“So?” The guy’s stupid to think a lie would be enough to keep me away from someone I love. Which is clearly how he feels about Billy.
“So?” he scoffs. “Lying isn’t a deal-breaker for you?”
I think about it for a second. I’ve never had anyone lie to me. Well, Abigail did, but I’m not in love with her. She’s a friend. And it hurts. Maybe I’ll get over it, maybe I won’t. But if I really loved someone? Like how Mom and Dad loved? I heard them fight a few times. They weren’t the perfect couple, but they were a real one. Things were said often, actions done. No one ever cheated, which I think would be the deal-breaker for them. But lying? I think they would have worked through it. And I hope to be as good as them one day.
“If it was to help in a roundabout way, nah.”
He tilts his head at me and just stares.
“Don’t, man.” Kooper’s jaw is so tight, his mouth hardly moves when he makes his demand.
“Jesus, what has you in such a panty-twisting mood, Koop? Just relax for a fucking sec. Hell, go get your dick sucked if you think it’ll help.” I give him a side-eye.
He’s acting weird. I don’t want anyone to know what happened this morning. Because it won’t be happening again. And if he keeps acting like this, the brothers are bound to ask him what’s going on. Them knowing is the last thing I want.
“Your dad’s alive.”
Those words. Words I never thought would be said. Words I never gave myself hope to think.
They sink in, and I blink. Once, twice. My feet drop, and I lean close, eyeing everything and everyone. No one is laughing. Everyone is looking at me. No one even seems to be breathing.
“Wh-what?”
“He’s at St. James Hospital. In a coma.” Casper says it like that explains everything.
“What? Why?”
I look at someone I consider my friend and new president of the club, then at Kooper. He doesn’t look at me, like a coward. They’re all cowards. My hands ball into fists under the table as I look at everyone. They’re people I’ve called family. Friends. Hell, some even helped raise me. But how can family do this to me?
As if reading my thoughts, Bulldog speaks. “Club thought it best to keep it under wraps.”
“With him dead, the threat goes with it,” Domino offers.
“Without him, the club—” Kooper takes a second to look at me with a nod to include me without saying it. “—everything and everyone would be fine. The threats already high on him would be limited, or even gone.”
“Once it was gone, we were going to tell you. After some time,” Casper says.
“We don’t even know when he’ll wake up. We’re keeping it quiet for his protection,” Chains says as he puts a hand on my shoulder. He probably meant it to be in support, but it just feels like a brick hitting me.
Like everything they just said. A ton of bricks hitting me over and over. Each time I think it can’t get worse, it does.
“Ruby.” Kooper nudges my knee with his hand, and the feel of him on my skin has me swatting it away and then pushing Chains away as well.
“Get your hands off me.” I can’t be here. I can’t. This isn’t a safe haven for me. It’s a torture chamber. Every time I’m here, something bad happens. I have to get out of here.
I turn and head for the door. No one stops me, but I feel their eyes on me till I hear Kooper speak up.
“We don’t even know if he’ll wake up,” he says.
The plea in his voice. The desperation. I hear it. Not sure if it’s because of what happened this morning between us or because of what all this means for the club. But I don’t care. He doesn’t get to make me see it from his point of view. I can never forgive him, or any of them, for this.
I guess I’m a liar. A foolish girl who said a lie wouldn’t change anything if it really mattered. A big fucking liar. Because this changeseverything.
“Yeah, but there’s a chance, right?” I look back, catching Kooper’s eye first, then Chains’ and Casper’s. “Right?”
They all nod.
Swallowing hard, I walk out. But not before giving them my parting words that I hope they take for the truth they are, ’cause I’m not coming back. “So, why the fuck should I waste my time with you all when I can bewith him?”
