Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 70444 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70444 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Then, the little boy scampered out, looking excited.
Sebastian’s words literally stalled in his throat as he saw the same thing that I saw two hours earlier.
Johnny’s son.
In the flesh.
There was no denying it now.
Not with Sebastian’s reaction.
“What do we do?”
I was sure that he was just as confused, just as angry, as I was.
“Let me make a few calls.”
Quietly, I sat there, waiting as he made those calls, to tell me exactly what in the hell we were going to do next.
“Baylee,” Sebastian said roughly into the phone. “Get someone to cover you. Quit. I don’t fuckin’ care. I need you to come to me now.”
The conversation was short, and I assumed that Baylee, his wife, had agreed.
Then he was hanging up and dialing another number, causing my heart to palpitate.
“Dad?” Sebastian’s gruff voice cracked. “I need help.”
Chapter 22
No, you cannot hit the person on the bicycle because he’s taking up half of the left lane.
-Things Johnny never thought he’d have to tell a grown up
Johnny
I was well and truly convinced, by the time that I arrived where I had been told to arrive, that June needed a new truck. This one, while great for short trips around Hostel, was not good anywhere else. I had to stop for gas once already, and I was pretty sure she had an exhaust leak. Not to mention the fact that the thing shook so bad that I hadn’t been able to go over sixty the entire way here.
Needless to say, when I arrived I was not in a good mood, and that was all centered around the fact that I needed to have a discussion with June—my proud and stubborn woman—about her beloved truck. A truck that needed to be retired.
When I shut the engine off, I surveyed the parking lot.
My parents stood against my dad’s truck and neither one looked happy.
I got out quickly once I saw the look on their faces.
“Dad?” I paused when June rounded the back of my dad’s truck and came to a halt at seeing me. “June?”
My father looked up and gave me a half-hearted grin.
“Hey, boy.” He walked to me and didn’t bother to act like he wasn’t happy to see me. He threw his arms around my head and squeezed.
I felt like my head was going to pop right the fuck off—just like it always did when he did this—and felt something inside me settle since I’d left Benton a few months before.
So much had changed since that time—between him and me, and June and me—that it felt like it was eons ago.
He let me go when a soft hand touched my arm.
My mother, who was technically my stepmother, gave me a soft smile, then wrapped her arms around me like we hadn’t parted on bad terms.
“Mom?”
My eyes caught on June, who was huddled into herself next to the back of my dad’s truck, and I frowned. She looked like she was a nervous wreck, like something had happened—or she was guilty. I wasn’t really sure at this point.
“Glad you could come, boy,” Dad said, letting me go.
My mother sniffled and rubbed her face on my shirt before pulling away and bringing her hands up to cup my cheeks.
My dad’s hand came down on my shoulder.
I’d missed them more than I let on, and I felt like an ass for waiting as long as I did.
“What are we doing here?” I asked, frowning. “And why are y’all…”
A motorcycle roared up moments later, and my Pops got off the bike. He took one look at all of us in turn and settled his eyes on me.
I was so fucking confused.
“What the fuck?” I asked. “Why are we in the middle of a parking lot in the middle of a town that I’ve never been to for a family reunion?”
June made a noise in the back of her throat that had me looking at her with more suspicion, but then my grandfather made a noise.
My grandfather ignored me and walked to the truck where he stopped in front of June, surveying her with an intensity that made me move toward June in case she needed the support.
“Silas.”
June’s eyes widened, but she held out her hand and shook my Pops’ hand with her own obviously shaky one.
She’d come a hell of a long way since I’d met her, that was for sure.
“So…”
They all looked at me, and I felt a sense of foreboding roll through me.
“I had no clue what else to do,” June said, drawing my attention once to her.
“What are you…”
Then my Pops shoved a folder into my hand and flipped it open.
Pops was always all about ripping the Band-Aid off.
My eyes at first couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing on the paper…a little boy.
A baby.
A birth certificate was behind it.
Then another picture caught my eye, and my hands went fucking numb as my body reared back in shock.