Chasing you | ✓

Chapter 38 - That doesn't sound suspicious at all

"You do?" Jack's voice echoed, face scrunching up. It wasn't quite a frown, but the way your face contorts when you taste something sour. He smacked his lips, testing the words out. "What do you mean you do?"

"I know a little," I admitted. "Someone I know helped me out with some old documents... it's how I knew for sure that you and Cade were twins." 

I paused, searching Jack's face for any clues as to what he was feeling. 

"I had to get some sort of confirmation for my suspicions," I continued, "seeing as you didn't really..."

My voice trailed off. I didn't know why I'd thrown that in there, but it was out now. Like a Hail Mary pass—hey, remember that you can't be mad at me because I'm the one who's supposed to be mad at you?

But to my surprise, Jack's face softened.

"I'm sorry." He stared at me over the roof of the car for a moment. "Does that mean you know her name?"

I nodded. Before I could speak, Jack pulled the car door open on his side.

"Let's talk on the way," he muttered and got in.

I hesitated. Was this really an on-the-road sort of conversation? I didn't want us to end up driving straight into a traffic light.

Reluctantly, I got into the car.

Jack stuck the key in the ignition but then stopped. He stared at it, chest heaving. It only lasted for a moment, before he brought the car to life and moved us out of the parking spot.

"What's her name?" he asked carefully as we drove out of the parking lot.

"Helen Mabel."

I didn't know if he wanted me to keep talking—how much he wanted to know—so I let him take the reins of the conversations.

Jack nodded. "And my biological dad?"

"His name is Patrick Mabel."

"They were married?"

The information seemed to surprise him.

"They were. I think they might have been high school sweethearts, because they got married when they were nineteen."

Jack mulled the information over in his head, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel as he drove.

When we pulled onto the freeway, we didn't get far. It soon became clear that we'd left Los Angeles at prime hour. The traffic was thick and barely moved on the lanes. Jack pressed the breaks on the car, slowing it down to a slow roll.

"So what happened?"

I thought back to the information I'd read on the papers Grant had sent me. 

"A lot, I think. I don't know how or when it started but both of them went down a bad path in life. They had problems and social services thought you and Cade would have a better life away from them."

Jack's fingers tightened around the steering wheel.

"What kind of problems?" he asked, not taking his eyes from the road despite us barely moving. His eyes were focused on the red brake lights of the car in front of us.

"I think both of them had problems with alcohol, but Patrick had also been in jail."

I sighed and glanced over at Jack. If his silence and locked jaw were any indication, he didn't take the information well.

"What else do you know?"

"I don't remember everything," I said vaguely, trying to think of a good way to tell him everything I'd read. "There's more in the files."