Page 15 of Lick

“Cops came.”

“What happened?”

I can tell he’s in shock. He hasn’t seen my sister since the night of his arrest.

“Overdose.”

My father’s shoulders slump. He buries his face in the palms of his hands and cries. This is the first time I’ve seen my father cry. I feel fucking hopeless sitting here.

“She had children.” The words fall from my mouth.

He moves his hands away from his face. His eyes are rimmed red. “What?”

“The medical examiner who did the autopsy said there was scarring—evidence that she had been pregnant at some point. They were able to tell there were multiple births.”

“You need to find those kids, Tylan.”

“We don’t know if there are kids. The M.E. couldn’t tell me if there were any live births. Just that her body had evidence.”

“Find them.”

I swallow the lump in my throat. That is shit I don’t want to get involved in. “There’s no way I’m doing that.”

“Find. Them.”

“Pop, you don’t know what kind of condition they’ll be in even if I do find them. Betsy died of an overdose. Chances are those kids are already fucked up.”

“You can’t let the shit with your mother cloud your judgement on this, Tylan. Don’t let those kids suffer because of your beef you have with a woman whose been dead a long time.”

“All due respect, Pop, you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

“Find the kids, Tylan.”

“I have no idea where to start.”

“Bullshit!” He slams his hand on the table. My eyes dart to the guards who seem to sense the tension building between us as they take a few steps in our direction.

“You find out, Tylan.” He jabs his finger into the wood of the table. “And don’t pull that shit that you don’t know where to start. Your club’s business is to find people. I suggest you call in a marker. You need to see if your sister’s kids are out there. They’re your family. My family. I’d like to know if I have grandchildren before my time’s up on this earth.”

“You’ve got plenty of time for that, Pop.”

He shakes his head. “You never know, son. Nothing is certain in life. I need to know, Tylan. Please.”

He’s never asked for anything from me. Each visit I ask if he’d like me to put money on his account, but he says no. He earns his own way. There is no way I can deny the one thing my father has ever asked of me.

Before we get into any more details about my sister or what’s going on with the club the buzzer blares overhead signaling visitation’s over for the day. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“I can’t believe how big she’s gotten.”

I peer down at Grace’s little face. She has the biggest eyes and they’re constantly roaming around taking in her surroundings.

“She eats like a horse. I hope she’s gaining the weight and growing like she should,” Savannah says from across Bianca’s table. “Have you seen Lick at all?”

I shrug. “Not really.” I keep my eyes on Grace as she suckles on her fist. “I’m not his keeper.”

I hear her laugh. “Really? Because you’ve been like two peas in a pod since you got here.”

“It was kind of hard not to be with you and all your drama. He played more like a guard than anything else, but now that Tyson’s dead he doesn’t need to stick around and play protector.” I glance up at Savannah and notice the pale look on her face. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said it like that.”