“I don’t mean this very second. I mean after breakfast.”
“I know what you meant. No.”
I throw my hands up. He has no idea he’s proving my point.
“I’m listening,” he says in defense. “I just don’t agree.”
“Listening would mean pausing to reflect upon any argument I might have. That would require me giving you my opinion, you listening while I give my opinion, thinking over my opinion and then you and I have a spirited discussion that may or may not require curse words until we come to a mutually beneficial decision based on friendship and respect.”
Eli’s eyes sparkle and it’s insulting how he’s attempting to hide his smile. “You sound exactly like your dad.”
“I don’t take that as an insult.”
His eyebrows draw together. “I didn’t mean it as one. Your dad was one of the most amazing men I knew and I know a lot of great guys. I miss him, Vi, and I’m sure you do, too. I know we don’t always get along, but I swear we’re on the same side of this war.”
War. I’ve been asked to deliver Eli on a platter. “Are you admitting you’re at war with the Riot?”
“The Riot, anyone at school who gives you shit, anyone in general who gives you shit. The world. I wish you knew I’m on your side.”
His words sound pretty, but that’s all they are. Something ugly wearing makeup and bows. Or in his case, a black T-shirt and ear plugs. “Then let me go home and stop treating me like a prisoner.”
Eli rolls his neck and almost looks regretful. “I can’t do that, and I’m not treating you like a prisoner.”
“The hell you aren’t.”
Demons shoot out of Eli’s eyes. “Do not compare me to the Riot. They hurt you. I’m protecting you.”
I lean forward to explain exactly where he can shove his protection, when there’s the clearing of a throat. “I think they rang the bell for the first round a few minutes ago. It’s time to return to your corners.”
My heart swells. It’s Chevy’s mom. I smile before I have the chance to remember I broke her son’s heart and she wasn’t particularly pleased with me. I go to cast my gaze away, but Nina leans down and gives me a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. When she pulls away, she grabs my chin and stares deep into my eyes. “You okay?”
From the way she searches my face, she’s not asking about my fight with Eli, but my time in that basement. I suck in a breath to lie like I do for Eli, Cyrus, my brother, my mom and anyone who asks, but fine becomes a knot in my throat.
Nina nods like she heard the truth, then kisses my forehead. “You’ll make it. The strong ones always do.”
Not sure if she’s right. I’m starting to feel depleted of strong.
Nina settles beside me and pats my good knee as she turns her attention to Eli. “Hello.”
“I thought you were hanging out with Chevy this morning.”
“I am.” She gestures down the narrow diner and Chevy’s watching us from Pigpen’s booth. “We decided to have breakfast, but when we walked in, I saw you two mixed up in a wrestling match. I don’t think it would be appropriate for Violet to be reduced to throwing steak knives. We should at least have the decency to wait until she’s eighteen.”
Eli shrugs. “She could be charged as an adult then. Better for her to get it out of her system now.”
“I could see where you would think that. Now, what’s the problem?”
“She’s seventeen and thinks she knows everything,” Eli says while I say, “He won’t let me go home.”
I almost add that I’m eighteen now, not seventeen. That I left seventeen behind in the basement dungeon, but everyone seems to have lapsed about my birthday. Chevy remembered that night, but hasn’t brought it up since. Honestly, I’m fine with it having been forgotten. I don’t think I could stomach giving the Terror another excuse to throw a “party” in my honor and I don’t feel at all celebratory.
“I see.” Her eyes flicker between me and Eli before choosing to remain on him. “Why can’t she go home? You said if Chevy wanted he could return home. The only reason he’s still at the clubhouse is because he doesn’t want to be away from Violet.”
I twist my lips to the left because there are so many portions of that I wasn’t aware of and don’t know how to process. But of course Chevy was given a choice. He has a penis. And I was not given a choice because I’m a girl.
Eli looks like he wants to rip off his skin. “Violet’s mom wants to be at the cabin so we can keep an eye on her, Stone and Violet.”
“Jenny is another subject for another time, so I’m going to leave her out of the conversation.” Nina understands my issues with my mother. When I was dating Chevy, she patted my hand and explained, Your mother can do things for herself, but she chooses not to. She’s very capable. I remember that about her in high school. But some women believe they need to dumb it down in order to keep a man. Eventually, they forget they were capable. That’s what happened to your mom. Don’t be her, Violet. Never be her.
“I believe Violet has earned the right to have her own mind and make her own decisions,” Nina continues. “If she wants to return home, she should return home.”
“She’s not your kid,” Eli says.
“Are Violet and Chevy at risk?” Nina continues like Eli hadn’t spoken. “Do you think they are going to be targeted again? Because from the multiple conversations I’ve had with you and the police over the past few hours, I was under the impression the people who kidnapped them were under arrest.”
“They were what?” I ask, and Eli briefly closes his eyes.
“Arrested,” Nina repeats. “This morning, and before Eli has a chance to lie his way out of this, your mother knew. Chevy didn’t know until after you left this morning.”
Because he was asleep with his arms tucked around me until Mom took me to therapy.
I pick that steak knife up and Nina raises her eyebrows at me. I drop it only because I have always secretly wished she would adopt me.
“I was going to tell you,” Eli starts.
“Sure you were.”
Eli pinches the bridge of his nose, then lowers his hand. “I was going to tell you because once the men are back in Kentucky, we’ll need to drive into Louisville. The police want you and Chevy to pick out the guys in a lineup. They were arrested in another state, where they are facing other charges, but it’s expected they’ll be sent back here soon to face the kidnapping charges.”
A lineup. I slouch in the seat and deal with the mixture of relief and anxiety. Fiend is caught and I’ll have to finger him in a lineup. If he doesn’t plead out, I’ll have to testify. The ground beneath my feet begins to feel unsteady, like sand falling through an hourglass and I’m trapped inside the cylinder.
Peace. Justin suggested there could be peace and he also suggested he could and would harm the people I love. He never wanted the police involved and he expects me to help him nail Eli.