“Babe, I’ve been a prospect since leaving the womb. I’m Alec Walker.”
“No. You’re just Alec to me,” I exhale. Everything is changing. There’s been a shift. It’s palpable in the air between us. “So, that means no running away with me, huh?” I smile meekly, kicking dirt around with the tip of my tennis shoe.
“You don’t need to run anywhere. My old man was pissed, but he didn’t mean to hurt you.” He strokes hair from my face, his eyes unfocused, glassy. Acid burns my throat.
“You’re so full of shit. Since when did we start lying to each other, Alec?” I tug down the neck of my sweater, showing him the bruising there.
“Motherfucker,” he grinds out.
“Didn’t mean to fucking hurt me, why the hell did you attack him then?”
“Fuck,” he grinds out, running his hands through his hair and pacing. “It’s complicated. Can you just trust me when I say you’re safe? You’re my ol’ lady, no one, including my old man, will touch you now. I’m patched in.”
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.