“She’s doing what?” Eli emerges from the darkness as if he were a mirage that took physical form and his expression proves he has a direct linkup to the demons that prance inside him.
“It’s not a big deal,” I say. “I’d like to go for a ride. Clear my head.” Not be around so many guys from the Terror.
“You should ask your mom and she’s inside asleep. So’s your brother.”
From this distance, I bet I could use the crutch to knock the hell out of his balls.
“Jesus, you’re a wet blanket.” Pigpen walks up from behind Eli and grins like he just escaped from prison. “Why are you giving the girl hell for wanting to go to an army bar at midnight? It’s not like she told you she was going to kick puppies.”
Pigpen winks at me. “You ready to roll? Or should I say hop?”
My glare informs him where he can shove hop. He waggles his eyebrows in response.
“It’s just to pick up Mom,” Chevy says. “I’ll take her home, then I’ll bring Violet back. I’ve done it a hundred times.”
My chest aches. Normal. He’s describing normal. A normal from before Dad died, but a normal nonetheless. It’s what everyone wants, but I’m not sure if I’ll feel normal again. At least not where it counts—deep on the inside where I can’t even fake it or lie to myself.
“I don’t know,” Eli says.
“It’s a good way to figure out if they’re still after or tracking them,” Pigpen says in a low voice. In a way that indicates he didn’t want me to hear, but I’m too close to the situation for him to excuse himself. “Not many cars on the road. Won’t take much to know if we see the same car repeatedly.”
Eli shakes his head. “Violet stays here.”
“For how long?” I snap. “A week? A month? Until I graduate? Or maybe you’re going to homeschool me now. Will you let me go if I marry a club guy or will I be here until I die?”
The blank look Eli gives me tells me he doesn’t know.
“Chevy was kidnapped, too, yet you’re letting him leave.”
“That’s different—”
“How? Because he’s a guy? Because he’s strong and I’m weak?”
“I’m trying to protect you!” Eli roars.
“It doesn’t matter!” I yell back. “I was still kidnapped. They still hurt me, and if they want to hurt me again, there is not a damn thing you can do about it! Nothing is stopping them from coming here. Nothing is standing between me and the Riot. Nothing! They’ve already proved that once, and if they want me, they’ll take me again!”
This is it. This is my life. A constant watching over my shoulder for the bad guys. Eli wants me to tuck my tail between my legs, hobble back up the steps and stay safely inside the bubble he’s trying to create, but he’s not offering a solution to my problem. Just an illusion.
Eli leans toward me and smacks a hand to his chest. “I’m between you and them now.”
Without breaking eye contact, I sarcastically shrug one shoulder up and then down. “You would have said you were between me and them before.”
Pure anger pours from his eyes as he points at the cabin. “Inside the house. Now.”
I could hop over to the truck, climb in, and Chevy won’t take me because he’s a club boy. And even if by some miracle he did start the truck, Pigpen and Dust would stand around it like human cement pillars. The good god almighty Eli has spoken. So let it be written. So let it be done.
Blood rushes to my cheeks as what’s left of my pride is in shambles, yet I lift my chin in a silent “Fuck you.” I hold out my open fingers and Chevy silently hands me my crutches.
“Do not fool yourself into thinking you’re better than the Riot,” I say. “I might not be shivering in a basement and I might not be bleeding where you can see it, but I’m still a prisoner.”
I need to get home, find those account numbers, protect my family and then get the hell out of this town.
I turn, and because I can’t catch a break, I hop up the stairs with absolutely no grace. Thanks to the Riot and the Terror, I can’t even make a proper dramatic exit. I hobble into the cabin and slam the door behind me.
CHEVY
Violet: I can’t sleep.
Me: You were asleep.
Violet: I know, but the buzzing is back.
Me: Did it go away?
A long pause.
Violet: Yes. But now it’s back.
MY HEART STOPS in my chest. Yeah. The buzzing went away for me, too, when I held her on the porch. Me: I’ll be there soon.
She doesn’t respond and I don’t need her to. Violet told me all I need to know.
It’s three in the morning. I stayed at the bar to help Brandy and Mom clean up the water. Pigpen and Dust lent a hand. Now we’re back and the party’s over. Music quit playing over the loudspeakers. Only smoke and charred remains are left of the bonfires.
People still mill about. Some will head home later. Some will stay the night. I’m supposed to be staying in one of the nicer rooms on the second floor of the clubhouse, but I’m not feeling like following orders.
I trudge up the stairs and only lift my head long enough to acknowledge the new set of prospects guarding the cabin. Part of me understands what Eli’s doing—protecting Violet until he knows she’s safe—but I also understand Violet. She and I are beyond feeling safe.
The dark living room is only maneuverable thanks to memory and the light shining from the kitchen. Cyrus is in there, standing against the frame of the back door, searching the night and nursing a cup of coffee. No doubt he hears my combat boots thudding across the wooden floor, but he doesn’t look up. He knows it’s me and he knows who I’m here to see.
To the right is a room and the door is cracked open. Violet’s mother is wrapped in blankets on the queen bed. Stone’s arm is hanging off the twin. Across from that room is a closed door and I knock as I turn the knob.
Light’s off, but Violet’s face is illuminated by the flashing of color from the TV. She’s under a pile of blankets, her head is propped up by her hand and a part of me warms at how her expression softens as I walk in.
“Hey,” I say.
“Hey.” It’s a groggy voice, a sensual one. I recall her talking to me late at night on the phone using that same beautiful tone.
Since I’ve been home, I doze, sleep while part of my mind stays awake, but I slept deep with her in the hospital. Slept. I’m betting Violet’s the solution to many of my problems. Feels like I’m the solution to some of her problems, as well.
I enter, close the door behind me and sit at the foot of the bed. She watches me. I watch her. Urge is to climb up that bed and pull her tight, but I don’t know if I have that right. In theory, Violet and I are still broken up, yet it feels like the rules have changed.
Violet throws the covers back, revealing pj’s that consist of a T-shirt and cotton pants. She tilts her head to the empty spot beside her. “I want the buzzing to stop.”
I immediately undo my boot laces as she doesn’t have to ask me twice. “I’ll set my alarm and be gone before your mom wakes.”
“I don’t care what she or anyone else thinks.”