We got there in a record-breaking six minutes and both Noah and Tully flew out of the Jeep, each of them ignoring the cops surrounding their home as they went for the front door, desperate to check the devastation within.
I went to the guy who looked like he was in charge of this mess and got as many details as I could before joining the twins inside and helping them to start putting their home back together. As far as the cops were concerned, they believed it was a random break-in. Well, that is until I told him that Noah had handed in that gun only ten hours before that and there was a very strong possibility that these guys had a connection with Anton.
Cops started buzzing with murmured conversations. Some left, while others began taking a more thorough look through the house. It wasn’t until I started heading in to find Noah and Tully that I realized I might have said something wrong. The last thing I want is the cops connecting Noah to all this. I mean, it would be best if they thought it was coincidental, but I have a feeling it’s a little too late for that.
I guess it’s more of a see-what-happens kind of situation.
By seven in the morning, Tully had called her parents and told them about the break-in. However, she let on that it was random and that she didn’t know anything about it. She hung up and we got back to putting the house back together.
When they arrived home an hour and a half later, Noah took himself out the back door, not wanting to make matters worse, and patiently waited for me and Tully until it was time to head to school.
Violet and Eddison asked question after question, checking over Tully again and again, terrified that she could have been home during all this. She explained that she was lonely at home and had come to sleep at my place and lucky for us, they were far too concerned to think about questioning her or putting together the pieces of the puzzle.
With dad getting the all clear to head back to work, he had planned on heading out for an overnight job so we swung past my place, got out of our pajamas, and took Ari to school so dad could get organized. You know, after he questioned where the hell I’d been all morning.
Sitting outside of Aria’s school after watching her disappear through the gates, I turn and face Noah sitting in my driver’s seat and Tully sitting in the back right behind him. “So…I kind of had a thought,” I tell them with a cringe, remembering how the last time I brought this up went. They each wait patiently and I spit it out before that patience runs thin. “I think it’s about time we visit my mom.”
“Gina?” Tully sputters from the back as Noah raises a curious brow. “Why the hell would we want to do that? Are you forgetting that she ran a prostitution ring?”
“Trust me, I haven’t forgotten that at all,” I tell her. “I just think she might have some answers.”
“On Anton?” Noah questions.
“Possibly. I mean, he was there when I visited her last,” I remind them. “She might have some insider information on the guy. Don’t criminals all seem to run in the same circles? Surely, she would have had some 'clients’ who worked for him or…I don’t know. Maybe I’m digging too deep.”
“It’s worth a try,” Noah murmurs. “But are you sure you’re ready to see your mom again so soon?”
I let out a heavy sigh. “If it means figuring this shit out, then yeah, I’m down for anything.”
Tully scoffs from the backseat and I sense the amusement in her tone almost immediately. “If you were down for anything then ‘Helly’ would have happened by now and we’d be living on a tropical island dodging Noah’s insistent calls and texts.”
Laughter claims me and suddenly the weight of the past twenty-four hours lifts from my shoulders and I’m finally able to see clearly. It’s as though I’m a stranger looking in. My chest is no longer aching and the fear has seeped right out of my soul.
I feel ready. More ready than ever. Noah is my guy and this pack is my family, despite it currently being in pieces, and right now, there’s a threat against my family and I will no longer sit back and watch us burn to the ground.
As if sensing the change within me, Noah reaches out and laces his fingers through mine. “Are you ok?” he questions, watching me closely and trying to get a read on my emotions. I know I’m feeling like I could withstand any kind of storm right now, but on the outside, I probably look like I’ve just gone insane.
“Yeah,” I tell him. “I’m fine. I just really needed that laugh.” I look back at Tully. “I don’t know how you do it, but you always know how to get my mind off the impossible.”
“Call it a gift,” she winks. “So, what’s the plan? Are we doing this?”
“Bring it on.”
