He freezes, his blue eyes snapping to mine.
“What the hell happened?”
He shakes his head, letting out a shaky breath. “I don’t want to hurt Wyatt more than I already have, man.”
“I need to know why you assaulted my fucking captain,” I tell him, my tone as cold as ice. “It can stay between us, but Fork is drinking and when he’s drinking, he’s stupid. He might be putting it aside right now, but I guarantee it’ll come up again. I’ll hold him off if this makes sense, Dalton.”
EJ sighs, running a hand over his face. “It’s none of your business.”
“Sum it up without details.”
He stares at me, blue eyes searching mine for a hidden agenda. He finally deflates in defeat. “Wyatt and I talked about something personal, and when I heard Callum talking to Lemmy at the wedding, I realized he might be fucking him around.”
My brow furrows.Lemmyknows?
“Yeah, she was there,” he says, as if reading my mind. “I snapped, Cal got cocky, and I had this really fucking bad feeling that he was going to end up hurting Wyatt and that is my worst night?—”
He sucks in a sharp breath, his eyes fluttering. I watch him carefully. This isn’t easy for him. This group loves each other,but they have this…thingwith Caulfield. It’s like they’ll all individually protect him a bit more fiercely than the others. EJ especially. There is pain here. Unresolved, insurmountable pain.
“Is Saltzy doing something stupid?” I ask.
“I thought so,” he murmurs, but then he shrugs, “but it’s not my business, and I think I was wrong. I shouldn’t have lost it like that. I don’t… I don’t hit people, man. Wy has every right to be mad at me, regardless of the circumstances. I should have told him what I heard, not…”
Punched his boyfriend.
“So, you overheard Lemmy and Cal talking, and you confronted him,” I summarize, and he nods. “Cal probably gave you that emotionless, blunt demeanor that tends to provoke people’s tempers, and you got trigger-happy.”
EJ dips his chin. “Pretty much.”
“Is Wyatt okay?”
EJ’s eyes snap to mine. “I don’t know. He won’t talk to me.”
“Are him and Saltzy okay?”
He gives me a look. “I don’tknow,Boston. He won’t talk to me.”
“Alright.” I pat him on the shoulder. “Alright. Thanks for explaining, man. I’ll make sure Forker knows it’s not his place.”
EJ gives a sad little dip of his chin and heads right back out to the party without another word. I take a leak and wash my hands, thinking about what Cal could have possibly done for EJ to swing without thinking, and when I pull open the door, Eleanor Lemon is standing in front of me. She blinks, like she’s surprised to see me, and her cheeks go a bit pink as she straightens, glancing around the empty house.
I don’t think I have ever seen this woman blush before.
I stare at her. “Lem.”
“I have to pee,” she announces.
I give her a long look, slowly moving out of the way. “Okay.”
“Don’t look at me like that,” she snaps, storming into the bathroom. “Let me pee in peace.”
“By all means,” I say, holding up my hands.
She slams the door in my face and I blink, staring at it. That was the weirdest and most squirrelly interaction I have ever had with the most poised and rigid woman I know. What thehellwas that about?
I shake it off, heading back to the party. I can’t add Lemmy into my list of concerns tonight. That list is full.
It’s dark now. There’s a small fire going and games are still being played. Ari is draped in her brother’s oversized sweatshirt, curled up on a chair between Penny and Arden. I force myself not to stare at her as I return to the card game that the boys are playing. Both EJ and Wyatt are participants, but they aren’t talking, and that tension is felt.
