Page 3 of Justice II

“Hey, baby girl.” I kissed Dream on her temple.

“Daddy!” she exclaimed, turning around and hugging me back.

Despite the loss of her beloved Midnite, she bounced back rather quickly. I was waiting for her to ask for another horse, but she hadn’t yet. I wasn’t prepared to bring another one here. I felt like the family needed more time to heal.

“Can I spend the night at Ava’s house this weekend?”

“I’ll think about it.” I wasn’t a fan of sleepovers. You never know who the fuck is in other people’s houses.

“That means no!” she pouted.

“I said I’ll think about it.”

“Rita, my girl! What you been up to today?!” I asked as Skye glanced over her shoulder at me with a sexy smirk on her face.

“We got our first batch of Banks Reserve in liquor stores in Virginia. Today was a good day,” Rita said, nodding proudly.

“Uh huh. I’m proud of you.”

“That was all Al. Where is he? Did he come home yet? We’re supposed to celebrate.” Her mind was going a bit more every day.

“He’s still ironing out the details,” Skye called out over her shoulder with a sympathetic smile.

“Oh ok,” Rita said, returning her attention to Dream.

“Where’s Storie?”

“Upstairs doing her homework,” Dream responded, that little pout fading from her mouth.

I stalked over to Skye, eyeing her curvaceous frame held together by a pair of blue leggings and a fitted light blue T-shirt. I loved seeing her dressed up though. I wanted to see more of it.

“After everyone is settled in bed for the night, we need to have a talk.”

I could feel her freeze in place underneath those words. That’s how I knew that we needed to have a conversation so that I could assuage her fears. What happened to Midnite would never happen again.

2

Skye

We need to have a talk.

The words pricked my nerves, sending a wave of angsty fire throughout my entire being. Yes, we did need to talk. But does that mean he knows the truth about me?

Is he about to kill me for lying? Wait, is he that ruthless? Maybe he found out the truth about me and now thinks that I was the one that killed the horse? Fuck!

“Everly! No one knows the truth. You just gotta lie low,” Rita called out to me as if she could hear my thoughts.

“I’ll lie low.” I winked at her.

There had been so many times where she said things to me that were pertinent to the current time. It was as if her dementia was somewhat psychic. But she couldn’t tell that I wasn’t Everly. It was strange but comforting at the same time.

But my nerves were bad. This man wanted to talk. No. He needed to talk.

Relax, Melody. Relax.

If he knew the truth, he wouldn’t have come in here all calm. He would’ve thrown your ass out in front of them. He wants to talk about something else. There’s no need to stress.

In reality, we did need to talk. I needed to tell him about Storie. That little girl was a danger to everyone in this house. But would he believe me? She’ll pull my card and he’ll take her word over mine.