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“I also wouldn’t have been your captive audience when you visited me every day and insisted I try law.”
Enoch grins. “I had motives, too, but that doesn’t change the fact that I believed in you. I knew you were an amazing man, and when the time was right, I would tell you about the amazing man you got it from. I know this isn’t easy to hear, and you feel betrayed, but know that I suffered with you every single day. I felt your pain and cried with you on those lonely nights. But I had to wait until you were ready to accept my role in your life.”
Is that true? Would I have shut him down if he came to me with some bullshit grandfather story?
Yeah, I most definitely would have. I’m still paranoid about the people I allow in my life. After my mom’s murder, I was even more so. I would have thought Enoch was part of the cover-up, no matter what he told me. And did my behavior need to be checked? Probably. I was out of control and had spent every night with a match in my hand and rage in my veins. Hell, I started getting justice for anyone I saw who needed it—down to small shit like purse snatching and alley fights.
“Why not tell me when we moved to Georgia? You had to know I was coming for Reese.”
Enoch nods. “I knew what she meant to you, but I also believed you would know she didn’t betray you deep in your heart. You wouldn’t have married her, Alistair, if you had believed she did.”
“But—”
He holds up a finger. “You swore on God’s word that only death would separate you. I know what His law means to you just as you know what it means to me. You won’t divorce her unless she breaks the covenant outlined in the Word, and you wouldn’t promise the rest of your life on a punishment.”
Fuck him. “You don’t know me.”
“That’s one thing I do know, son. I know your heart. I was there when you picked up its pieces and rebuilt it stronger. You loved Reese, and I didn’t care how much property I had to buy in Georgia. I wanted you to find her and show her the man behind the pain—the redeemed man worthy of love.”
I scoff. “You’re wrong. I’m not worthy. I let her go.”
Van
“So, the reason you’re throwing all her shit in a bag isn’t because you’re going to set it on fire?”
I cut Bach an annoyed look. “I asked you to come over and cat sit, not ask dumb questions.”
Why can’t he grab the cat and fucking leave?
“I thought you were just making excuses for me to come over.”
I blink. “What am I? A vagina? I don’t need a fucking girl chat. I save those for my therapist.”
If I still saw my therapist.
“So, you don’t want to talk about what happened with you and Teach?” He pushes off the wall, finding another perch on my dresser to annoy me.
“Nothing happened between Enoch and me,” I lie.
Bach chuckles, knowing good and fucking well what happened. All of my brothers know what happened. They’re all a bunch of fucking gossips. “You mean to tell me the Bronco simply combusted?”
“Stranger things have happened.” I shrug.
“You are one cagey bastard, Al.”
I hate when he fucking calls me Al.
“And you are one nosy bitch, Zo.”
His eyes narrow at the nickname, but it doesn’t stop his mouth from opening again. “We’ve all had to pay the price for Eden, not just you.”
“I know that.” I just wasn’t aware what the cost of mine was until yesterday.
“And do you understand how painful that must have been for him?”
Unfortunately, I do. Bach is wasting his time with this chat full of life lessons and feelings. After speaking with Enoch yesterday, I understand why he reported me. Sometimes, the best things in life are born from pain. Not that I didn’t already have a shit-ton of pain, but still, I understand I was dead inside when Enoch found me.
If I had run away with Reese back then, I would have only caused her pain. I couldn’t love or sacrifice—all things required for a marriage. She and I would have used the pain from our past, and the world would have suffered because of our hate. Reese deserved better than that. I wasn’t the man for her back then, and I’m likely still not, but I’ve waited long enough to have her.
