“After she had Alex, she was clean for four years. She didn’t start using again until the police wouldn’t help her. She didn’t have the resources to find you all until we got together.”
I barely stifled my snort. It just sounded like a story full of excuses, riddled with too many holes. I didn’t want to believe that she wanted us all back into her life. I couldn’t.
“What happened to Andy?” Miranda asked me hesitantly. “Where have you been?”
I chose to ignore her as I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to talk about my uncle, her brother right now. He was everything she wasn’t. He had made sacrifices to put my happiness above his own. My chest still felt tight, and I still felt like my body was swollen from the toxins.
“We’re here. We need to make it quick,” Terrance stated in a clipped tone.
“Uncloak the house and get Dr. Cornwall,” Jace said stoically.
We had just pulled up into what appeared to be a wide-open field surrounded by trees. It was eerily quiet. It was like a scene from a horror movie. The moon barely crept in between the trees and even then, it was heavily covered in storm clouds. I could smell the snow coming. Our headlights were the only thing cutting through the still night air.
“Pops is five minutes out,” Troy stated as he looked down at his phone.
“We have company,” Greg said in a worried tone. “A human shape shifter, a mind eraser, a blocker, a Firestarter, and an object shifter.”
“How ya feeling, Misty?” Troy asked as he opened up the door.
“Like crap,” I admitted. “I’m not sure if I can be of any help.”
“She isn’t in this fight,” Jace insisted.
“I can still feel her gifts. They’re weaker, but I can still tap into them,” Gavin said as he hopped out of the back.
“I’m fine,” I insisted as Remy put me down gently on the ground. “Get the doctor and the boy, and by then Pops will be here.”
“Let’s go,” Jace nodded in agreement as he stepped out of the truck. He patted the hood. “Get on out of here, Terrance. We’ll see you soon.”
Terrance looked hesitant but started to back up. Now that the poison left my system, mostly, I was freezing. As if Jace knew, he hastily removed his coat and placed it around me. He slid in beside me even though Remy didn’t need the help. I knew he just needed to be near me. I could still feel his anxiety and worry.
As we made our way to the invisible house, Miranda finally dropped the cloak. She hastily ran inside with us following closely behind her. “Mom,” she called out worriedly. “Did you pack like I asked you?”
“She tried,” A woman that looked exactly like Miranda stated with a malicious smile. Soon Miranda’s form transformed into a young male, barely older than me, with pink spiky hair, and baggy black clothing.
“It really isn’t nice of you to try and run when we just wanted a little help,” Bridgette walked around the corner with a thrashing toddler on her hip.
She looked like she was going to a garden party, with her long whimsical floral-print blue dress. Her make up was carefully done as usual and her long hair blond hair was pin straight.
The child was making a lot of nonsensical noses and high pitched whines. I noticed immediately that he was…special.
“Hi, Mama,” Bridgette said with a pleasant smile. “Long time no… oh wait, this is our first meeting. It’s kind of sad it took us nineteen years to finally meet.” Her eyes shifted over to me and then Kade. She smiled real wide and fanned her face as if she was stopping herself from crying. “It’s a f
amily reunion. How sweet!” She looked around with mock guilelessness. “Are we missing a few of my little siblings? We should invite them over.”
“You’re so disturbed.” Jemmy snorted. “Seriously, is Horatio’s insanity contagious? Was it something in your genes?” She looked at me and did the universal sign for crazy as she whistled. “She is cuckoo for cocoa puffs. I’m glad to see that gene completely skipped over you.”
“Shut your whore mouth, Jemmy. I’m glad this one’s stuck around, though,” Bridgette said with a malevolent smile as she looked at Gavin and Jemmy’s joined hands. “We know how hard it is for people to stick around you. After all, your Daddy couldn’t stand you, so much so that he put a gun in his mouth and ended it all.”
I heard the sharp inhale of breath from Drake, and I could see it written all over his face. I hated the look of pain that was plainly on his face. His father hadn’t just died—he had committed suicide. I looked around and could see all the Bell clan was privy to this information. But Gavin, Sierra, and I were just now finding out about this.
Bridgette started laughing. “Oh, this is rich. The boyfriend didn’t know and neither did the other little whore.” She turned her glare onto me. “You look horrible, sister dear. I don’t know how anyone sees anything in you. You can take the girl out of the trailer park but you will never take the trailer trash from the girl. It baffles me the amount of men that are drawn to you.
“You know I loved Collin and you just had to twist him against me. He died because of you. It wasn’t enough that you had a few of the Bell boys in your bed, but you had to take him too. You had to ruin him. So which one is it? Which one is your connection?” she demanded. “Daddy thinks it’s Jaxson and Noah, but I saw the way Mr. Jace looked at you.” Her eyes swung over to him. “Were the panties I left in your drawer not alluring enough? What did she do to seduce you? Did she give up all the goods as she’s so keen to do?”
Jace’s jaw clenched and he crossed his hands over his chest. He wasn’t going to deign to answer.
“You really are insane,” I said coldly as adrenaline coursed through my body. “Let the boy go.”