Page 45 of His Secret Betrayal (Cedarwood Valley Duology #2)

Luke

Three Months Later

“ A re you sure you don’t want me to go in there with you?

” Alek murmurs, his warm breath fanning over my ear.

I’m snuggled into his embrace, his strong arms wrapped around my waist, keeping me tight against him.

Tingles dance along my skin when his lips graze the sensitive slope down my neck and his lips curl into a self-satisfied grin at my shiver.

“I’m fine,” I reassure him, not for the first time.

My big guy has barely let me out of his sight since the fateful night that sent me to the hospital.

The day he drove me home—it’s our home now, he says—he washed my hair with so much tenderness that I wept.

Most of my physical injuries have now healed, but he still dotes on me like I’m a fragile, precious flower he wants to preserve.

After everything I’ve been through with Evelyn, his love is like a balm to my soul.

“I need to do this,” I say quietly. Stepping out of his embrace and squaring my shoulders, my gaze turns toward the jail in front of us.

It’s a surprisingly small, nondescript brick building.

Honestly, there’s nothing special about it.

If it weren’t for the barbed-wire fencing and the guard’s station we had to drive past, I wouldn’t have given it much thought.

Guess there aren’t that many criminals in Cedarwood Valley.

Today, I’m cutting Evelyn out of my life for good.

Seeing her one last time is for my closure, not hers.

And since she’s about to be shipped off to a state prison a few hours from here, today is my last chance to speak with her unless I want to make a long trek halfway across the state.

As it turns out, she’s been racking up quite the rap sheet.

Not only did she get caught selling drugs, but she has some pretty hefty theft charges as well.

I want to say the news surprised me, but it didn’t.

Apparently, she owed some bad people a lot of money.

So much money that she was willing to sell out her own son.

That’s why Stoney and his friend beat the shit out of me that night: not only did Evelyn tell them I had her money, but I suspect they also wanted to send a message to her about paying up .

Stoney and his friend will also be enjoying their new prison cells for a long time to come.

Making my way inside the jail, I pass my identification to an older, white-haired guard with a bored expression.

After signing in, I pass through a metal detector and follow another guard down a dimly lit hallway.

As we come to a closed door, the guard swipes a badge over a sensor and the harsh buzz makes me jump.

We pass through more doors, my palms becoming slick and my heart thudding.

“Luke!” Evelyn cries out, her eyes lighting up with something that looks like relief and excitement.

On the other side of the glass partition, she’s wearing a khaki uniform that washes out the color of her skin.

There are dark circles under her eyes, her hair has a greasy quality to it, and the wrinkles around her mouth look a little more pronounced than I remember.

Jail time does not suit her.

“Thank God, you’re finally here,” she says, sniffling and wiping at the corners of her eyes.

Surprisingly, the sight of her tears doesn’t move me anymore.

“Are you here to help me?” she asks.

Taking a seat in front of the glass partition, I snort, sarcasm dripping from my tone when I say, “Hey, I’m doing just dandy. Healing fine after your men beat me half to death. Nice to see you, too.”

She glares at me, her tone turning sharp. “Seriously? I’ve been in this fucking hellhole for three months and you want me to make small talk?”

I whistle, low and quiet. “Straight to the point, huh? Not going to bullshit me a little first?”

She leans forward, her eyes narrowing. “Look, I’m sorry I got you involved in my mess. I thought they might push you around a little bit, but I didn’t expect them to take it that far. ”

“But you sent them to me knowing they would hurt me?” I ask, a sort of detached coldness in my tone.

Whatever she hears in my voice has her flinching back. “What else was I supposed to do? If not you, then it would have been me.”

“You know,” I say with a thoughtful hum, “I think that might be the first time you’ve ever been honest with me.

” Although the words hurt, spearing through me in a way that makes me breathless, I remind myself that Alek is waiting just outside these walls.

That he’s going to pull me into his arms and whisper sweet nothings in my ear after this.

And after today, I never have to speak to this woman again.

I’m not sure what she sees when she looks at me, but her face pales. “Luke, son, don’t be like this,” she pleads. “Just get me out of here, and we can go somewhere else. Anywhere you want. We’ll start over and I’ll be good this time—”

“Don’t call me son ever again,” I growl.

She might have birthed me, but she’s not a mother.

Her mouth gapes open, and she’s silent for a solid five seconds as she stares at me. “So, this is it? You’re going to give up on me like everyone else?”

A disbelieving sort of chuckle is pulled from my throat as I shake my head.

I keep my mouth clamped shut, not willing to tell her the truth: that some part of me will always hold on to a tiny thread of hope.

A small, minuscule part of me will always wish for a miracle.

That this will be her final rock bottom, the wake-up call she needs to get her life in order.

To get sober. To actually give a damn about her sons.

But I don’t tell her that because, honestly, it doesn’t matter anymore.

Maybe one day she’ll wake up and regret her actions, but the possibility of us ever having any sort of connection was lost the moment she sent those men to assault me.

I’ll always wish her the best, maybe I’ll even cheer her on from afar if she ever chooses to get sober, but I won’t be here to share that milestone with her.

After Alek confessed that he offered to pay for her rehab and she turned him down, it made the decision that much easier to make.