Noah takes off, driving the long road towards Castle Rock and despite knowing how badly I need to be at school dominating history class, I can’t quite force myself to tell him to turn around. School can wait. I’ve caught up in every other class and my grades are soaring. One skipped day isn’t going to hurt at this point and besides, I’d rather get to the bottom of this Anton bullshit and visiting Gina is worth a shot.
We get to the prison and both Tully and Noah stand before it, staring up at the place with those same mixed emotions I had when I came the first time. Who knows? Maybe Noah is considering what his future could possibly look like if he goes down in this shipwreck, and maybe Tully is considering a life where she loses her twin brother to the system. All I know is that there’s a heaviness seeping into my newly found ‘can do’ attitude and I don’t like it.
I pull them along, not letting them dwell on that bullshit for long. After all, we’re here to do a job, hopefully get some answers, and then get the hell out.
Noah stands front and center as we make our way through all the security checks and before I know it, we’re faced with the same woman I’d argued with last time. Again, I stand before her as she lectures me about not scheduling an appointment.
Tully takes over and sweet talks the lady, bats some lashes, and compliments her. Somehow within the next ten minutes, the three of us are sitting at a table just like I was last time, only now, I have the support of my pack with me, making it so much easier.
Today doesn’t feel nearly as daunting as last time. Maybe it’s Noah and Tully’s presence with me or maybe it’s the fact that I’ve already met the woman and that element of unknown no longer exists. Hell, maybe it’s the fact that I haven’t gone behind anyone’s back to do it. Though I have a feeling if I were to tell dad that Gina was in prison, he’d have a hard time allowing me out of the house.
I sit, tapping my nails against the table as my mind begins to overthink. I don’t even know what I’m meant to say to the woman. I know why I’m here but how am I supposed to bring up a guy like Anton without her asking too many questions? What’s the likelihood that she even knows the guy? We could be barking up the wrong tree here, but as I said in the car earlier, it’s worth a shot. We could get nothing or we could get that tiny bit of information to help us take the fucker down.
“You look like you’re going to be sick,” Tully murmurs beside me, keeping it quiet.
“Like you’re one to talk,” Noah throws in, looking to his sister with an amused smirk. “I get why Henley would look sick, but why the hell do you look as though you’re about to meet your maker?”
“Did it occur to anyone that this is also Rivers’ mom? After all this time, we’re finally about the meet the woman who most likely turned him into the dark, mysterious asshole that he is. This woman has all the answers I’ve been looking for since we were eleven years old.”
“Shit,” Noah grumbles. “I’ve been so hung up on this Anton bullshit that I didn’t even think about that.”
“Yeah, no shit,” Tully throws back. “Clearly you got all the charisma in the womb while I got all the beauty and brains.”
“Seriously?” I grumble. “You two are going to start that shit now? Here?”
“Sorry,” Tully whispers as the door opens and the inmates begin filing in. “I can’t help myself. I’m nervous. It jus
t happens.”
Noah’s hand falls under the table and rests on my thigh before giving it a supportive squeeze, giving me everything I need to get through this. But I think I’m alright. I handled last time without completely freaking out and I even managed to do it with a bit of fire deep within me. If I can do it then, I should be fine now.
Gina walks through the door with a guard trailing beside her. His hand is clutched around her upper arm and he leads her around like some kind of animal, reminding me that we’re in a prison right now.
The guard stops to release her handcuffs and I notice the second Tully and Noah notice her. My nails stop tapping on the table while Tully sucks in a sharp breath, probably taking her in with wide eyes, though I don’t want to risk glancing away to check. Noah simply straightens in his seat, no emotion on his face and no other sign that anything is out of the ordinary.
Gina turns to take us in. Her eyes rake over me with that strange curiosity as she had last time, and I can’t help the weird pull within me, knowing this woman is my mother. My real mother. It’s still so crazy to me.
