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“Will you be there?” I ask, biting my lower lip.
“If you want me there, I’m there.”
“I do,” I decide. “And Roscoe. He really likes Roscoe.”
“Okay.”
“It’s Noah’s night to come over for dinner. We usually go out, but maybe it’s better if I order in.”
“I’ll get Roscoe to pick up food from Hanna’s. I’ll pick Noah up at school. We’ll all meet at your place for eight. That’s when you get off, right?”
“Yeah.” I sigh heavily. “Tonight’s gonna suck.”
“Probably, but we’ll get through it,” he says with steely determination. “I’ll take a quick shower and drive you to the diner.” With that, he gets up and walks to the bathroom, and I get a great view of his magnificent ass.
* * *
Wildcard
The evening goes as wellas it could. Noah loses it. He’s hurting. His rage is understandable, and after the shock wore off, protectiveness came.
“I’m going to find him, and I’m going to kill him,” Noah shouts.
“Stop, Noah. I don’t want you to get into any trouble,” Charlotte tells him.
“What kind of father does that to his own baby girl? He’s a slimy son of a bitch. He needs to have his nuts cut off,” Noah snaps.
Roscoe and I look at one another and decide to give him a few more minutes of letting it all out before we tell him the rest. So far, Charlotte’s shared how their father molested her, and about the visit to her campus. Noah already knew his mother was abused. We haven’t shared the latest incident. It’s got to be done. Charlotte and I decided to rip the bandage off and give it to him all in one night.
“Bud, there’s more. Come sit back down.” I invite him to sit next to me.
“More?” he yells. “How the hell can there be more? More than this?”
The kid’s trying to keep it together, but this is a lot to take in. I jerk my head to the place next to me and wait a beat for him to sit himself back down. Charli’s holding on to my hand for dear life. I’m going to have imprints of her fingernails digging into my skin for a week.
“Charli thought the end was the night at her dorm. But the other evening, I caught him chasing after her. Good thing your sister can run. I jumped in his path. He tried to push me out of the way, but I wasn’t going to let him anywhere near your sister. I didn’t know all this then, or I would have killed him myself.”
Noah’s jaw drops. “He came here and got in your face.” Noah looks past me to his sister. “Is he fucking insane?”
I don’t give Charli a chance to answer before I say, “Yeah, he is.”
Roscoe, who’s been quiet up to now, finally speaks. “Bud, we know this is a shit ton to take in. It’s taken Charlotte years to finally tell someone. When someone takes away a piece of you, it leaves you feeling vulnerable. Look at your sister,” he tells him, and when he does, he says, “She’s hurting. She’s been keeping this from you to protect you. What Charlotte didn’t know until today is that the Pride has her back. Not just because you belong to us, but because she’s an amazing woman who risked her own life to save her brother. Your sister’s a fighter, and she’s not fighting alone anymore.”
“Noah, he called me a whore,” Charlotte says. Noah’s back stiffens. “I don’t know why he hates me so much. The next day, after he did what he did, he left.”
“You’re not a whore, Lollie. You’re the best person I know,” he says through clenched teeth. “He comes near you again—”
“We got this, bud,” I tell him. “I got your sister’s back, and yours.”
“We all do,” Roscoe adds. “Here’s our dilemma. Why does he hit up on Charlotte and not you? Where the fuck is he hiding? And most importantly, what does he want?”
“It’s always about money,” Charlotte says.
“Lollie’s been through enough. This has to stop,” Noah says. He looks directly into my eyes and asks, “You said you’re her man, right?” He waits for me to nod. “You’ll keep her safe?”
“Damn straight. The club is going to keep you both safe.”
“Maybe, we should leave for a while,” Charlotte suggests.
