Page 35 of Hell of a Mess
The rest of the room—Bane, Oz, Fender, and Jonas, who had all remained silent—seemed to exhale at the same time.
“Holy fuck,” Bane muttered, looking at his dad.
Fender nodded his head in agreement.
“Why did I not know that Celeste wasn’t your biological mom?” Oz asked Locke.
Locke stood with his hands behind his head as he stared at the backyard. “Because she was the only mom that mattered.”
He didn’t look at any of us. I couldn’t blame him really.
“Did all of you fuck around like that back then?” Bane asked, then zeroed in on his dad. “You don’t have any kids floating around out there that Mom doesn’t know about, do you?”
Fender almost smiled when he shook his head. “No. The moment I met your mother, I was done.”
“He has always been a psycho where Grissele is concerned,” I added.
I might have lived in Ocala back when they met, but I knew that man’s eyes had never wandered. It was disgusting.
Fender smirked at my description.
“That’s not an exaggeration,” Jonas chimed in. “Grissele has owned him from day one.”
Oz narrowed his eyes as he stared at his father. “And you? Did Mom own you from day one?”
“Your dad stalked your mother until she finally caved and went on a date with him,” Fender told him.
This bunch needed their heads examined. Now, Linc had joined the ranks of lunatics who had locked it down to one cunt. It was like a disease, seeping into everyone. I’d be damned if it ever got me.
I walked over to the bar and got down a bottle of Carver’s special batch.
“You gonna drink before lunch?” Fender asked me, soundinglike the boring married man that he was.
“Yeah, I think I am, seeing as the girl I was trying to save is Mal’s long-lost daughter, Thaddeus is going to show up at any minute to find out she’s not going anywhere, and, well, because I like this fucking whiskey.”
I put the bottle to my lips and took a long pull from it. Screw getting a glass.
After taking a long drink, I held the bottle out to Locke. “You want some? Fuck knows you need it.”
He looked at the bottle, then at me. Just when I thought he was going to say no, he reached out and took it.
“Probably real fucking relieved I stopped that kiss you were about to move in for,” I drawled.
He glared at me.
“Too soon?” I asked.
Instead of responding, he took another long drink, and I chuckled.
“Jesus, Luther, don’t start,” Fender told me.
I shrugged and held out my hand for the bottle. “All right, that one is mine. Go get your own if you’re going to drink away the sorrow.” When he shoved it at me, I took it and headed over for the sofa.
“Is anyone else wondering why her fa—the Halsten man was calling her by her sister’s name and why she was going along with it?” Oz asked.
Yeah, I was. Along with about fifty other things. All of which I was going to get answers to.
The chime that announced someone was at the security gate went off. Linc was in his office and could deal with letting Thaddeus Davidson inside.
