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“Oz!” Eli stalks out of the crowd, his eyes narrowing in on my hands on Emily’s face. “Let her go.”
I shift then nudge my shoulder in front hers to protect her from Eli’s wrath. Emily shocks me by surging forward. “You went to prison!”
Eli rears back like she slapped him and the blood drains from my head and out my toes. Someone told her. Someone told Emily the one secret we all knew and Emily was never supposed to find out.
“You went to prison!” she yells again.
There’s not a sound in the yard except for shuffling on the porch. It’s Violet and she holds her elbows to her chest. I briefly shut my eyes. Violet.
“Who told you?” Eli demands.
“It doesn’t matter who told me. What matters is that you didn’t and what matters is that the reason you went to prison was for attempted murder and the reason my mom left is because you tried to kill her brother!”
“Emily...” Eli drops his head and my soul is breaking for both of them.
“You lied,” she spits out. She scans the yard as Olivia and Mom squeeze through the crowd. “You are all liars! You said you’re legit. You said this isn’t how you behave and you went to prison!”
Emily’s shaking. She’s shaking and she’s wiping her eyes. This is killing her and that’s when it hits me, I’m not the only one she fell in love with. She also learned to love her biological father. I touch her back, daring to offer her comfort, and her shoulders roll forward.
“Did you know?” she whispers to me. “Is this what he forbade you to tell me?”
A few hours ago, I told Emily that we needed to play our cards right to make this work. I could lie to her now to save my relationship with the club and Eli. I could act as if she doesn’t matter to me, but I won’t hurt Emily. “Yes.”
She glances at me from over her shoulder and the pure pain there strikes me hard and fast. “Let me get you inside,” I say so only she can hear.
“Emily,” Eli tries again, but she raises her hand in the air.
“Just don’t.” I don’t like how her body sways from one side to the next. “I want to go home, Oz.”
“All right,” I say softly, “I’ll get you home.”
Like I did the first night Emily arrived, I bend my knees and swing her up into my arms. And also like that night, Emily grabs on to me and rests her head in the crook of my neck.
Eli slides in front of me, anger marring his expression. It’s vicious and full of death. For seven years, I’ve worshipped the ground he’s walked on. Never giving a shit one way or another that he served time. But Emily was right. I should be concerned about integrity issues. I’ve betrayed him, but by hurting Emily, he’s betrayed me.
“Let me get her down,” I say. “And then you can deal with me.”
The circle of men part. None of them will meet my eyes and I refuse to look anywhere other than straight ahead. Once I reach the porch, Violet opens the door then follows me in.
“Please don’t tell Eli that I told her,” she begs.
I say nothing as I enter Emily’s room. Emily releases me when I lay her on the bed, but snags my hand as I start to straighten. “I messed everything up, didn’t I?”
“No. It was messed up before we had a chance to do the damage ourselves.” I remember Mom warning me off of Emily the night she arrived. The night I dragged Emily into that crevice at the motel and damned her to our world.
Mom said Emily was surrounded by land mines and Mom was scared of me becoming collateral damage. She said it like I had a choice in becoming involved, but I didn’t. This fire was set eighteen years ago when Meg and Eli fell in love and had a baby. They tore each other apart then made decisions that continue to have a domino effect. Now Emily and I are left to battle the flames.
Emily sits up and backs into the corner of the wall with her knees drawn to her chest. There’s a dip on the bed. Lars pads over then collapses at her side. Emily stares emptily into the room and lifts a hand on top of the dog’s head. His droopy eyes flicker from Emily to me then he lets out a loud sigh.
I scratch behind his ear. “Stay with her, boy.”
He whines and Emily slowly pets him. “Do you have to go?”
“Party’s over and I have some explaining to do.”
“I’ve cost you what you want. There’re going to kick you out, aren’t they?”
I punched a brother and from the show I put on with Emily, it’s obvious she and I have been intimate. Yeah, I would say that the cut I’m wearing on my back will be gone by sunrise.
