Page 101 of Sinful Skulls
“Okay, Dad, but I’ll sleep better knowing that Mom is in bed beside you.”
He looks at Jesse. “What the fuck is this?”
She raises her hands. “Fuck if I know, but she’s perfect for Brody, isn’t she?”
Brody returns from walking Anthony out, and I jump out of my seat. “We’re going to go break Elizabeth out of the basement.”
He laughs, picking me off my feet in a hug. “That sounds like fun.”
It does until I’m standing at the bottom of their stairs, staring at the door.
JD slides open the little compartment on the wall. “Baby, I have someone here who wants to talk to you.” He looks over his shoulder at me. “She’s not opening her side, but she’ll hear you.”
Brody walks over to it and sits down on the floor, waving for me to go to him. By the time I lower myself to his lap, I have an idea for how I’m going to lure her out.
“I slept in my parent’s bed until I was old enough to leave it on my own,” I begin, and Brody squeezes me around the waist, letting me know he’s excited to hear my stories too. “They used to take me to the beach almost every weekend. For a few years, I was obsessed with collecting seashells. I thought I was a master at finding them, but then I realized my dad was always walking ahead of me, digging them out and flipping them over.”
I laugh recalling the memory. JD relaxes beside us on the floor when we hear her move closer.
“Every year at Christmas my mom rents a snow machine and fills our yard with fake snow. She loves to bake, so holidays areher favorite. To this day, she makes me cookies every time I visit. Monster cookies are my favorite.”
The little door slides open half-way, and I move off Brody’s lap to get closer.
“They have an entire room at their house dedicated to the progression of my art from the time I was two years old to the one I was painting when you approached me on the beach.”
I hear her sniffle.
“That’s a day I’ll never forget. Can you imagine if you hadn’t shown up for me? Everything would be different. JD might not have kidnapped you.” I look at JD and he laughs quietly. “If JD hadn’t saved you, my biological father would still have been alive. He would have been the one to greet me in Paris. I would have had to deal with not one monster, but two.”
She makes a pained noise as she realizes how terrible things could have been for me.
“Rachel told me everything. She told me you were struggling to find a way to tell me about my father.”
When she remains quiet, I try again.
“Henry may have scared me, but he didn’t hurt me, Elizabeth. I promise you.”
Still no response.
“I don’t regret anything. I’ve had an amazing life so far. So I’ve had a few bumpy months … but look at all the good that came of it. I’m engaged to the sweetest yet sexiest man on the planet, I have a whole new family … and now I have two moms who love me.” I look at JD. “Oh, and we can’t forget a stepfather who shares my love for old albums. Like come on, I’d do it all over again for that alone, wouldn’t you?”
“Jacob does have pretty good taste in music,” she says quietly. “And Brody is pretty sweet.”
They both chuckle.
“Please come out of there, Elizabeth. It hurts my heart to know you’re in there alone. I’ll never be able to sleep until you do.”
I’m positive that will get her out … because Jackson is right, she’d kill or die for me. Not many of us get proof of that kind of love. I don’t know if that’s lucky or not, but I prefer to think it is.
The three of us stand as she opens the door and steps out.
“I thought I’d hid you from him,” she whispers, dropping her head.
“The fact he knew about me wasn’t an entirely bad thing. I’m sure it wasn’t what he was intending, but he led me to you.” I walk over and wrap my arms around her.
She was just a child when our story began, so I hug her extra tight, hoping to reach the young girl who loved me enough to let me go.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
