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Before I have the chance to answer, Reilly cuts in. “This asshole gave her away,” he slurs. “Just fucking gave her away like she didn’t mean shit to him. Threw her away like a piece of trash.” His arms wave around dramatically, highlighting how drunk he is. Clearly, he didn’t listen to my plea for him to sober up.
“What do you mean he gave her away?” Lya cocks a brow. “She’s not a fucking item you can just give away.” She has a point with that, but it really does feel like I treated her like an item that didn’t matter to me instead of my wife. My wife, who I was moving in the right direction with.
“He let that Zayan prick have her without a fight. Zayan came in, and Nix felt threatened and just handed her over.” Reilly takes a swig of vodka and shoots me an evil glare. He’s going to remind me every five minutes of what I did just to make sure I haven’t forgotten what I did.
“She’s with Zayan?” Lya asks, brows furrowed in confusion.
Here goes nothing. “Yes,” I growl. She is because I’m a fucking idiot. Now that the truth is out, I fully expect her best friend to go bat shit crazy on me.
But she doesn’t.
Her raspy laugh fills the foyer causing all three of our heads to snap in her direction. This woman finds out her best friend is trapped with the devil, and she fucking laughs.What the hell?Reilly growls at her reaction with a deadly look plastered on his face.
“Are you being serious? Cohutta is drunk off his ass in the middle of the day. Rush looks like he wants to murder you with his bare hands,” she mocks, pointing to me, “and you’re an asshole like usual. Are you all just so full of yourselves that this is your reaction when she chooses another man? I might have expected Marnix’s ego to be that big, but you two? That’s a surprise.”
Her reaction is…unexpected.
We all sit in silence, trying to process what’s happening right now, then it hits me.
She doesn’t know.
She can’t know.
If she did, she wouldn’t be acting like this. She wouldn’t be making a joke out of this. She’d be dripping murder until Tara was safe. I haven’t known Lya for long, but I know she’d burn down the world for Tara. She practically told me at our engagement party that she’d end my life if I hurt her friend, a promise she’ll likely make good on once she knows the whole truth.
But just like Lya, I’ll also end anyone to get Tara back in my arms.
My stomach twists at the realization that Tara went through all this shit alone. She didn’t even tell her best friend about her pain. She suffered in silence and somehow still managed to be one of the strongest women I’ve ever met in my life.
We’ve been so caught up in trying to find Tara, going through all the people we knew and all the people that could know Zayan, that we didn’t think about telling Lya. Shit, even Viper didn’t say anything to me and I know he knows her, but maybe he thought we’d already mentioned it to her. Tara was my main focus, and I feel like a fool now not even thinking about the person closest to her.
Just another moronic thing I’ve done in the last few days.
“Lya…” Rush draws out, agony straining his voice.
Lya scoffs, flipping her curly maroon hair over her shoulder. “What, did I hurt your feelings, big boy? If she wants to reconnect with her high school sweetheart, then let her be. She’s a grown damn woman and can make her own choices.”
I run my fingers through my hair and sigh. “Lya, I don’t think you know the whole story.”
Lya scoffs. “Of course, I know everything there is to know about Tara. She’s my best friend.”
“Not well enough,” Reilly mumbles and Lya shoots him a confused look.
“Why do you think Tara didn’t want to marry Zayan?” I inquire, trying to get a feel of what she actually knows.
“Because she’s just as stubborn as I am and doesn’t like to be told what to do. They had some problems in their relationship before, but what relationship doesn’t?” I internally cringe at the thought; I don’t think she understands the extent of their “problems.”
The way she’s acting is honestly starting to piss me off. Act like a cocky fucker, then you better be ready to back it up. She obviously doesn’t know what her best friend went through, and it’s time she learns. She’s about to have her attitude knocked down a few pegs.
“You waltz in my house like you know everything and demand shit from us that we can’t give you. But you don’t know everything like you think you do. She married me to get away from that asshole. She would’ve rather spent an eternity with my egotistical ass than a fucking monster like him,” I snarl, my emotions getting the better of me.
Lya stiffens and glares right into my eyes like she’s ready to pop off.
“What Nix is trying to say is that Zayan isn’t who you think he is. I’m not sure how much she told you about her relationship with him, but it’s worse than whatever you’re thinking,” Rush intervenes before it gets messy.
“Care to explain?” She draws her attention to Rush, giving me time to breathe. I’ve always been irritable, but it’s been amped up to a hundred since Tara’s been gone.
“He wasn’t good to her. He was pure evil.” Rush sucks in a deep breath, hesitating before he continues, “He drugged her, abused her, and he… he raped her repeatedly.” Rush continues telling her the whole story of Zayan and Tara’s past and how she ended up in his hands. It’s gruesome, disgusting, and brutal to hear, reminding me even more of the danger Tara currently faces.