“I’m done being your enabler,” I say instead. “I just came to say goodbye.”

I jump back when her palms smack against the glass, my heart rate kicking up.

“Inmate! Settle down, or I’m taking you back to your cell!” a nearby guard yells, their voice stern.

Evelyn leans back in her chair with a cold, cruel laugh. “If you leave here without helping me, then I don’t ever want to see you again,” she hisses.

I shrug. “I have no plans to come back anyway, but I do have a few questions before I go.”

“And why should I answer them?”

“Because we both know you’ll want one last opportunity to take a jab at me.”

She smirks, her lack of rebuttal telling. “Ask your questions.”

I take a deep breath. “Did you ever actually want to reconcile our relationship and get to know me, or was that bullshit to keep me around so you could use me? And I want to know why you never wanted Jax to know you were alive.”

She studies me for a long moment, the coy expression on her face reminding me of a cat playing with its prey.

“Your father was the soft-hearted one who wanted children, not me. I never wanted to be some boring little homemaker. Actually, I hated being a mother. I only had Jax because your father begged me. But you…” She pauses to chuckle.

“You were an accident. One day, you wouldn’t stop crying, so I sent your father down to the hospital cafeteria.

Sent him on a fool’s errand for something I knew they didn’t have, but I didn’t expect him to return so quickly.

I wasn’t fast enough, because when he came back, he caught me trying to smother you under my pillow. ”

When the room starts to spin around me, I clutch the side of my chair for support. She tried to… She wanted me dead?

“Why?” I whisper.

“Because you were a fussy baby who wouldn’t shut the hell up,” she snaps.

“Tha-that’s despicable. You’re a monster.”

She continues speaking, sounding indifferent, despite the way my entire body is going numb from shock. “Your dad told me to leave and never come back. Said if I ever showed my face around either of you boys again, he would have me arrested.”

I freeze. “Is that why you didn’t want Jax to know you were alive?”

She claps, the sound mocking and cruel. “Finally figured something out on your own.”

“Answer me,” I say through gritted teeth.

“Yes,” she huffs. “I realized fairly quickly that you had no clue what I did but I wasn’t sure if your father ever told Jax or not, being that he was much older than you when George died.

Besides, I saw the way Jax used to look at me.

Like I wasn’t good enough. And you were so desperate for me to show you any ounce of affection that I knew I could use it to my advantage.

As long as your brother never found out, I could use you for a place to live, for money, for… whatever.” She shrugs.

God, and I had given it to her. Anything she asked of me. I fell right into her trap. She was never interested in rehab, never wanted to grab my hand, even though I kept reaching for her. Addiction is a disease, but she was never interested in the cure.

Funny enough, I don’t think Dad ever told Jax the truth of things. When I told him she was still alive, his shock had been too real .

“You belong in here,” I tell her.

She smirks. “George was always too soft with you boys. One day, you’ll thank me for helping you grow that backbone.”

I scoff. “I doubt I’ll ever thank you for anything.”

Deciding I’ve heard enough, I push my chair back and stand up. As the guard holds the door open for me, I don’t look back. “Goodbye, Evelyn.”

In the end, walking away feels like a weight being lifted off my shoulders.

Bright sunlight hits my eyes as I exit the jail.

My heart is heavy, little bits of grief still lingering.

Although this was a necessary step for me to move on, I would be lying if I said it was easy.

Her callousness gutted me and left me feeling raw and exposed.

Growing up, I used to be envious of my friends.

I would watch their mothers drop them off at school, pinching their cheeks or waving goodbye with wide, radiant grins.

I always thought I was missing out on something special.

But, as it turns out, the woman who was meant to love me unconditionally, wasn’t cut from the same cloth.

If I hadn’t cut her loose, I would have kept losing bits and pieces of myself.

I wouldn’t be the Luke Parker that my dad and Jax raised.

If I had let it, her vitriol would have continued to poison my mind like a festering wound that won’t heal.

She’d chip away at everything I am until I’m just a shell of a person, until I have no self-confidence to muster.

I don’t want that kind of life for myself.

I pause in the parking lot, grinning when I see who’s waiting for me. Seeing Alek, Jax, Maddison, and Caleb ready to embrace me has a sort of peace settling over me. The sight of their soft, loving expressions soothes some of the hurt.

No, I don’t want to keep going down that road with Evelyn anymore .

I want lazy Sunday mornings listening to the rain pitter patter on the roof while I snuggle in bed with Alek.

I want to hold his hand across the dinner table, make out with him in the supply closet, or wake up to his tongue on my cock.

I want him to call me a good boy while I melt under his crooning praise.

Want to experience his delightful little body shivers every time I run tender fingers and lips over his scars.

I want Friday night movies with Caleb, fishing trips with Jax, and private jokes with Maddie.

“I’m done,” I tell them softly.

Surprisingly, Maddie is the first one to pull me into an embrace. She hugs me so tightly I can barely breathe, only relenting when I give a squeak of protest. Then I’m sort of piled in the middle of everyone, so many arms wrapped around me that their bodies are blocking out the sun.

That’s when I know everything is going to be okay.

“I love you guys so fucking much,” I whisper.