I stared at him. Hard.
Eli didn’t look away. There was no flicker of hesitation or question in his eyes. He didn’t move at all, holding my gaze the whole time.
He was lying.
I’d grown up with Elijah Turner. Not many knew when he was holding something back, but I did. I had studied him all my life. That’s what I did when he had the girl I loved. And I knew he was bluffing. I wondered if Elijah had even seen Emerson last night.
When I got into the truck, I called Braden. “We have a problem.”
I wanted the guys to meet at The Shack, but Braden mentioned it’d be better if we met somewhere Peter and Priss wouldn’t know about. My old house it was. Pulling into my driveway, I looked at my house—my dad’s house—and heaved a breath. Getting out of the truck, I could tell it’d been freshly painted. The last step had been fixed. The crack was gone from the middle of it. Heading up to the back door, I noticed the knob was secured back into place. Skimming an eye at Braden’s house, I saw the curtain from Bri’s old room had fallen back into place. A second later, her light switched off, and the knot was back in my gut. I had started calling the damn thing the Bri knot.
“What am I going to do with you?” I muttered under my breath. I wasn’t sure whom I meant, the knot or the girl.
“Yo.” Braden had come out of their back door and jumped over their patio steps. Landing smoothly on his feet, he stuffed his hands into his pockets and hunched his shoulders over, darting over to me. “Did you stay at The Shack last night? Bri said you never came back here.”
Of course, she would’ve known.
Had she been watching for me the whole night? I grimaced. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. “I had to air out the place, didn’t figure on driving back. It was too late.” After I unlocked the door, we filtered inside. Shit. I stopped abruptly. The air was heavy, and there was an undercurrent of stale booze. I could smell it all. Tears, blood, screams, crying, my dad’s cursing. Even now, I flinched because I could imagine the scrape of his boot when he stood from the couch. I never knew if he would head to my room and decide to beat me or if he would leave me alone. Fuck. That fear was still there; it had a death grip on me.
Braden mused beside me, “The place hasn’t changed much.”
I wanted to burn the place down. “No, it doesn’t seem like it.”
We heard tires on the loose gravel outside as someone else pulled into the driveway. The stairs creaked loudly underneath Gunn’s weight. He looked freshly showered and relaxed. Giving us a wink, he said, “Hey there.”
“I see you had a good night with the girlfriend.”
“Yeah, man.”
Braden frowned, hopping onto the counter. “We need to meet this chick.”
“She’s no chick. She’s a woman.” Gunn went to the kitchen table and sat down. He shook his head. “And no way am I letting her meet you. You and Luke are too pretty. The girls go crazy over you. You can meet her on our wedding day. Too late to leave me then.”
Braden grinned. “Aw, sweet, controlling love.”
Gunn gave him the middle finger, remarking, “Nah, that’s called being smart.”
I barked out a laugh. “Something you don’t know, huh?”
“Hey!” Braden swung his head from Gunn to me, then back. “Pick on Braden Day? Is that what this is?”
“Stuff it. Like you can’t handle it.” Gunn leaned back in his chair, trying to restrain a smile. “You start it half the time.”
Braden laughed. “You’re right, I do. Okay, carry on. I wish you many nights of sex and blow jobs.” He gave me a look, and just like that, I knew the joking was done. It was time for our unofficial meeting.
This was going to suck ass. Emerson was a pain, but we had grown up with him. He was like a brother to us. However, it was time, and feeling like I was about to hang a friend out to dry, I started it off. “Emerson relapsed last night.”
“He uses every night,” Gunn said so matter-of-factly.
I asked, “Every night?’
He shared a look with Braden who nodded and added, “It’s been every night.”
“Then it’s worse than I thought.”
“He’s going to be a liability.” Gunn seemed to hesitate. “We need to cut him from the band.”
“I agree,” Braden said quickly. His head was down, and his shoulders were tense. “I love him. He’s family, but he’s going to bring us down. It’s only a matter of time.”
“I’m down for Bri coming back.” The suggestion came from Gunn. Both Braden and I swung our heads around, and he shrugged. “Like we’re not all thinking it. I know you two have had words about her, but the girl is magic behind those drums. We all know it.”
Fucking hell. I could feel that tsunami getting closer and closer, and I didn’t know if I was ready for it or not.
Braden murmured quietly, “I think the decision is Luke’s. We all know my vote on that one.”
Gunn lifted his hand in the air. “I vote we ask her,” he added, “I fucking love this band. This is my livelihood, too. I know I hit the lottery when she dropped out. Emerson’s like a brother now, but he’s going down a bad road, and we all know it. We’ve tried for a year, more than a year for you guys, and he won’t stop. We have to cut him loose. She’ll make the band better. It’s a clear-cut decision.”
Braden’s eyes were getting bigger and bigger as Gunn talked. “Is this a yes? Should I talk to her? Is this really a go?”
I could feel Braden’s excitement. Gunn grunted in approval.
“What about Emerson?” Braden asked both of us.
Emerson was family, but he was going to hurt us. “We’ll figure something out with him.”
Braden didn’t respond, and Gunn’s tone turned soft. “I love the guy. This hurts me, too.”
It was hurting all of us.