Page 11 of Just Between Us

Her soft smile flashed as her honey-brown eyes danced. “I’m sure I can find you something.” She tugged my arm again, leading me to a quiet corner of the busy bakery. “I need to talk with you.”

I bent my head lower as knowing eyes and ears turned in our direction.

“JP found someone,” she whispered, and the hairs on my neck stood on end. Sylvie looked around suspiciously, and her lip tucked between her teeth, a habit I was sure she’d picked up from our mother.

Strange shifts had been happening in the King family, and I didn’t like it. Lately there’d been talk about private investigators and business consultants.

Secrets.

When I was nine, my mother abandoned us, and that was that.

Until it wasn’t.

In the basement of the King estate, my aunt Bug accidentally uncovered a box containing strange, forgotten items from our mother—her favorite denim jacket, old pictures, her driver’s license.

It was that last item that set us all in a tailspin.

My oldest brother, Abel, had used his contacts from the prison system and hired a private investigator who also uncovered that our father was not the man we knew him to be.

Sure, in town Russell King wore the facade of a successful business owner and family man. We knew him to be the overbearing, unrelenting tyrant of our family, but he never,everlet that mask slip in public.

Behind the pretense was a man who’d lied about his marriage to our mother and hidden an entire family without our knowledge. The man who ruled our family with an iron fist was an utter stranger.

I’d worked long and hard to bury any memories of my mother—the woman who’d endured years with my father only to walk away and leave her children with the devil himself.

My siblings wanted to know what happened, where she went. I knew deep down they hoped to find Maryann King on a beach in Cabo or in some mountain town with amnesia.

But I already knew the truth.

Our mother had left us behind, and she was never coming back.

“Hey.” Sylvie poked my arm. “Are you listening to me?” she hissed.

“Of course.”I wasn’t.

“Well, when she comes by, be nice. I already lied to her about the eggs and milk to cover for your stupid ass.” Sylvie pinned me with her stern glare.

My eyes widened. “That was her?” A small bubble of laughter slipped past my lips. “Shit.”

She shook her head. “I really hoped you idiots were done with the pranking. I overheard Beckett already plotting to get his revenge.”

I reared back, my hands spreading. “For what? His car wasfine.”

She smiled and shook her head. “Apparently it was the principle of the matter. Youintendedto mess with him, so now they’re plotting their revenge. Watch your back.”

I winked at my sister. “Glad to see you’re still on the Kings’ side, after all.”

She laughed, tossing her hands in the air. “You are all hopeless. I’m going back to work.” Sylvie took two steps before turning and whipping me with the dish towel draped on her shoulder. “Don’t forget, when you meet Veda, berespectful.”

I scoffed and swirled a finger over my head in an imaginary halo.

She shook her head, and I smiled at my sister’s back. I abandoned my need for coffee and headed next door to the tattoo parlor. The day was wasting, and I wanted to get a few sketches in, plus satisfy my itch for a new tattoo, before we officially opened for business.

Luna had beaten me to the shop and was sweeping the floor when I walked in. I pulled my wallet from the back pocket of my slacks and dropped it on the counter. “Hey, can you run next door and grab us coffee?”

Her forearm rested on the top of the broom. “Your legs broken?”

I smirked. “Ms. Tiny stole my spot in line, and I was too chickenshit to say anything.”

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