All my life I thought Kelly was my mom and then BAM she’s not and it’s suddenly someone else. Maybe I’ll never get used to it. I guess it’s going to be something that I’ll struggle with for a while to come, but at least my heart is at ease when I think about it, knowing that she’s really not that bad. You know, except the whole prostitution ring thing.
“She looks just like you,” Tully says, nudging my knee with hers.
“I know,” I murmur. “At least I’ll age well.”
Noah chuckles under his breath. “Yeah, sorry Spitfire, but your mom is fucking hot.”
My elbow slams down into his ribs and he grunts while we both try to be discreet. The last thing we want is to be thrown out of here without getting any answers and on top of that, it’d really suck to draw all the guards unwanted attention. I’d rather they focus on the shady as shit guy two tables over who looks as though he’s trying to smuggle something in. I mean, shit. The guy is sweating bullets and is fidgeting around way too much on his seat. He probably has something hidden in unspeakable places. Maybe he’s here for a conjugal visit.
Gina strides forward, her eyes nervously running over Tully and Noah, clearly having absolutely no idea why I would have brought friends with me. She stands behind her chair, silently studying the three of us before slowly taking her seat.
“Henley,” Gina says with a slight nod. “You’ve brought friends.”
“I did,” I say. “This is Noah and Tully Cage, Rivers’ closest friends. You and I might be his blood, but these guys are his family.”
Gina narrows her eyes, looking at them in a new light and with a strange appreciation flickering in her eyes. “What are you doing here?”
“We have questions,” Tully says.
“Why am I not surprised?” Gina murmurs under her breath. “Look, I told Henley when she came here last, I’m not in the business of revealing things about my son. He’s decided to not share his life with you, and I’m not about to go and do it for him. That’s his business, not yours.”
“We’re not here for Rivers,” I tell her.
“Fuck that,” Tully says, “now that I’m here and she’s sitting right in front of me, there’s no way I’m about to hold this shit in.”
I let out a sigh. Maybe this visit is going to go a little differently than I had thought.
Tully and Gina study each other and it’s not long before Tully’s tough exterior wins out. “What do you want to know?” Gina questions, making Noah lean in just a little closer.
“What happened to him?”
“How do you mean?” Gina asks.
“After you got locked up.”
She shrugs her shoulders. “Wouldn’t have a clue. I haven’t spoken to his father since the day I was thrown in here, but I was under the assumption that he went and lived with him.”
Noah looks over Gina. “You really don’t know him at all, do you?”
“Not anymore.” She slowly shakes her head. “He hasn’t come to visit me in six years and I haven’t asked him to. I’m sure he’s a very different kid than the one I once knew.”
“You really fucked him up, you know?” Tully says. “He’s dark. Broken and ashamed of who he is.”
Gina shrugs her shoulders once again. “I’m not surprised. The shit he would see day in and day out had to have some sort of effect on him. He was only a kid at the time.”
“Are you serious? That’s your kid! Why wouldn’t you want to protect him from that? Shield him? How could you be so cold?”
Gina’s eyes flick to mine and it’s clear as day that we’ve already worked out just how cold she can be when it comes to her children. As she turns back to Tully a fierceness comes over her. “I did shield him. I did the best fucking job I could do but the world I lived in made that impossible and he’s stronger for it.”
Tully slams her hand down on the table and pushes to her feet. “He’s not stronger. You broke him. A parent should show love and protect her children from the ugliness of the world, and you did the exact opposite. You ruined him. You turned him into a closed off monster who’s too afraid to let anybody in. He’s ashamed of his life.”
Gina sits back, looking up at Tully who practically hovers over her. “You’re in love with him, aren’t you?” she questions. “Your eyes speak volumes. The same way Henley’s do every time Noah even flinches.”
I didn’t realize how close she’d been watching us or even how in tune she was. Hell, I didn’t think this woman even knew what it meant to be in love.
