Page 43 of Trusting Skulls (Rebel Skull MC #8)
Chapter Forty-One
Lexie
M y parents rattle on about the house they found in Reno. It’s bigger. They tell me that it’s way better than this one. The one they’ve spent very little time in.
I let my eyes trail over the pictures as they shove their computer in front of my face. “It looks great,” I tell them.
“We thought you could live in this wing,” my dad says. “You’d have it all to yourself.”
It makes me laugh lightly.
They go on and on about how my mom is going to keep her job for at least another year, but dad will be home every night.
“My new job will give us more time together,” he tells me.
“Yeah, I know how much time that job affords. I spent more time with your boss than I ever did you.”
My mom’s hand flies out, making stinging contact with the side of my face. Dad grabs her wrist.
“Diane!” he yells.
I stand up and head to my room. I toss the pain pills and the Valium into the box filled with Ash’s gifts, and then I hobble my way out to my car.
My dad jogs alongside me. “Where are you going?”
“Why did you even keep me?” I ask, setting the box on the passenger seat.
“What?”
“If you didn’t want a child, you could have given me to a family who might have loved me.”
He runs his hand down his face. “We were young. Everyone told us our lives were ruined when your mom got pregnant. We set out to prove them wrong. I’ve busted my ass to give you everything you could have ever wanted.”
“Do you remember the day you took me to work with you because my nanny was sick? I sat under your desk all day, and you let me watch the Wizard of Oz on your phone. We even had lunch together in your office.”
“Yeah, that day was a complete shit show.”
My shoulders fall, and I shove my crutches in the backseat of my car. “That was one of the best days of my life.”
I get in, ignoring the look of confusion on his face. They will never understand.
My conversation with Rachel plays in my mind as I drive around town. I’m not sure where I’m going, but eventually I find myself pulling up to a popular party house. I sit there for a few minutes before someone knocks on my window.
“Hey, Lex. Fuck that’s some crazy shit about your dad’s boss,” some dude I hooked up with in the past tells me. I can’t remember his name.
“Yeah, I guess I’m a local celebrity now. Fucked up, huh?”
He looks me over. “Yeah, but I can’t blame the dude. You’re fucking hot.”
That’s the thing. I’ve never blamed him. I saved that for myself.
“Thanks,” I say, knowing he means it as a compliment, but it sure doesn’t feel like one.
“I’ll see you inside, yeah?”
“Yeah, sure.”
He walks away, and I pull the box into my lap. My fingers dance lightly over the items, and I stop on the wooden Toto. I set him on the dash and then go back for the pills. I dump the entire bottle in my hand.
“Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” I tell the little dog.
I stare at the pills in my palm. They’re no ruby slippers, but they will take me home.
Home.
It’s not really the home I want to go back to, but I’m so fucked up in the head right now. To stay, all I have to do is get a brain, conquer my fear, and find my heart. That all sounds so impossible.
I rub my hand over my chest, thinking about my conversation with Rachel, and I begin to cry.
“We’re all links of love, baby.”
I’m so stupid. Rachel would do anything to live, to be here for her new grandbaby. While I sit here with a pile of pills ready to give up.
I can’t give up. She and her family need my help.
Carefully, I pour all the pills back into the bottle, and then I close my eyes. “ There’s no place like home,” I whisper.
I’d click my heels together if I didn’t have this stupid boot on my foot. But it doesn’t matter, because this time it works.
I stand under the porch light, happy they left it on for me. Silly thought, but I have to start somewhere. Raffe would be so proud.
As I’m struggling between holding onto my box and balancing on my crutches, the door swings wide open.
JD and Elizabeth instantly wrap me in their warm embrace, all three of us crying. It’s the best welcome home I could have asked for.
“I missed you guys,” I tell them.
“We missed you too. Jacob and I were just watching a movie when Ash called to let us know you were on your way home,” Elizabeth says, wiping her eyes.
JD settles me on the couch, taking the box from me and setting it on the coffee table. He props my foot up on several fluffy pillows.
“What? How did he know?”
“You don’t have us figured out quite yet, do you?” JD laughs.
“I’m going to go make something to snack on,” Elizabeth tells us, disappearing into the kitchen.
JD sits down on the floor beside me, resting his back against the couch. “You look tired. Maybe we should get you to bed.”
“No. I don’t want to go to bed. I’d rather stay out here with you guys.”
“Do you want to talk?”
I shake my head. “Not tonight.”
“Okay,” he says, patting me on my arm. “Whatever you need, we’re here for you.”
“I do have something I need help with.” When I hug myself around the waist, he sits up straighter. “Um, my pain meds are in that box …”
He turns to look at it.
“Maybe you should hold on to them for me.”