Страница 71 из 108
“Just … tell Lynch his daughter is here.”
He looked up from his clipboard and grabbed a chorded phone from the wall. After a deep and muffled one-sided conversation, he hung up and returned to me. “We’re waiting on an escort.”
“I’ll take her,” said a low, burly voice. Just then, a large man with a scattered smile stepped forward. “I finally get to meet the amazing Mia.” He laughed, his eyes twinkling.
I raised a brow. “Do I know you?”
“Jinx. I’m a friend of Oliver’s.”
The big man was very talkative the entire way to Lynch’s office, but I was thankful for the distraction because I was clutching the flowers so tight, the petals were wilting. And when we approached, Jinx knocked over the door before opening.
Lynch instantly stood and thanked him before motioning me to take a seat.
I was too nervous to sit.
“You brought me flowers?” he asked, walking around his desk and sitting over the edge. My gaze roamed over him, trying to find bits and pieces of myself. Did I get my sinister thoughts from him? Was there a darkness lurking inside him too? I’d looked at the man so many times before, yelled at him, challenged him, cried to him. He held the same tired and caved in brown sunken eyes I could’ve sworn had been blue before, but I supposed my mind had a way of playing tricks on me.
“They’re for Dr. Conway.”
“Of course.” He swung his head to glance out the large window facing the Looney Bin, a place he’d sent me once before. “Dr. Conway. She isn’t here.”
“Oh.” I shifted in place.
“Miss Jett,” he cleared his throat, “Mia, what happened. Where were you?”
“I was fine.” To this day, I kept my promise to Ethan and his secret. Perhaps I didn’t owe Ethan anything, but despite what we’d been through, he was still my friend, and maybe I was the only person on earth who understood him. “I’m surprised you care, considering you didn’t look for me.”
Lynch dropped his head and shook it slowly. “That’s not fair.”
“Was it fair to keep this secret from me for two years while I was here?” Lynch had so many chances to tell me he was my father, but he didn’t. “Why was I the last person to know.”
“Because I had to treat you as a patient. Not a daughter. I pla
I released a long and steady breath. “Well, I’m here now.” I was done being angry. For so long, I’d been angry at everyone, holding so much pent up blame, rage, and grief. For once, I wanted to let it all go and not let those feelings tarnish this person I grew to be.
“Mia, I’ve been waiting for this moment, but I have no idea what to say. This is all new for me.”
“This is new for me too.”
He tapped his fingers over his desk and adjusted in place nervously. “So, where do we go from here?”
“I was thinking that maybe we could take it slow. Maybe you could tell me how you met my mom.”
Lynch smiled. “I would love that.”
“Oliver,” Dex sang, then laughed. “Your girl is here. You better come watch her.”
“She’s not my girl,” I reminded him through the phone, already on my way because Leigh had texted me, begging me to rescue her. She’d said James ripped off her knickers and made her dance on a table.
It was two in the morning, and the bass from the music thumped from inside, but it wasn’t the only house party going on at this hour. Constant parties went on up and down this street. Empty beer bottles littered the front steps, and I pushed my way through the door and into a house when a strong smell of stale cigarettes and even staler sex greeted me.
“Oliver!” Reggi exclaimed, and the rest of the crowd repeated, singing my name. I ignored him, my eyes sca
In a tight red strapless dress, Leigh swayed on top of the kitchen island as a bloke gripped her ankles, looking up her dress as she carelessly danced to hypnotic tunes with a bottle in her hand. Her blonde hair was a knotted mess over her head. Red lipstick smeared across her lips as she stumbled in red stilettos. I fisted the back of the bloke’s shirt and yanked him backward. “Get the fuck off her.”
The bloke flashed me a drunken smile and held up her red-lace knickers between his fingers.
“What did you do?” I threw a fist into his face, and the sea of people parted down the middle as he fell backward over the coffee table.
“Relax, Oliver,” Dex said, gripping my shoulder. “Take a shot. This is a party.”
“You should be watching her,” I pointed out, grabbing Leigh’s thighs to pull her down from the kitchen island. “I have a fucking job, a girl. I can’t be here all the time.” Leigh wrapped her legs around my waist, not letting off.
“You’re right,” he smiled, pointing at me, “You do have a fucking job. And I own you until Ghost is gone. Boys like us don’t get to have relationships. You need to let her go. You need to forget her.”
Forget her? Impossible. Mia Rose flowed through me, inked across every page of my soul which made me whole. Did he not know you couldn’t unread a book? If there was a chance, I’d find it. I’d want to read her over and over as if it were the first time all over again.
“I don’t have to listen to this,” I pat Leigh on the arse to motion her down, “I’m leaving.”
Leigh clutched me tighter, her legs hugging my waist with her arms around my neck, clinging for dear life as she pleaded for me not to leave her here. Her bare arse was out, and every bloke who walked by ogled and moved around to get a better view, so I carried Leigh out of the house and back to my car, unlatching her scrawny arms from around me to set her inside the passenger seat. She whined against my neck.
“I’m not leaving you, Leigh. I’m taking you home,” I reassured her, and Leigh lifted her head and looked around, noticing we were outside. Her body slid down mine and she got into my car. I jogged around the front of the hatchback and climbed into the driver side before starting the engine. “Where do you live?”
Leigh didn’t answer, and I turned my head to see her passed out beside me. I threw my head back into the headrest and let out a groan.