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It was a lie.One that my entire family had been in on.
Uncle Leo and Hadley—the two people I looked up to and loved more than anything. Emma, my best friend. These people who I’d called my family.
Suddenly, I felt like that wasn’t the case at all.
I was embarrassed and angry.
I felt stupid.
They all knew.
“Let’s go inside, Meyah,” Uncle Leo insisted, reaching for me.
I snatched my arm away from his grasp, staring up at him with narrowed eyes and tears balancing on my lashes. He clenched his jaw tightly, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw people start to move away and head inside. Only Romeo, Blizzard, and Optimus stayed, but they stood back.
“You’rehisold lady.His.It’s his call. Not mine.”
“Not anymore. He gave up that right the moment he stuck his dick inside another girl.” I saw my uncle clearly flinch at my use of words, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t a little girl anymore. After I said the words, something else clicked inside my head, and instantly, I felt like the world was caving in around me. “But that was something you all knew about, too, wasn’t it, and nobody said a damn thing.”
Uncle Leo shook his head. “You don’t just walk away from being an Old Lady, Meyah. That’s not how it works here.”
“Yeah. I’m starting to see how it works here. You take his side, and screw how I feel about it,” I threw back. “The word family mean anything to you?”
“Yeah, it means a lot to me,” he growled, in a tone I’d heard him use before, but he’d never directed at me. It sent a chill through my body. It made me want to run, get the hell out of there, and Leo had always been the one I would run to when I was scared. “But apparently, you’re willing to turn your back on it in the blink of an eye and fly halfway across the damn country like we don’t matter. Without even a fucking goodbye.”
I took a step back, a jolt running through my body like I’d been shocked, and my heart stopped.
“That’s enough,” Optimus ordered sternly, finally stepping forward like the referee in a boxing match when he could tell one of the fighters had taken a heavy hit and he was going down.
That was me.
I felt Uncle Leo’s words like a right hook.
Holy shit!Was I being a totally selfish bitch?
I backed away.
This wasn’t our relationship.
We were stronger than this. And if we didn’t stop now, one of us was going to get hurt.
“I need to go,” I whispered, holding out my hand for the keys to my mom’s car.
Uncle Leo clenched his fists and shook his head, but I could see the anger starting to leave him. “Girl, just come inside. I haven’t seen you in fucking months.”
My throat burned with emotion, and I coughed, trying to clear it. “I love you. But right now, I think it’s better if I just go clear my head… before one of us says something we’re gonna regret.”
“You’re upset…”
“I’ll go with her,” Romeo offered, stepping forward. And at this moment, given he was the only one willing to stand up and tell me the truth, it was probably a good idea it was him. He walked around to the passenger’s side, Uncle Leo watching him like a hawk with his eyes narrowed. Romeo, though, he wasn’t scared of anyone. My uncle, who would usually make people shit their pants, was barely a blip on his radar.
And right now, I needed someone who was going to stand on my side.
“Please,” I murmured, reaching out my hand a little further.
Reluctantly, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out the keys, placing them in my hand. When I closed my hand around them, he didn’t let go, and instead tugged me forward. His arms came around me, wrapping me in his warmth and soothing the raging anger inside me for a brief moment.
I let him hold me against his chest taking one last moment to inhale and breathe in the smell I knew so well.
