Page 98 of Chasing Home
A hush falls over the lot of us as she drops that bomb. The woman in front of us is the first to gather herself. She snorts, a phony smile appearing. The shake at the edges of it catches my attention, and I latch onto that nervous movement, my mind turning a million miles a minute.
“You aren’t the first to claim such a thing, and you won’t be the last. Leave. Now.”
Rory pushes forward, ignoring the order. “No. I know he’s inside, and I didn’t come all the way here to be turned away. I’ve waited thirty years for this moment, and I’m taking it.”
The door guardian’s cheeks flare with red splotches as she glances at security, nodding quickly. They start in our direction on her demand, and I put myself in their path before they can get to the both of us.
Aurora levels the woman with an icy glare and steps toward her. “Tell him that I’m here.”
“No.”
“Please. Just tell him.”
The devastation in her tone crushes me. I’m too fucking helpless in this situation. Short of kicking down the door and hauling Lee out myself, there isn’t anything I can do to help her.
“No. Now, leave,” the woman hisses.
Rory’s shoulders rise and fall rapidly, her eyes trained on the door in front of her. I’m about to say fuck it to the consequences and kick that door down for her when it opens on its own.
If I hadn’t seen him a handful of times around town when I was a boy, the gasp that escapes my girl would be enough to tell me exactly who it is that opened it.
“What’s goin’ on out here? You itchin’ for a noise complaint, Beck?”
Beck. The woman at the door balks at his question and spins to scold him. “Go back inside, Lee. You’re doing exactly what you’re not supposed to right now. You have security for a reason.”
He peers at me for a moment, sizing me up before doing the same to Aurora. I wait for the recognition to hit him. For some fatherly instinct to come alive inside of him that says this is his daughter, but when he dismisses her with a scowl, I can almost hear her heart crack.
“Why have they not been taken back downstairs?” he asks, but I’m not paying enough attention to him to know who he’s speaking to.
I’m focused on Aurora instead. On the paleness of her skin and slow rise and fall of her chest. Lips parted on silent words, she just stares at him. I move as close to her as I can without taking her strength.
There’s no doubt that she’s Lee Rose’s daughter. Maybe I forgot what he looked like after all these years to not have pieced together their similarities. They’re not as obvious as mine to my mom, but seeing them so close together . . . it’s impossible to miss.
Rory’s eyes have always drawn me to her, and now, they’re the first thing I notice staring across the hall at Lee. It’s hard not to see those same angry, rough waves that dare you to jump in without a life jacket. There’s only one difference between them, and that’s that Rory swept me up and out of those waves, and Lee would have ordered the captain of the ship to leave me there to drown.
I close off all other thoughts of their similarities because while they may share the natural wavy curls in their hair and the small upturn at the end of their noses, they couldn’t be more opposite deep down.
“Do you know anyone with the last name Bennett?” Rory asks.
Lee visibly jumps at the sound of her voice, his cheeks blanching as if he’s seen a ghost. Or heard one, more like.
“No.”
Rory’s next words are little more than an exhale. “You’re lying.”
Lee’s face tightens when she speaks again. He looks at her, his eyes catching on hers before widening for the briefest of seconds, as if he’s seeing for the first time how similar they are to his. “Where did you hear that name?”
“Go back inside, Lee. We’ll have them taken back downstairs,” Beck says, attempting to usher him through the door.
He lifts a hand and takes a step around her, repeating his question. “Where did you learn that name?”
“It’s my last name,” Rory states bluntly.
“A coincidence,” he chuffs, turning his nose up at her.
“It isn’t, and you know it.”
Beck slips out from beside Lee, and I watch in slow motion as she rushes toward the security guards lingering nearby. They move toward us with predator-like stealth, following her direction without hesitation.