bear’s not here. He’s –”
“That’s good,” I interrupt him. “I didn’t come to see him; I just need to grab some things from his room and see Thane if that’s okay?”
RJ holds open the door. “Go for it.”
“Thanks.”
Going straight to the spare room, I push open the cracked door, finding Thane in bed, cramming his face with chips.
“You’re gonna get crumbs in the sheets,” I tell him with as much of a smile as I can manage.
“It’s not my bed or my sheets,” he replies. “What’s up with you? You look like you’ve been crying.”
“Bear and I had an argument. I think it’s over.”
“Oh. Damn. Sorry, Ly.”
“Then my father was being a dick like usual.”
“Eh, what else is new?”
“How are you feeling?”
“Great. If I had a home to go back to, I would, but I lost my place when I didn’t pay last month’s rent or answer my phone.”
“Shit, I’m so sorry, Thane.”
“It’s fine. RJ knows and is letting me stay here until I find another place.”
“Are you well enough for a road trip with me?”
“Hell yes. When and where?”