Page 94 of Protecting Her Secrets

Part of me is wondering if this is a ploy, but I can’t imagine Aunt Amy lying to me about this. She was more like Mom’s sister than anything. They grew up together, and after Mom married Dad, Aunt Amy married Dad’s best friend. Since Aunt Amy couldn’t have kids, they raised me together. There’s no way she’d betray Mom and do something to hurt me. Plus, her story makes sense, and I really want those photos.

“Okay, but you can’t come here, and I don’t have a car. All I have is an ATV, so you’ll have to meet me close by.” I refuse to let her near the house. I don’t trust her that much. But I could meet her at the base of Walker’s hill. I’ll shut off the security system only long enough to grab the boxes from her and come back. Walker will never know.

“Whatever’s easiest.”

I give her directions and tell her I’ll be there in a half hour. Quickly, I bundle up and fish out the keys to the ATV from the bowl in the mudroom. Rowan taught me how to drive his when I spent the day with him, so I’m hoping Walker’s operates the same way.

Thankfully, it does, and within ten minutes, I have everything in place, driving down the hill with Sprocket running after me. He’s not a guard dog, no matter what Walker thinks. He’s small and gentle, but if something goes wrong, Sprocket being outside will be a warning to Walker that I need help.

I only have to wait five minutes before a beat-up Plymouth comes creeping down the road. I’m glad when I see Aunt Amy is alone. She stops in front of me, not even shutting down the car before she’s out and wrapping me up in a hug. She looks the same as she always has—feathered bangs, thick black eyeliner around her eyes, pink lipstick. I breathe her in, allowing myself to relax into her. She and Mom always wore the same perfume, so for a split-second, it’s easy to pretend it’s Mom embracing me.

“How are you, kid?” she asks, holding me at a distance.

“Really good.”

“You look good.” She takes me in, stopping when her eyes lock on my middle. I immediately realize my mistake. The sun is bright and warm, so as I stood waiting, I took my vest off, leaving me in leggings, a long-sleeve work-out shirt, and a cropped fleece hoodie.

I pull away from her, tugging the hoodie down. “Hopefully, I can get the boxes back up the hill on this thing. Wanna pop the trunk?”

Her eyes narrow. “Sure.”

Walking around to the back of the car, I wait for thesnickof the latch before lifting. Just like she said, there are three boxes labeled ‘Photos’ in Mom’s handwriting. I open one, and my breath hitches at the picture on top. It’s Mom and me when I was just born. She looks exhausted, with ruddy cheeks, face damp with perspiration, but her smile is infectious as she gazes down at her afterbirth-covered baby on her bare chest.

“Thank you, Aunt Amy. These mean the world to me,” I say when she joins me, looking over my shoulder.

“I remember that day. The happiest day of both our lives. Your dad was on a run and couldn’t get back in time, so your mom asked me to be in the room with her.” I can hear the smile in her voice. “Damn, you had some lungs on you. The second she pushed you out of her cooter, your mouth was wide open, yelling at the world.”

“She was the best mom.”

“She really was.” Amy rests her hands on my shoulders, and I lean into the touch. “She’d be disappointed to know you’re turning your back on the club, Sky. I know you’re an adult and can make your own decisions, but her dream was for you to follow in her footsteps.”

I shake my head. “I know you’re okay with the way things are in the club, but I’m not. I want a partner who sees me as an equal and doesn’t try to control me.”

“You’re looking at it all wrong. Those men think they run the show, but they’d be nothing without us. We just let them think they’re all big and powerful.”

“I could never love a man who takes something from a woman she doesn’t freely give him.”

She turns me around to face her. “And you’re okay with that baby never knowing its daddy? You’re acting awful high and mighty, but what you’re doing is fucked up.”

“He lost the right to this baby the day he forced himself on me.” I place a protective hand over the innocent life growing inside me.

“You know, I was feeling real bad for this. I almost didn’t go along with it because I really do love you like you’re my own, but now I see you for what you really are: a spoiled fucking brat.” Before I have the chance to process her words, she’s pulling a syringe from her pocket and jabbing it into my neck. I swat it away, but not before she pushes the plunger.

“What did you do?” I slur, the world becoming blurry and my feet unsteady.

“Sit your ass down.” She shoves me to the ground, and I watch helplessly as she tosses the boxes out of the trunk. Sprocket, who had been watching our interaction from next to the ATV, crouches as he approaches, growling menacingly. “Call off the mutt before he gets hurt.”

My head spins, fear making my hands tremble uncontrollably, or maybe it’s whatever drug she injected me with, but I can’t form the words necessary to tell Sprocket to go home. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to him. He’s completely innocent in all this.

Aunt Amy lifts me by my armpits. She’s stronger than I thought she was. I push and shove at her, but I’m so weak, I’m no more than a nuisance to her. Shoving me into the trunk, she glares down at me, hatred making her lip curl. I’ve never seen her look at me like this. How can she say she loves me?

My vision narrows to pinpricks, but I can still hear, so I know the moment Sprocket lunges at her. I have no idea what she does to him to make him yelp, but I’ve never felt as deeply sad as I do when his cry pierces the air.

“No,” I whisper.

“Just remember, you did this to yourself.”

I don’t know if my world goes dark from the drug or from Aunt Amy slamming the trunk closed, but either way, I sink into a fitful sleep.

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