God, does he really believe his dad will allow that after the way he attacked me? Something big has gone down. There’s no sweeping this under the rug. How could I ever feel safe here after this?
“Ol’ lady? Alec, we’re fucking kids to them. They’re not going to take us seriously.”
“Of course they will. We’ll get married, and you’ll live with me here.”
No. No. No. I don’t even recognize the man before me. Why would he risk me going back there? “You really believe we should get married and live at the club? What about school and our plans to travel?”
He reaches for my hands, stroking the pads of his thumbs over the backs.
“Things change, Drew. We can travel when the time is right.”
“Why is now not the right time?” Run away with me, Alec, I want to scream, but I need him to want that, to choose me.
“Because I’m newly patched in. It comes with responsibilities.” He drops my hands, closing his eyes for a second.
“Is this really what you want?” I ask, desperate for him to tell me what’s really going on his mind. I’ve known this boy since he was eight years old. He’s hiding something. He’s frowning like it’s physically paining him to say the words. “What the hell did your dad mean when he said ‘sins of the father’? What did my dad do? Do you know?” I outright ask him. If he lies, he erases everything we are, were. Setting my soul on fire. I need him to be honest, to show me he’s got my back.
“Drew,” he says my name on a shallow breath.
No. No. No. What is he keeping from me?
“Just tell me if you know. Do you know where he is?”
He just stares at me, begging me to drop it with his intense glare. It’s too late to go back. It’s too late for us. I feel it in the marrow of my bones. A frantic rush of fear and anxiety forces my blood screaming through my veins. My hands begin to tremble. “Your silence is destroying me.”
Sickness stirs inside me. I lower my face to the ground. Looking at him hurts. “Just tell me…” I plead.
“Drew…”
My soul aches with how brokenly he says my name. “Stop saying my name for fuck’s sake!” I screech. His eyes flit to the fence separating us from the club.
“I…” he starts, but my phone rings, stopping him.
“My aunt.” I roll my eyes, unlocking the phone, trying to fill my lungs so I can breathe.
“What is it?” I ask down the receiver. My aunt’s frantic mumbles bellow through the line. “He’s dead. They killed him. Dumped on the lawn.”
“What? Who?” I ask in a daze, already knowing the answer. My head becomes foggy as my legs weaken beneath me.
“Mitch. He’s dead on my lawn. Oh God…oh God.”
“No…no...no….” My stomach knots, twisting. I gaze up at Alec. His face loses all color, and my eyes fill with rivets of tears. My phone drops to the grass as my legs give way and my knees hit the ground.
“Drew…” He rushes toward me, and I can’t hold my hand up to stop his approach.
“Don’t come near me!” I scream. “Oh God. Oh God. Oh God,” I weep, gasping for air. Why can’t I breathe? My body convulses, heaving up bile. They killed him. The club, where I spent more than half my life growing up, killed him.
“Drew…baby, please.” His words are meaningless. What can he possibly say to make this okay?
“Who did it?” I look up at him, wiping my mouth clean.
“Did what?” he asks, and rage washes through me, the world becoming red.
Eleven
Alec
A second later…
Fuck! How is this happening? Moments ago, she was in my arms. I was breathing her in, forgetting how much has changed in the last couple days. I'm different now, and she is too.
I don't know what to say. I fucking hate Mitch for what he did, but he was still her dad, and now she's going to hate me. I can't bear for that to happen, but there's no getting away from it. What the fuck am I supposed to do? The body was never supposed to be found. My old man told me he would be buried and just go down as missing. How has his body already been found?
"Who did it?" She looks up at me, wiping her mouth clean.
"Did what?" I ask, knowing I'm a cunt. She's on her feet in an instant, pummeling her fists against my chest.
"How dare you! How fucking dare you! Who did it? Who killed him?" she bellows, hysterical, tears leaking from her eyes, her palm slapping me across the cheek with such force, my head whips to the side. I grab her hand as she goes in for another slap and pull her against my chest.
"He was talking to the feds," I whisper against her hair. I don't add that he fucking killed my mom. She doesn't need to know he was capable of that.
Hiccupping, she pulls away, utter destruction pouring off her in waves. I know what it feels like. I've been where she is. The agony of losing my mom is raw, and learning she was murdered was like having salt poured into the wound. She stares at my patch, shaking her head. "Oh my God, it was you, wasn't it?" She stumbles away from me, her eyes wide.
"Drew," I say, edging forward.
Her arms wrap around her waist as she bends over, retching, a horrific sob ripping from her body. My fucking heart breaks. I've never seen her like this before. She’s tough—my rock. Fuck. I want to help her, but I don't know how.
"We're done," she states so calmly, it's haunting. She rises to stand, her hands dropping to her sides. Every emotion wipes clean from her face. She’s morphing right in front of me, turning it all off, numbing the pain. "We're so fucking done," she adds, turning away from me.
"Drew, don't! Let me explain shit."
She ignores me and begins walking away. I grab her phone and follow behind her.
"It's not what you think. Let me explain."
Her strides become faster and faster, until she's at a flat-out run.
"I have your phone. Please wait, let me explain."
When she passes the entrance, Mason’s waiting there. He watches her run past him and jumps out to stop me. "Let her go, man."
"Get the fuck off me." I shove him to the ground.
"Alec, let her have tonight to deal. Go see her tomorrow. You owe her that much," he barks up at me from where he landed.
My heart races. Her conviction when saying we were done was like being hit with a sledgehammer. "What the fuck are you even doing here?" I spit out, pain and anger coursing through me, conflicting with each other, leaving me exhausted.
"She called me. Asked me to be here in case it was a setup."
"What the fuck?" She didn't trust me.
"She didn't know if your dad sent the text."
She doesn't even like Mason, that's how desperate she felt.
"What the hell would you have been able to do if it was him?" I throw my arms in the air, fuming.
"Tell you what happened if it was him and she ended up in the lake." He gets to his feet, brushing off his legs. "Dick,” he adds.
"I can't leave it like this…leave her the way she was." I run my hands through my hair. "Fuck."