Page 271 of Knox Academy Omnibus
Even now, I feel like shit for the additional hell my silence put us all through, but I guess that’s my thing: I run and I fuck everything up. They should expect it of me by now.
“If I’d known that all I had to do was get shot to get this kind of attention, I would have picked a fight with Branson,” Slate jokes.
My eyes go round and I feel the colour drain from my face.
“Take it back,” I demand.
“He was only joking, sweetheart.”
I turn to face Sawyer.
“I don’t care, it’s not funny. Just thinking about one of you dying…” I pause, shuddering at the idea before finishing lamely, “hurts.”
“Look what I found,” Kalen announces.
I didn’t realise he had left the room. He stands in the doorway with a big ball of fluff in his arm, and my face lights up. A most welcome distraction, Momo launches himself from Kalen’s arms and scurries across the floor jumping onto the couch beside me. His little tail wags like crazy while he licks my face, and I laugh as he barks and jumps and licks in his excitement.
“Jeez, Amelie. You made him pee,” Kalen complains.
“He can’t help it, he’s excited to see me.”
“You wouldn’t say that if I pissed myself every time you entered a room.”
Momo curls up in my lap after a few minutes, enjoying a scratch behind his ears.
“Is it safe to talk freely in here?” I ask Sawyer. He confirms it is, and I look over at Kalen who nods. He knows we have to tell his brothers about Debbie.
“I know I told you all that my grandmother wanted to see me while I was in Australia, and that she’s connected to some shady shit. Before Kalen and I left she requested we see her one last time.” Each guy nods, clearly very suspicious of what I’m about to say. “Well, it turns out she wasn’t the only one waiting for me.”
I hesitate.
With everything that’s happened, I really don’t want to add or cause any unnecessary stress on Onyx. Or even Sawyer. He’s taken on so much lately.
“Who was there, Amelie?” Sawyer asks, irritation in his tone that he is only finding out now. He cuts a glare to Kalen.
“My mother.”
“Laura?” Slate questions, confused.
“No…Debbie.”
“How?” Onyx asks, his brows pulled in tight. Even Sawyer is quiet.
“It’s definitely her…” Kalen jumps in for me when I fail to answer Onyx’s question. “I know, I’d find it hard to believe if I wasn’t there, considering that we all saw herallegeddeath certificate. But we sort of hightailed it before we could find out any information. Amelie wasn’t ready to meet her yet.”
Kalen and his brothers all stare at each other. I know what they must be thinking: why the hell would my paternal grandmother be protecting my ‘dead’ biological mother? My question is, does my father know about this?
Does theirs?
“I want to know why they’re working together. My grandmother made it clear in not so many words that she hates The Order, so I don’t think we can trust either of them.”
“We can add it to our list of things to deal with. They won’t be able to step foot on UK soil without us knowing about it. I want you to be careful withanyinformation you give them though – no matter how small and insignificant it may seem. They could be planning to use you to get to The Order.” Sawyer already has his phone out to make a call, distracted, so he doesn’t notice my frown. He sounds like he’s a lot more concerned with protecting The Order than me.
“Don’t tell anyone yet,” I quickly plead. “I need to deal with this. I know they probably just want to use me…I mean, it’s obviously no coincidence that now I’ll be taking over, Debbie resurfaces, but a part of me thinks maybe it’s just because she can now be safe from your grandfather. He’s a real piece ofwork.” I keep my on-the-fence thoughts and suspicions about Monty to myself at this point. I’m only just home, and one bombshell is enough. I don’t want to upset the delicate balance we’ve formed since the night of the bomb. Casting aspersions on their father would definitely rock the boat.
“We can respect that,” Slate replies, and I give him a small smile. Any mother is a step up from Laura, and a part of me does want to hear Debbie out. Not that I say this to the guys.
“Once you’re sworn in, we will have access to more resources to help us figure this out. Dad messaged earlier, and we have a meeting tonight. He said he and Laura are out all day so it’s safe to go to the house to sleep.”
