“I’m not goin’ anywhere.” Her hands found a home on her waist. “I want to know what Kaden meant by that.” Prez opened his mouth and inhaled a deep breath, but Sully kept talking. “You promised not to keep things from me, and I don’t know what’s goin’ on right now, but I know it has somethin’ to do with me. I don’t know how, but Kaden wouldn’t’ve told me to come here otherwise.”
“It’s club business,” Hawke said, moving back a step when Marek turned his glare on him.
“If you involve yourself in my conversation one more time, I swear….” Prez didn’t even have to finish his sentence for any of us to understand the ramifications if Hawke didn’t shut his mouth.
“Fine.” The nomad grunted but clamped his lips shut, but knowing what I did of Hawke, I doubted that would be his last unsolicited comment.
Because Sully wasn’t getting any answers, she approached her son, the one person who would tell her what she wanted to know. But she was only able to take two steps before Marek’s hand wrapped around her upper arm, holding her in place close to him.
“I mean it, woman. Go home.”
“No.” She schooled her expression. “Let me go.” Sully’s statement was filled with warning, but there was also an underlying reservation clipping the edges of each word she spoke. In a lower voice, she added, “You promised.”
“I’m just tryin’ to protect you. I don’t want you to go back there. I don’t need you to remember.”
“Remember what?”
I thought Marek would draw out his response longer than he did, but he responded quickly. “Remember what they did to you.”
Sully’s eyes widened and she yanked her arm away from him. “I don’t know what’s goin’ on right now, but nothing will ever make me forget what happened. I’ve just learned to live with the memories.”
“But—”
Her feet propelled her toward Kaden, moving out of the way when Marek reached for her once again.
“Tell me.”
Kaden glanced at Marek for permission, although I didn’t know why because he didn’t ask for it before his outburst earlier. Instead of resisting this time, however, his ol’ man raised his brow, then nodded.
“You know Tag?”
“Only from what you’ve mentioned of him.”
Kaden took a moment before continuing, reaching for his mother’s hand and taking several deep breaths. “It turns out that he’s related to… his father is….”
“Who?” Sully rushed to ask, her eyes glassing over as her bottom lip started to tremble. “Who is his father?” From her expression, I couldn’t tell if she already knew, although the probability of that was near impossible, or if her mind ran rampant with all the possibilities of how Tag’s father had anything to do with her.
“Vex.”
Sully snatched her hand from Kaden’s and moved back, choking on her next lungful of air. When Marek tried to touch her, she flinched and retreated away from everyone.
“I don’t understand.” She lowered her eyes and shook her head. “I don’t understand,” she repeated. “What does that mean?” With her question, she raised her head and stared at Marek. “Was he trying to get to me?”
“At first, we thought he was tryin’ to, or at the least take revenge for us killin’ his father, but after checking into him, we came to find out he didn’t really know Vex. His mother sent him to live with his grandparents when he was young.” Marek shook his head. “He wasn’t involved in that life.”
Sully clutched her head and pulled at her strands; her eyes lost in confusion. “But why am I here?”
“Because even though Tag is innocent, not a Reaper, and wasn’t involved with his father in any way, he… wasn’t treated so well by us. And on top of that, he knows this club killed Vex.” Kaden’s shoulders tensed, his eyes drifting between his parents.
“I’m still not understanding my role in all this.” She retreated until her back hit the wall. “What do I have to do with Tag?”
“You weren’t supposed to have anything to do with this,” Marek practically shouted, his anger dripping out of him slow and steady. “But Kaden thought you should have a say in what happens to him because of his relation to the man who—”
“Tortured me,” Sully finished. Prez’s eyes darkened with the reminder, as if he could ever forget something like that. If it was me, and that was my wife standing in front of me, that shit would play on a constant loop in my head every goddamn day. Silence filled the room once again, the tension bordering on suffocating. “So, if I’m understanding this right, because you jumped to conclusions when you found out who he was, you tortured him and planned on killing him.”
“How do you know we tortured him?” Marek’s nostrils flared while he waited for her answer.
“Because I know how all this works. It’s been many years, but I remember.” Suddenly, she turned her head toward the back of the house. “Is he here?” She pushed off the wall. “Of course, he is,” she answered to herself before adding, “I wanna see him.”
“Absolutely not,” he shouted, advancing on his wife before she could take off toward the bedrooms. He stood in front of her, the rest of us shifting into the front room to gain more distance. “You’re not gonna lay eyes on him.”
“I’m not goin’ anywhere until I do.” The two of them stood toe to toe again, neither backing down. Only when Sully placed her hands on either side of his face and leaned into him, did he seem to relax, albeit only a fraction. “I’m safe, Cole. You saved me all those years ago and you continue to save me every day. I’m stronger because of you. I’m alive because of your love. I know you’ll always worry about me, but I can handle this.” Sully stepped into him. “I need this. I need to see him.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” he countered, his tone not as angry.
“You said he had nothing to do with his father, right?” Marek nodded, his chest rising and falling in rapid succession. “Then he’s a victim of Vex just like I was. It’s because of his relation to him that he’s even here in the first place.”
“I just wanna keep you safe.” He touched her temple before trailing his finger down her cheek, placing his hand at the nape of her neck, and pulling her impossibly close before she could utter a word in response.
I had to admit, I felt like a voyeur witnessing such an intimate exchange between them, but I rarely saw this side of Prez, so I had to keep watching.
“I know,” she responded, leaning up on her tiptoes to give him a kiss. “Now, take me to see him.”
Without another word of protest, Marek turned to face Miles, holding out his hand, the corner of his lip raising in either annoyance or impatience. Then again, the tic could’ve been a combination of uncertainty mixed with fear. All I knew was I was grateful I didn’t have to worry about someone so much that I was all over the board emotionally.
Even as the thought barreled through my head, I realized how ridiculous it sounded. Plainly put… a lie. I did have someone I cared about but, depending on the day, she couldn’t care less about me.