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“We took her.” Hawk steps forward, his eyes on me.
I lean back into Ev, not realizing I’m doing it until Hawk stops.
“What do you mean you took her?” Wilder looks from Hawk to me with a frown.
My heart rate picks up again, knowing this is going to go bad quickly. “I’ll just leave you to talk.”
“Stay,” Oz barks, making me narrow my eyes on him.
“I’m not a fucking dog, Oz, but honestly, I’m so uncomfortable right now, I’m scared I’ll puke all over you.”
Slade rolls his eyes. “If you were afraid of us, you wouldn’t have stepped in front of Ev.”
“Are you serious?” Ev snarls. “You think she’s not scared because she stepped in front of me? She’s shaking like a fucking leaf, but she stepped in front of me because she thinks you’re less likely to hurt her than you are me right now.”
Exactly. How does he read me so well? I feel Hawk’s eyes on me and know he’s wondering the same thing.
“She stepped in front of a bullet aimed at Creed. She is used to putting her safety on the line for others,” Greg says.
“We’re fucking family,” Zig barks. “No matter what, we don’t hurt our family.”
“I don’t think family means what you think it does.”
“And what would you know?” Oz snaps before wincing. “Shit, sorry.”
I shrug. “You kind of just proved my point. You once told me that I was family. But I didn’t realize there were strings attached.”
The room is silent as I take a deep breath. Ev gives my hips a squeeze in support. “I’m not going to stand here while you go over the same shit I’ve had to live with for the last few years. You want to witness the car crash? Go for it. But that car crash was my fucking life, and where were you all? You said we were family, but you didn’t say we were family as long as I was with Hawk and Creed. I should have known that, but I was just so excited to be getting a bunch of big brothers. I should have read the small print,” I huff.
“You left, Avery. You didn’t just leave Hawk and Creed, you left all of us too,” Wilder says, his eyes wide.
“I would never have left you,” I whisper, my world bleeding with pain. “I would’ve settled for the scraps Hawk and Creed fed me if it meant keeping you all. I loved you all so much, but you never loved me the same.”
“We—” I shake my head when Oz starts to speak.
“You never looked for me. You never wondered what could have happened that was so bad that I’d leave this all behind, which is a non-issue because I didn’t leave on purpose. You never cared enough to find me, hold me, tell me that it didn’t matter if me, Hawk, and Creed went up in flames because you would all still love me unconditionally.”
“You can’t just blame us, Avery. A phone works two ways. Not once did you try to call us. To let us know you were okay or not. You say you love us, but you gave up on us too,” Crew says.
I look at him, wanting to argue, but he’s right. I could have called them. I could have let them know what happened. The truth is, I was afraid, and it was easier to be mad and blame them.
Ev turns me in his arms and peers down at me, ignoring everyone else in the room. “You want me to take you out of here? I will. Just say the word. You want to head back to the bedroom and let me deal with this? I can do that too. You’re the one calling the shots.”
I close my eyes and breathe him in, letting his smell comfort me. “I want to take a shower. I want to put on something clean, something other than a freaking T-shirt and shorts. I just want a minute to myself before we move on to the next drama. And I want a phone so I can make a call. It’s really important I make that call, Ev.”
He looks at me, even though people are arguing behind us. “I’ll make it happen. There’s a bathroom just off the bedroom. Go take a shower or, better yet, a bath. Take whatever of mine you want from the dresser, and I’ll get your things back. And if they refuse, we’ll just order you new stuff online. We’ll do the phone call after. I’ll set you up with a phone that can’t be traced back to here.”
“Thank you.” The gratitude I feel for this man is staggering.
“You don’t need to thank me, Avery. It’s my pleasure.”
He kisses my forehead again before nodding for me to leave. I’m almost to the door when Creed calls my name. I hesitate before turning around.
“We need to talk. This isn’t over.”
I shake my head. “It was over the second you believed I walked away.”
Chapter Eighteen
