Page 85 of XO

Rubbing my face, I step back, my movement taking me further away until I’m out the rooftop door and taking the elevator to the basement. The faster I go, the faster this will sort itself out, and Rosie will never have to know. But as I speed through the quiet streets back home, I have a sinking feeling I won’t be able to protect her from this no matter what I do.

~

“Mr. Reign?” I yell through the house, trying to find Rosie’s dad. The door had been unlocked, and all the lights are switched on making it the beacon on the otherwise dark street. “Mr. Reign, where are you?”

Finding the house empty—because I know the Reign girls are not here—I search outside and find Rosie’s dad on one of the sun lounges.

“What the hell are you doing?” I mutter, jogging down the deck stairs to the pool. “Mr. Reign?” When I get no answer, I call again, “John?”

Still nothing.

On approach, I notice a three-quarter empty bottle of whiskey in his hand. A dreaded shiver courses through me.

“Mr. Reign, are you all right?”

He slowly turns his head blinking twice before addressing me. “Jacob? Why aren’t you with Rosie?” His words are slurred, but he’s not drunk. He just seems dazed like someone on a drug high.

“Rosie’s safe.”

Do I tell him?

Do I risk fucking up his night more than it already seems?

Perhaps he already knows. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be out here drinking on his own.

“Mr. Reign, did you know?”

“Know what?”

“Did you know your wife and my father are having an affair?”

I swallow hard and await his response, but his bizarre and confusing reaction is far from what I expected. A slow smile spreads across his face, and soon he’s laughing, staring up at the sky while he finds humor in what I’m asking. For a moment, the vision unsettles me, like I’m watching a truck careening into stationary traffic, the driver seeing what’s in front of him but indifferent to the carnage about to unfold. And I’m the angry bystander waving the red flags and screaming at him to stop.

The rage I felt from earlier boils over, his response pushing me to breaking point. “You knew?” I spit out the accusation. “All this time… you knew, and you let it continue?” My one lifeline evaporates before my very eyes, and my heart breaks for Rosie.

He shrugs his shoulders in defeat. “I knew she was fucking someone.” The smile drops from his face and is replaced with a deep-seated sadness. “But I didn’t know it was Jim Lynch.”

He slips back into his drug-like haze, and I lose my temper. Snatching the whiskey bottle, I hurl it onto the pool deck, the bottle exploding on impact.

Mr. Reign doesn’t flinch.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I seethe, grabbing him by the scruff of the neck. “You weren’t supposed to be like this. You’re supposed to help and give a fuck.”

Completely unfazed, Mr. Reign barely meets my eyes. “I can’t do anything to fix this.”

“The fuck you can’t. You are the fucking adult. You’re all the fucking adults. So, fix this.”

“Jacob, you can’t fix what’s already gone up in flames.”

I pull away, wiping my lips with the back of my hand, contemplating how the best night of my life has suddenly fucked itself right up.

“Mr. Reign, I understand you’ve given up on your wife, or she’s given up on you, or however it goes, but please… fix this for Rosie. She’ll be devasted if she finds out. Please, you have to fix this somehow.”

It’s like a switch goes off in his head. At the mention of his daughter’s name, Mr. Reign sits up, looking surprisingly sober. “You’re right,” he says, taking my arm to pull himself to his feet. “I’ll get this sorted. I promise.” Reaching into his back pocket, he pulls out a wad of cash and hands it to me. “Take this.”

I stare at the notes before eyeballing him. “Why?”

“Take Rosie out of town for a few days while I try and sort matters out.”

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