Celia whimpers, “How is he not my dad?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know.” Soph locks eyes with me over her friend’s shoulder, and in this look she tells me she’s glad Celia and I became more than friends today, and I will have to be strong for her best friend. I nod that I’m ready to handle anything she needs. Soph closes her eyes. “You want to go home or would you rather go somewhere else for a while?”
Celia steps back, sniffling as her eyes struggle to find purchase of anything solid. I take her hand to steady her and she inhales. “Home.”
“Okay, we’ll leave your motorcycle here. Sean will drive you back.”
Atlas reacts, but Luke shoots him a scathing look. “Don’t.”
We all know what Sofia is saying. The curtain has been pulled back today on all things. If Celia is going to face this betrayal within her family then she needs all the help she can get, and that means no acting like we don’t care about each other anymore. I’m going to have to face the Ciphers with my heart on my sleeve. My brain goes numb, overwhelmed with what this means for me. It’s possible this will be the end of my probation period. It’s either become a Cipher or hit the road now that I’ve fallen for one of their daughters.
Mounting the motorcycle first I strap my helmet on knowing there’s only one choice to be made—be here for her. This isn’t some normal problem she’s facing. It’s an existential one—the kind that could ruin her. She needs me. I will let fate decide what becomes of me with the club after today.
I wait for Celia to don her helmet and climb on behind me. Her arms are like noodles. “Hold on, baby.” She mumbles something incoherent but tightens them. “That’s it. You can do this.”
Luke leads the way, Sofia behind him, then me with Ceels, and Atlas at the tail. Every time I’ve ridden with these people, it’s been total freedom. But today someone robbed the air of oxygen, and there’s only one way to get it back.
The truth.
CHAPTER 29
C ELIA
P arking the bikes in front of the plantation, I climb off, staring at it.
My home.
Born here.
This is all I’ve known.
I’m thirty-one and I’ve never lived anywhere else. Never wanted to.
Sean shuts off the Harley and takes my helmet from me as I stare. Suddenly I feel his warm hand touching mine, our fingers locking. In a daze I stare at them before slamming onto his calm sapphires. “No!” I try to pull my hand away but he holds on.
“I’m here with you now,” he rasps, the decision painful.
“Sean, no, we can act like we’re just friends!”
“I don’t want to do that.” He takes my chin and kisses me. “You’re more than that to me, Ceels. No more secrets.”
Sofia walks up. “We ready?”
I nod and the five of us walk up our old porch steps, entering the house in a single file line, Sean is in front of me, gripping my hand. His sacrifice strengthens me and my shoulders rise as I call out, “Mom?!”
Luna appears first in the hallway, beautiful eyes scanning five determined faces before landing on our locked hands. Her eyebrows twitch and misinterpreting this as an announcement, she says, “I’ll go find Jett.”
Sofia Sol stops her, “No, Mom. This isn’t about Celia and Sean. It’s about something bigger.”
Luna frowns, “Then I’ll definitely get your father.”
“We’ll be in the grand parlor.”
“Fine.” She disappears.
I scream, “MOM!!!”
A door opens upstairs. “Celia?”
“I need to talk to you right now!” We walk into the empty parlor that’s darkened by a disappearing sun. Atlas switches on the antique floor lamps while Luke stands against one of the walls, crossing his arms to wait. Soph stands with us, on my left. Sean is on my right. My foot is tapping like it wants to escape.
My brother appears, explaining in haste, “I heard you shouting.”
“Come in. You should be here.”
He nods and I watch him take another wall, crossing his arms like Luke and staring at me from under his black eyebrows. We’re only half-blooded siblings then? It makes so much sense. And if that’s true, then where do I get this fire that he does not have? The desire to fight, to defend, to raise hell in a sleeping world?
Who am I?
Mom and Tonk Sr. carefully walk into the parlor, aware that something is very wrong. Luna and Jett appear in the other room. And Honey Badger comes next. I frown at him, “Why are you here?”
He glances over as Jett pushes tension down with his palm, silently telling him, Stay. Luna walks to my mom, her best friend, and stands with her. The three of them are a mirror image of us.
Nobody sits.
“Celia,” my mother points to Sean. “What is this about?”
My reply is angry and without padding. “Who is my father?”
Mom gasps, grabs Tonk’s arm as Luna rests a supportive hand on her best friend’s shoulder, a quick reflex. But Jett and Honey Badger aren’t surprised. She must have warned them that we said this wasn’t about Sean when she called for them to join her here. These are smart people—they guessed I’d discovered their secret.
My brave Sofia takes the blame with grit, “We eavesdropped on your conversation, Carmen, after you ran to my mom.”
Atlas and Luke stay firm, standing behind this confession without shame.
“Who is my father?”
Tonk Sr. growls, “I am godammit! I am!”
CHAPTER 30
SEAN
L ove and regret crash onto Celia’s face then disappear, coldness replacing them. “Who’s my real father? Why have you lied to me my whole life?!”
Weary and backed into a corner with nowhere to hide, Carmen walks to a velvet chair and sits down, holding her head. Tonk goes to her, but the man isn’t great at words. He keeps trying to say something to help them both, and can’t.
“Tell me everything! I deserve to
