“Eden!” Freya looks at her in shock.
“We have to start facing up to it. Raze would never put us through this torture.” Eden shakes her head, tryin’ to make sense of all this.
“Yeah, he fuckin’ would.” Wrath's voice comes from behind me. “Raze is selfish; he abandoned you once before, remember?”
“Yeah, and so did you. This isn’t the same, Wrath.” Eden looks hurt as she stares back at him.
“This is exactly the same, only difference is I’ve learned frommymistakes. I guess it’s always gonna be the same for him. When the goin’ gets tough, Raze gets goin’.”
“Raze would not leave us.” Eden looks ready for a fight, while Peyton gets up from the table and rushes out the back door in tears.
“I got it.” Freya goes after her, while Alicia looks up at me, begging me to do something. Taking my VP by his arm, I drag him back through to the office so I can find out what the fuck he’s doing.
“What the hell’s gotten into you?” I slam the door behind me. “I get that you’re mad at Raze, but you can see how upset the girls are. All you’re doin’ is makin’ it worse. I know you don’t want to, but maybe you have to start admitting that Ruck could be ri–”
“Raze ain’t dead, he’s a fuckin’ coward!” Wrath bellows over me.
“What the fuck you talkin’ about? Raze is one of the bravest men we fuckin’ know.”
“Not when it comes to facin’ up to reality.” He laughs as he sits himself in Raze’s office chair and stares at his cell like he’s waiting for it to ring. “He couldn’t face hurtin’ Peyton anymore; he let his pride take over his chance of actually being happy, and yeah, he’s gone…but he sure ain’t fuckin’ dead.”
“Okay, they lost out on the kid, but this is Peyton and Raze; they’ll move past it. Surely, he gets that?”
“It ain’t just the kid that's the problem.” Wrath shakes his head, looking through the window that looks out into the barroom.
“Wrath, what do ya know?” I take the seat opposite him, sensing that he’s holding something back.
“It ain’t my place to say.” He tosses the cell in his hand on the desk and scratches his jaw.
“Wrath, if you know something that's gonna help us find him, you need to–”
“It ain’t gonna help us find him. If Raze wants to disappear, that's exactly what’ll happen. We don’t stand a chance.”
“Tell me what you know.” I try to get him to talk.
“You know, he never felt like he deserved her.” Wrath stands up and moves toward the window.
“Who, Peyton? The girl’s crazy about him.”
“Iknow that, andyouknow that; this wholefuckin’ clubknows it, but hell if Raze has ever understood. He’s never felt worthy of her.”
“I think we all feel a little that way.” I smile when I think of how lucky I felt having my girl come all over my tongue this morning.
“He wanted to give her everything; prove to her that she made the right choice in him,” Wrath continues, staring across the room at Eden, who’s sobbing in her hands and being comforted by Anita and Alicia.
“Wrath, I know you're going somewhere with this, but can we get there sooner? Me and Dev are supposed to be out searching right now.”
“Alicia’s about to drop, Eden’s glowing more by the day; hell, it’s only a matter of time before I’ll have to kick Ruck's ass for knocking my sister up too…What do you think Peyton wants more than anything?” He turns back around and questions me.
“A kid? That’s obvious.” I shrug. “I know I wasn't around, but from what I’ve heard, Raze was down for the whole family thing too; he wanted to adopt that kid as much as she did, right?.
“Right,” Wrath agrees
“I know they had their heart set on that boy, but it ain't like they can’t have a kid of their own.”
Wrath drops his head to the floor and shakes it.
“What I tell you next doesn’t leave this fuckin’ room, Vike.” Raising his head, he points his finger at me and looks serious as hell.
