“You should go after her.”
“No, I shouldn’t.” I mumble before turning onto the road in the opposite direction of where she’s heading.
“He was like a father to you, wasn’t he?”
“Yeah, they were there when shit got bad. Took me in for a while. Gave me a purpose.”
“What do you mean?”
Shit, I hate it when I divulge too much information.
“He showed me how to be confident and trust myself.” I cansee the confusion on his face already. “Ash came from a really fucked-up place and he made his own life, his own way. I think he saw a lot of himself in me, and he didn’t want me to make the same mistakes he did.”
“Like joining the club in general?”
“He never saw joining the MC as a mistake.” I pause as I pull back up to his car, and he gets out, grabbing our phones out of it before coming back and closing the door. “The club gave him a family.”
I add nothing else because there’s nothing else I can say or, really, nothing else I want to say. Sure, the entire force knows my family’s messed up, but I don’t talk about it.
21
Sitting in the rental, I stare out the window. The sun’s high in the sky in the distance makes it feel as if time’s just passing me by. The ringing of my phone causes me to jump, a hopeful thought that it’s him calling me, apologizing for how I’ve been alone all day.
Seeing my brother’s name come up on the screen breaks me a little.
“Hey,” I try to make it sound as chipper as possible.
“We’re heading out to Purgatory.”
“Why?”
“I’m actually surprised you’re not here.” He lets a quiet chuckle out. “I mean, you’re usually the one who knows about things before anyone else.”
“The fuck are you talking about, Zeke?” I can’t help but snap at him.
“They arrested Z this morning.”
“What?” My feet falling off the table in front of me as I sit up straight. It makes sense now. Eli told me he’d let me know before something happened, and this happened with no warning. He left knowing he’d be arresting him and just left me here. A brief image of him kissing me before he left plagues mymind as I realize he must have known
“Yeah, Tate’s husband arrested him this morning. Eli got in the car with Z and let him call us.”
Hearing his name is like a shot to the heart.
I’m not surprised to hear about Tate’s husband, though. Eli’s told me enough about it for me to know what’s going on. But I also know my brother, and I’m sure he didn’t let her go that easily. Or maybe he did. Maybe he thought she’d be better off.
Fucking martyrs.
“We’re taking her and the girls up to purgatory to be safe.”
“Cause it’s only a matter of time before her husband comes back.”
“Exactly.” He pauses for a moment before letting out a brief chuckle. “You may want to head up as well.”
“Zeke, I’m so far removed from what’s going on.”
“Are you, though? Your apartment’s paid from Z’s accounts.”
“Shit.” I mumble to myself as I shake my head.
