He lets out a breath that’s a mix of frustration and relief. “You know why we go through this.”
“I’m not that sixteen-year-old anymore.” I roll my eyes in frustration. “I’m not my mom.”
“You fucking overdosed using your mom’s drugs. You put the crew through hell. We didn’t know if you’d die or live but be brain damaged. Your father sent a message to Ty for not keeping a close enough eye on you. Do you want him to rain hell on us again, E? On Ty?”
“It was one time,” I protest, annoyed that everyone continues to use my past mistakes against me.
My father’s men ransacked the house and tore it apart, looking for hidden stashes of my mom’s godawful habit before they poured gasoline on Ty’s truck, his pride and joy, bought with his hard-earned money working as a bouncer at Red Dahlia, and set it on fire.
The truck was a loss. Our childhood home was so torn up that my brother had to pay a lot of money out of his emergency fund to have Arie’s brothers fix it up. Ty worked nonstop afterward to rebuild his emergency fund. It’s my fault he was never around to keep me out of trouble.
Then Carlos kissed me, and I was lost to a different kind of trouble that my father could never know about. He would kill Carlos, a man ten years older than me, for touching his little princess. Though he’s been in prison my whole life, Dad and I are close.
“Anyway, if I were doing drugs, I wouldn’t stash them in my backpack. Too obvious.”
They’re the wrong words to say. Gage grabs my arms and yanks us to our feet. “Fucking touch that shit and I’ll take you to your father myself, you hear me?”
I twist out of his hold and sit. “Loud and clear.”
“Promise you won’t touch that shit or anyone else’s again.”
I smooth my palms over my pants. My knees bounce. I lower my gaze. I hate talking to anyone about what happened on my sixteenth birthday. “It was one time,” I mutter.
“Ever.”
“Fine. I promise I won’t touch any illicit drugs or sample someone else’s stash.”
“I’m not joking.”
“Neither am I.” I mime crossing an X over my heart.
“I don’t trust you, E. Don’t move.” Gage grabs my car keys off the kitchen counter and slams the front door shut behind him. I wait with my knees pulled to my chest and my chin resting on my arms on my knees.
Gage returns and tosses the keys on the kitchen counter. He plops down beside me on the couch.
I side-eye him. “Find anything?” I’m resigned to letting Gage believe I haven’t learned from my mistake and will hurt him and Ty again. But Bobby believed in me when I said I learned. How can a guy who deceived me trust me more than my own brother and his best friend?
“No. But someday you’ll slip, E, and I’ll be there.”
“To prove you were right all along?” How does one go about changing someone’s mind when they’re unwilling to open their eyes and minds and realize I’m not that insecure, scared, and lonely teenager?
“To save you, Ever.”
I smile through the crushing weight on my chest. A girl needs saving, but it isn’t me. “Very chivalrous of you. Finley would’ve greatly appreciated your sentiments.” Instead of saving her, Gage lashed out at his ex.
His expression locks up tight before he slightly shakes his head, like he’s clearing his mind, and ignores my small jab at his personal shortcomings.
“We have an emergency.”
“Who is ‘we’?”
“Me. Your brother. The crew.” He ticks off each item on his fingers.
“Wait, all of you have some kind of emergency?”
“Yeah. It’s unprecedented.”
22
