Get to me (8th sin series, book 1)

Drifting

I think Sophie is as stunned as I am when she looks at my birth certificate.

"You have got to be kidding me," she scoffs. "And you waited two days to tell me this?"

"I didn't want to say anything to anyone."

"But you just said Jackson knows." She tries to argue. I don't know what it is with her. She never has the appropriate reaction when the time calls for it.

"Jackson was there." I remind her. "He's the one who found it."

"It was just laying around in a box of family memories?" She drops down on the couch. "How awful."

She's not helping the situation. I'm not feeling better like I did when I talked to Jackson about this entire thing. I'm trying not to be angry. I am waiting it out, so I don't do the wrong thing.

"Your father had a baby with another woman while he was married to your mom?" She says this out loud. "And your mother just stayed with him and never told you?"

That wasn't the worst part. Before I can tell her about Sarah Rose and the shelter someone knocks on the door.

Sophie answers it. "Ryker, nice to see you."

They hug, and she lets him inside.

"Hi," I tell him, once again he has showed up without even as much as a text message announcing his arrival but I'm beginning to get used to it. Maybe one day he'll trust that I won't run to the media and announce his arrival.

"Hey," he says, pecking me on the lips. "These are for you. New sponsor shit."

I clutch the giant bag.

"Are you going to open it?" He looks around the room sensing the funky vibe. "What the hell is going on?"

Sophie sits back down and clears her throat. "Savy got some bad news while you were away."

"Sophie," I snap. "Maybe I didn't want to say anything."

I watch the color slowly leave his face. I wonder if he thinks I'm about to tell him I'm pregnant.

I cross my arms. "I wasn't going to say anything to you. Because it's not your problem. But since Sophie has such a big mouth I'll just tell you."

He sits down. "So tell me."

"I found this the other day at my parents' house." I hand the birth certificate over. He rubs the back of his neck, barely acknowledging the paper.

"Yeah." He hands it back.

"What do you mean yeah?" I squeeze the plastic bag he just gave me a bit, angry that he's treating my crisis like it's nothing.

"I've been trying to find a way to tell you for four years now, that I think something is not right with your parents."

Talk about a punch to the gut. "What?"

"The night of the accident, you called me and wanted me to pick you up. I was going to tell you that night, but that obviously didn't happen."

"Tell me what?" I demand.

"That I might have seen your father doing some shady shit four years ago."

Sophie groans. "What kind of shady shit, Ryker? Don't you think this is something you might wanna tell a girl?"

"I looked into it. I couldn't prove anything. He was handing over what I thought at the time looked to be a lot of money to someone." He looks at me. "An older guy. Maybe he was paying someone off."

I clutch my chest. I can't breathe. This is all making me sick. "You saw my father paying someone and you never told me until just now when I show you a birth certificate?" I jump up. "A document showing that I am not my mother's child."

It's not the first time I've said it out loud. "And the woman who's my real mother is dead. And you just never told me?"

Ryker tugs down his hat. "It's not like I knew your parents were lying to you about something like that. I thought maybe he just had a gambling problem or something that he wasn't telling the family about. It happens all the time."

I shake my head. "Please leave."

"Savy," Ryker says.

"Just go." I don't want to talk to him. I have been talking to him for months now and not once has he ever bothered to tell me that he thought my father was hiding something from me.

He touches my arm, but I pull away. I shove the bag at him.

"I can't believe you're getting mad at me for this."

"Well, you know what?" I glare. "If you would have mentioned what you thought four years ago maybe I would have known sooner and not been blindsided with the truth."

He drops the bag at my feet. "This is fucked up. I'm out of here."

"Good." I follow him to the door and slam it before he can say anything else to me.

When I turn around, Sophie is looking at me.

I sigh. "When I started working for Jackson at the homeless shelter there was this man..." I explain the whole weird thing that I thought was nothing more than a coincidence until now.

When I finish, Sophie shakes her head. "You have to talk to him."

"I know. But Jackson thinks he's crazy. I'm not sure I can believe anything he says."

"You have to try." She touches my arm. "Savy, I tell you all the time I believe in divine intervention."

"I know. And I try to ignore you every time you say it."

She points a finger at me. "You quit school to work for free at the shelter where you possibly met your grandfather, the dad of the mother you never even knew existed."

"Why wouldn't my parents tell me this?" I shake my head. "Why would they let me think everything was fine all these years when it wasn't?"

I hate to think of what else I've been lied to about.

***

I can't sleep.

I roll over in bed and grab my phone off the nightstand. I don't know who I should call, so I call the only person that can make me feel better.

Jackson picks up on the second ring. "You're up late."

"I can't sleep." I draw up my legs and press my chin against my knees. "I've been lying here thinking of every worst-case scenario."

"I can imagine," he says softly. "Why don't you let me pick you up? We can hang out here at my place. Maybe it'll take your mind off things."

"I'm sure you have meetings or something in the morning." It's almost three in the morning.

"I'll cancel them."

"And the shelter," I point out.

"I'll have someone else go in for the day."

I sigh. "This is not your problem."

"I don't mind making it my problem. Besides, I think you would do the same thing for me."

He was right; I would. And it makes me sad that Ryker isn't anything like him.

"I can be there in about ten minutes." He waits for me to agree.

"Sounds good." Before I hang up I thank him for being way too amazing.

"There's nothing I wouldn't do for you, Savy. Don't worry about it. We'll figure this out. I promise."

I hang up the phone and fight tears. I gather up some clothes and a few things I'll need and tie my hair back in a ponytail. What I need to do right now is to get away. Because if I don't, I'm not so sure of what I might do.

I don't know if this secret is meant to be uncovered. And I don't know if I want to know why it became one in the first place.