July 3, Friday
Emory
“Hey,” Enoch greeted with a head nod as he reached for my hand and pulled me up the last step.
“What is she doing here?” Jae asked Enoch.
“She’s here to eat dinner,” Enoch said matter-of-factly. My palm was sweaty, and I attempted to slip it from his grasp, but he laced his fingers with mine.Is that what we’re calling this? I was thinking more like kidnapping or emotional manipulation.“If you don’t want to eat with us, that’s fine, but I expect you to show her the same respect as you would me.”
Jae scoffed and gave me a knowing look, his head cocking to the side as he stared at me. “What’s your goal here, Shiloh? Because it’s clearly not to do what’s best for Enoch. So, what? You here to fuck him over twice?”
Enoch gently squeezed my hand. “Jae,” he said with a level of calm no one else in the room had, “I already know you went behind my back and told Shiloh she was the reason for my drinking problem. I don’t want to argue with you right now. This is between you and me, and we can talk about this later.”
“Fuck that,” Jae spat, lip curling. “I’m not going to apologize for trying to protect my brother. And frankly, if you can’t see how bad of an influence she’s going to be, I’m not above telling your parents about your ‘drinking problem’ if that’s what it comes down to.”
“Seriously, Jae. You need to calm down.”
“Calm down?” Jae laughed with disbelief. He stared at Enoch with so much tension he was practically vibrating. “Who slept in your bed for months, forced you to eat, to shower? Who smacked some sense into you when you were at risk of breaching your contract with the Air Force because you weren’t going to graduate? Who continued to reach out to you for years, despite you pushingeveryoneaway?”
Enoch stiffened.
“Who did you call when you thought you were getting arrested? When you thought you might get discharged from the service? When you decided to get sober? When you were in withdrawal, having panic attacks and so sick you could barely walk?”
Jae’s eyes shone with tears as his voice cracked. He wasn’t just angry. He was scared. Scared for Enoch. And my stomach filled with a lead weight. The emotion in Jae’s face had me on the brink of tears. Jae was hurt too, and yet he was only thinking about Enoch. Thinking about protecting him, like I’d asked him to do when I left them.
“Who was there to help you pick up the pieces when you relapsed the first time, the second time? Me.Me, dammit. Your blood. Yourbrother. I willalwaysbe there for you, no matter what. But this?” Jae shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest. “No. I won’t stand by and watch you destroy yourself for someone who doesn’t deserve you.”
Enoch squeezed my palm, and I turned my attention to him as he took a deep breath.
“Youaremy brother. And I can never, ever thank you enough for what you’ve done for me. Okay? But I do not understand why you’re so convinced she’s a bad influence. I haven’t touched a drop of alcohol in almost ayear. And I haven’t even had the urge to. I’ve been nothing but annoyingly happy since she’s been back in our lives.”
“Happy? You’ve been stressed out of your damn mind! She’s been screwing with your head for two weeks now. She’s not a good person,” Jae nearly shouted with exasperation, making me jump. Enoch released my hand to pull me into his side, a possessive hold on my hip. “We have no idea what she did for that gang, or what she’s been doing the last four and a half years.”
“That’s irrelevant now,” Enoch said with a firm confidence that I didn’t understand. “I don’t care what she did or didn’t do.”
“She could have killed people for all we know,” Jae pressed. My jaw slackened. I could feel the color draining from my face as the words left Jae’s mouth, and I involuntarily leaned into Enoch’s body for support, afraid I’d fall backward down the stairs. I flicked my gaze to backpack, the weight of the gun suddenly ten times heavier.
Enoch was silent for a moment before quickly shaking his head, his fingers pressing into my skin. “Why the hell would you say that?”
“Because that’s what they do,” he laughed, sardonically. “The things Rosa told me she’d overheard and witnessed would make you shit yourself.”
“I don’t…there’s no—”
“You spoke to Seb’s mom? About me?” I asked with a little too much fear in my voice. If Jae involved Seb and his mom I was going to throat-punch him again.
“Not aboutyou. About thegang.Los Siete,” he spat with a sneer. “And believe me, she wasveryenlightening when I askedher for information about them. I didn’t even have to give her a reason for my interest. She was more than happy to rant and warn me about what they’re capable of.”
I forced myself not to wilt with relief that he hadn’t exposed me to Seb’s family.
“You really don’t care what she did?” Jae demanded Enoch, pointing his finger at me. “I didn’t hear her fucking deny it, Enoch!”
Enoch looked down at me, brown eyes sincere.“You don’t have to tell me anything.”
Fuck. Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.
I cannot do this. I cannot do this.
I ripped my hand out of Enoch’s taking a step backward down the stairs. I pushed through the boulder trying to strangle the breath out of my lungs. “No, he’s right. I wasn’t just an innocent bystander, Enoch. I was…I wasinthe gang, a member of it.”
