Page 6 of Broken Skulls (Rebel Skull MC #7)

Chapter Five

JD

S he’s quiet. Finally. I was starting to worry about the way she was talking to herself. I was beginning to think she might legit be crazy.

I’ve looked at all of the files Tank’s friend Anthony sent to me. I understand fully why they’re cold toward her. It’s why I’ve kept an open mind and was one hundred percent ready to walk away from her if what they thought about her was true. That she could love, not even that, cover for an evil man.

Personally, I think that they’re beginning to doubt what they initially thought about her. They’re pretty sure she killed the man they thought she had been protecting.

While he was in prison, I might add. Pretty ballsy if you ask me.

I like it.

Anway, you don’t kill a man you love. Do you? I honestly don’t know. Women are strange. Haven’t met one yet that I’ve figured out.

I’m putting supper in the box when I hear her hurry to the other side. She tries to push on the door to catch me, but it’s locked.

She sighs loudly.

“I … I was just wondering if you had anything new. The music that is,” she says softly.

“I do,” I tell her, flicking the lock on her side before closing the one on my own. “Did you not like what I played earlier today?”

“No. I liked it. It’s just …”

“You want more?”

“I want more,” she admits.

A smile tugs hard at the corner of my mouth. It’s the same feeling I get when I get the critters in the junkyard to warm up to me. It just takes patience, and eventually anything will eat out of your hand.

Okay, that sounded way more sinister than I intended.

I don’t want her to eat out of my hand.

Fuck.

Maybe I do.

“I’ll be back,” I grumble. I’m not sure why I’m so annoyed by my visceral reaction to the thought of her tongue teasing at my fingers …

I flip through my records, finding an old Stevie Nick’s album. It was my mom’s favorite. Lizzie kind of looks like the woman on the cover. My hand runs over it. A wild woman. Free. Only she’s not free.

Well, physically she’s free. Just not in her mind … yet.

I make my way down the stairs and put the album on, then I walk away.

As soon as I’m outside, I take a deep breath. I sit on the porch listening to the music filter up the stairs and out the door. It reminds me of my mom. She truly was a free spirit. So full of life.

Until my dad’s final blow stole it from her.

I glance across the yard, staring at the crusher. Someday he’s going to show up at my door. I know it. When he does, that will be where he meets his end. I’ve pictured it no less than a million times.

I let my eyes fall closed, envisioning my mom spinning around our living room. The record player turning in time with her. Her colorful skirt billowing around her ankles.

“Dance with me, Jacob,” she said, reaching for me.

It was our first night in our new home, and we’d just got done eating in the backyard under the big oak tree. It was the best tree climbing, and it even had an old tree house. It needed a little work, but I was excited to make it mine. The house itself wasn’t much better, but my mother had already begun filling it with the thrifted items she’d been squirreling away for our big move.

Nothing matched in the house. From the silverware, to the towels, down to the curtains. In short, it was Heaven. That day was the best day of my life.

It hits me that I might be using the woman in my basement as a distraction. I’ve been feeling … I don’t know. Sad. Anxious. It all started when Petey and Katie brought those two orphaned girls home. It’s a blessing that they’re as little as they are. I hope they won’t remember watching their father kill their mother.

I scratch the dirt with a stick, writing Lizzie’s name and then my own. My mother was the last person to call me by my real name. After that I made everyone call me JD. Everyone in the club thinks it’s short for Junkyard Dog.

“Jacob Dean, shut that flashlight off and get to bed.”

She only used my first and middle name together when she was scolding me.

“Just one more chapter? Please, Mom?”

“One more and then get to sleep. I love you.”

“Love you too.”

When I heard her snoring in the middle of the chapter, I silently cheered because I had outlasted her and would be able to get away with reading well into the night. Sure, I knew the morning was going to suck, but it would be worth it for a few more chapters.

Little did I know then, I wouldn’t sleep for weeks.

The music I have playing for Lizzie stops, my memories pausing with it. I glance back at the house. Maybe she and I could swap secrets.

Would she confess to me?