Page 82 of Pawn

“If not you then who, Lea?”

Knock! Knock! Knock!

“Lea?” Jordan’s voice comes through the door before it creaks open, his head poking through. “Hey, I’m looking for Willow and Bella. Are they around?”

Lea glances at her brother, standing at the door in a denim jacket and cargos. Lea’s eyes move to mine and I catch Jo’s eyes drop to him.

“Everything okay?” Jordan asks. When I look back, his eyebrows raise, finger pushing up the glasses on his nose.

The phone slips from Lea’s hand, clattering onto the dresser as it all clicks, the word falling out of her mouth, “Shit.”

Twenty-One

Jo

The room spins.

It’s been spinning for the last fifteen minutes.

With one hand on Allie, the other on the wall, my throat closes in. Pushing off the wall and pushing Allie away, I make my way towards Jordan. “You?” I ask, alcohol fuming out of my breath as it all comes together. “It was you?!”

His eyes grow wide and he jets from the door as if he already knows what I’m talking about and that settles it. My hands are in fists and I don’t know what I’m gonna do when I get him but he has all the answers I’ve been looking for.

I’m stopped by a blur of beige and black, red-painted lips. “Wait!” Lea’s fuzzy in front of me, her arms out. “What’re you gonna do? Let’s talk about this, Jo.”

“Lea’s right,” Damien says, his thumb and index finger on his chin like he’s recalculating his plan. “We should talk about this.”

“Let me go, Lea.” I’m ignoring them both. I’ve been at the hands of Eden’s bullshit for much too long.

“My brother can’t go to jail! He’s not you!” Lea’s eyes grow wide, fake eyelashes making them appear larger. She stands firm but my body is shaking as much as I’m swaying.

My hand flies for her face but there’s a cold grip on my wrist before it makes contact. Damien’s. “Chill out, Rowland.”

Why is everyone acting like I’m the villain? “He killed my fucking parents!”

“There has to be a reason!” Lea looks as nervous as I do when Willow looks like she’s in trouble. She might not have had a foster home, but her parents are emotionally non-existent. “Please, Jo get a grip! We’ll figure this out.”

“Guys?” Willow’s in the doorway and I’m happy she’s here and not with Jordan.

“You need to stay as far away from Jordan as you can, Low,” I say over Lea’s shoulder.

“What? Why?” She looks confused. Beautiful, standing there in a white dress and a letterman jacket, but confused. “Is this why he left?”

“He …” I’m trying to say the words but I can’t get them out. How am I supposed to tell my sister that her best friend killed our parents when I haven’t even begun digesting it? “He ki—” I take another deep breath, but there’s a sting in my throat, my eyes getting blurrier.

“Oh, shit.” Willow’s shoulders fall, walking into the room like she’s walking into a tiger’s cage. Cautious. Slow. Her eyes stay on mine and my head tilts, eyes narrow. “It’s not what you think, Jo.”

Glancing at Damien, he looks as confused as I am, the contents in my stomach threatening to spew out on Allie’s floor.

“Wait,” I say, trying to make sense of her demeanour. Her words. “Y-you knew?”

Willow nods. “But he’s not a murderer! He just wanted to protect his dad.”

“Low, you better start talking faster because this doesn’t make any fucking sense!” I yell, my fingers coming to my forehead, eyes closed. “You knew?! How could you not have told me? He fucking killed our parents! He almost killed me! How could—”

“Because he saved you!” Lea moves so Willow can face me but I feel like I could fall over at any minute. “He saved you and I didn’t want you to know because I was afraid you’d take him away.”

He saved me?

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