Tully clenches her jaw and I want nothing more than to reach out and hold her, knowing just how damn hard this would be but any kind of support from me and Noah is only going to make things worse. “You’re damn right I’m in love with him,” she tells Gina. “And it’s clear from the way you’ve parented him that it’s the only love he’s ever known. No wonder he has no fucking idea what to do with it.”
Tully goes to leave when she turns back and looks at her. “Thank God he had the balls to put you away. You would have destroyed him. You’re the monster, not him.” With that, she storms towards the door and barges through it, not giving a shit about finding the answers on Anton.
Gina looks down at the table and lets out a breath before raising her eyes to me. “If you’re here to tell me some bullshit that I already know, then you can both fuck off too. I’m not interested in reliving my mistakes.”
“We’re not here for Rivers,” I say, repeating my earlier statement.
She narrows her eyes. “Have you heard from him yet?”
I shake my head. “No. We’re hoping he’ll come home after boot camp. We’ve got a lot to talk about.”
Gina nods and for once I think we agree on something. “Right. Then what are you here for? I’m not about to go digging into the reasons why I gave you up again.”
“We’re not here for that either.”
Gina’s brows furrow. “Then what the hell are you here for?” she questions, clearly becoming frustrated.
“Anton Mathers,” Noah states. Gina’s eyes widen and she sits up in her chair before looking at Noah. “What do you know about him?”
Gina leans forward in her chair, pointing at Noah as fury ripples over her. “Don’t you ever mention that name to me again,” she seethes.
“What?” I rush in. “Why the hell not? What do you know of him?”
“I know that if you’re involved with that man then you’re more of an idiot than I ever thought,” she yells, standing up so fast that her chair falls back behind her. She looks over to the guards lining the room. “Guard,” she hollers before seething down at me. “I gave you away to give you a proper fucking life and you repay me with this shit.”
The guards start running over.
“What are you talking about?” I demand. “What do you know?”
“Get out,” she yells as Noah clenches my arm, pulling me back.
“
We just need to know-” The guards reach her, cutting me off as she scrambles against them.
Still not finished yelling at me, Gina yells out, “Get the fuck out and don’t ever come back, you hear me, Henley? Don’t you come back.”
A guard gets her down on the ground and I can’t help but stare as his knee slams into her back, holding her down as two others crowd her, desperate to get her cuffed and back in her cell.
What the fuck is happening, right now? This is ridiculous. Why does Anton have such an effect on her? And if she hates him so much, why didn’t she react when he was here last time? This is leaving me with so many more questions than answers.
The guards drag her away and she fights their hold, looking back over her shoulder at me. “Stay the hell away from him, Henley. He’ll destroy you.”
With that, she’s gone, and I’m left feeling absolutely deflated.
Noah’s hand slips into mine before he pulls me in hard against his chest and wraps me into his warm arms. “Are you ok?” he questions, both of us staring off towards the door Gina was just dragged though.
“Yeah, I think so,” I tell him. “It’s just…that was weird.”
“Yeah, no shit,” he tells me. “Let’s go find Tully. I don’t like the idea of her wandering around here all by herself. Then we can get the hell out of here.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
Chapter 9
I stand in my room, looking through my clothes for something to wear to this ridiculous party Tully is insisting on dragging me too. Apparently, I need to lighten up which is absurd. If anyone around here needs to lighten up, it’s her. She’s been a moody bitch since we visited Gina last week.
Tonight couldn’t have come at a better time. Everyone is on edge. It’s getting close to graduation and many of us are still waiting to hear back from colleges or summer jobs, and there’s a lot of questions going around asking what the hell we’re all going to do when all our plans inevitably go to hell.
Tully seeing Gina only managed to stir up all these feelings within her that’s she’s been working her ass off to forget. That small insight into what Rivers’ life must have been like as a kid was enough to kill us all, but Tully…she’s not coping. She’s more desperate than ever to get him back. All I think she wants to do is hold him and tell him it’s going to be ok and the fact that she can’t, makes it so much worse.
Undeniable: Haven Falls (Book 5) Page 8