Page 37 of Unbound

I don’t know what I would’ve done if I didn’t have people who could help me keep the memories of my father fresh. My mom and his good friend Tom gave me more insight into who he was as a person as I got older. As a kid, I idolized him. As an adult, their stories helped me learn to respect him. Who he was. What he stood for.

Thinking Walker hasn’t been offered that same gift makes me a little… Angry.

“No.” He shakes his head. “She hasn’t.”

“What the fuck?” Am I about to go pick a fight with Deidre Bradshaw? Start some shit with America’s mom over the lack of conversations she’s had with her nephew about the mother he lost when he was just a kid?

Yeah. I think I am.

I’m up and out of my chair before I have a fully formed plan. I know it involves getting to the main house on the property somehow. Do I know where it is? Not really. But I’m sure I’ll be able to figure it out. All I have to do is wander around until I find the biggest place here.

Then I storm the gate.

Unless I want to be sneaky about it. Close all her credit cards and shut off her internet.

That is a pretty tempting thought. I could probably even figure out how to get into the system her printer uses for the magazine she puts out every month. I wouldn’t do anything dramatic. I’d feel bad if people paid good money for a magazine they couldn’t get any use out of. But I could go in and change every picture of her around. Spread her eyes apart. Make it look like she has a booger in her nose. Add wrinkles. Nothing overt, but enough to ruin her fucking day.

Walker catches me as I reach the door of his office, hooking an arm around my waist to stop me in my tracks. I’m suddenly dragged back, stopping only when my body meets the broad wall of his chest. Leaning close, his warm breath heats the skin of my ear as he asks, “Where do you think you’re going?”

“It’s a surprise.” For a lot of people.

“I don’t think you’re the kind of person I want surprises from.” His hold on me tightens, the line of his arm a bar across my belly. “Why don’t you tell me what just set you off.”

I guess he probably does deserve to know since he’s the one I’m avenging. “Your aunt should’ve told you about your mother.” I wiggle around in his grip, blood pressure spiking just thinking about it.

Walker’s free hand grips my hip, holding me still. “Why is that?”

“Because you deserve to know everything about your mother. It’s not fair that people would keep that from you.”

Walker hasn’t said anything about his dad, and I imagine if the guy was around, I probably would have seen or heard about him at this point. That means he doesn’t have anyone but his aunt, uncle, and cousins.

And they can’t even be fucked to talk to him about the most important person in his life.

Something that sounds a lot like a growl works out of me as I continue trying to get loose, frustrated for Walker and with him at the same time. “Let me go. I have something I need to do.”

“Absolutely not, you feral little psychopath.” With a grunt, he hefts me off the ground, making it nearly impossible for me to wriggle away. “You tried to burn my house down and you weren’t even pissed at me. No fucking way are you going anywhere in this condition.” He turns us, moving away from his office. “Especially when you don’t know the whole story.”

Walker passes the hall leading to the garage and half bath, moves through the kitchen that serves as the center of his house, and carries me into the great room we occupied earlier. He plops onto the couch, swinging me around so I end up sidesaddle across his lap. He still doesn’t let me go.

Probably because he thinks I’ll make a break for it.

Smart man.

I don’t know what happened to me that gave me such an uncontrollable sense of right and wrong, but when I think someone has done something they shouldn’t have—or, like in this case, they haven’t done something they should—I lose a little bit of my shit.

Walker grips my chin, turning my face toward his until our gazes meet. “My Aunt DeeDee would have told me anything I wanted to know.”

The anger inside me churns, worming around until it becomes something new. Something fresh. Something… worse.

I swallow hard, my throat tight. “But why wouldn’t you want to know?”

Learning about my father made me feel close to him again. Helped me feel like he wasn’t completely gone. Like I could still get new pieces of him instead of only having the crumbs from my early childhood.

Walker’s fingers flex against my chin before his hand drops, palm resting on my thigh. “Because it was easier to just move on.”

I study his face as his eyes move away from me, and now I’m even more confused. Because he doesn’t look like moving on has been easy. “Was it really?”

Walker pulls in a deep breath, his wide shoulders lifting then dropping as he blows it out on a sigh. “I thought it was. But I don’t know anymore.”