Chapter 9
After I got back from my date with Tyler, my sister and the girls insisted we go for some dinner and drinks. What I wanted to do was curl up in my bed and write down every little thing I remember of the date. From the way his eyes shone like an iced over lake as the sun rises above it, to the way his lips curl up just so at the edges when he smiles, and how the genuine smiles make his eyes sparkle even brighter. Or how the pie crumbs attached to his lips and how much I wanted to lick them off. Never have I ever wanted to lick anything off anyone’s face and just thinking about it makes me blush. I also always loved the smell of chocolate and now I love it even more, because its scent suffused this perfect day.
There was no avoiding the dinner, so for hours I sat there, listening to talk of war, how much they missed their guys, and how afraid they were that they wouldn’t come back, all the while bursting to tell them about my perfect day.
But just like my sister Summer kept silent about being with Edge, I have to keep this secret a little longer. At least until I know it’s real and not just in my head. Hopefully, by tomorrow night I’ll know all I need to know.
Half the time I was thinking about how nice it’ll be once I can bring Tyler with me so they can meet him, and the other half I was feeling guilty for being so happy and excited while they were so down and scared about the war. The MC is currently on a ride and each time they come back just a little more frayed and damaged by this war they’re fighting against at least ten other MCs, all of which want revenge for things done by Devil’s Nightmare MC over the decades. Killings done by the Devils. They were a band of killers for hire for a long time. And sometimes they killed just for revenge, like when they were avenging what happened to my dad. But now it’s come back to haunt all of us and the war doesn’t seem to be slowing down at all.
Dinner was followed by drinks and lots of them. And dancing. And just getting it all out. All the fear, and anxiety that’s been plaguing our everyday since the start of the war. I had way too many drinks, seeing as I usually just stick to iced tea or coke when we’re out. But I need to get cooler and wilder.
I came home to the room spinning around me, feeling like I was on a ship in a huge ocean storm, and it wasn’t any better once I got into bed. I’d missed a couple of texts from Tyler wishing me good night and I replied to those right away. Then spent hours jotting down all those things I wanted to forever remember about this day. It came to ten pages.
My phone ringing wakes me with the pen still in my hand and the journal poking me in the stomach. It’s light out, but not as bright as it should be given how late I actually fell asleep. But I’m up in a flash anyway, ignoring the pounding in my brain and the fact that the floor beneath my feet is still a little wobbly. I’m hoping it’s Tyler calling to wish me good morning… I’d forgive him for waking him up. But it’s Dad. And it’s only 6.34 AM.
Realizing those two things makes the room start spinning around me again, nausea taking over. He wouldn’t be calling this early unless something was wrong. Or would he? Maybe he would. He’s been gone for weeks. Maybe he just got back and wanted to chat. But he wouldn’t call this early even then. Something’s wrong. I think I woke up knowing it, before I even heard the phone.
“What is it, Dad?” I ask as I answer the call.
He clears his throat like I surprised him. “Summer was abducted last night.”
My heart stops and then starts racing so fast I feel like I’m trapped in a whirlwind. When? I was just with her. And how could my sister be taken and I not feel it? How could I be so wrapped up in a guy I just met not to know she was in trouble? We are identical twins and we’ve always been super connected, could finish each other’s sentences, know what each other was thinking even when we were hundreds of miles apart. When she was in trouble down in Mexico a couple of weeks ago, I woke up from a dead sleep, just knowing something was wrong. Like this morning.
“She’s fine,” my dad says. “We got her back.”
Or at least I think that’s what I heard. I ask him to repeat it just to be sure. Twice.
“I just thought you should know,” he says. “Sorry I woke you.”
“You should’ve told me as soon as you knew she was missing,” I say. “I don’t like being kept in the dark. Like I’ve told you a million times?—”
“That’s why I’m calling you now,” he says and he sounds very tired. I feel bad for getting prissy now.
“Sorry, I just…”
“We’re having dinner at home tonight, just the family,” he says. “Because I’ll be going away to take care of this.”
I very nearly blurt out that I already have plans. But of course, this is more important. I also very nearly asked him if he really has to go. But I already know he does.
“I’ll be there,” I say. “And you should get some sleep.”
“I’m fine,” he says and lets me go.
Growing up, I used to get very upset and very sad whenever my dad had to go away on MC business, as we called it at home. Even before I fully understood just how dangerous that business actually was. I used to cry and beg him not to leave, held onto his legs so he couldn’t walk away.
Until he sat me down one time and told me that he was already living on borrowed time. That the Devils gave him back his life years ago, before I was born, and that he would always be there when they needed him. And that the fact he was able to meet my mom and have the two of us was more than he’d ever dreamed of having. And that he was the happiest man on earth because he had us. So I shouldn’t worry, because it was all already a gift.
Mom got so mad at him for talking about dying to me. I’d never seen her so livid, before or since. But I understood what he was trying to tell me. Everything that happens is in the hands of destiny and we’d already been blessed. If he had to die, he’d die a happy man and we shouldn’t be sad. Even then, I appreciated his honesty. Brutal as it was. And we’ve had a relationship based on that honesty ever since. It’s why he called me to tell me about Summer as soon as he could. The time she was almost abducted in Mexico, he did the same. There are no secrets between us. Which is why I feel so bad keeping Tyler from him. But there’s nothing to tell yet. And there might never be.
I called Summer three times and send about ten texts before she finally calls back.
“Oh, my God, sis,” I say. “Are you all right?”
“I am now. But it was touch and go for a while last night.”
I can hear the rustling of sheets through the line. She’s probably with Edge and who knows what I just interrupted. But I need to know that she’s OK.
“What happened? Did they hurt you?”
I don’t feel that she’d been hurt, but then again, I didn’t feel it when she was taken either. That kind of fear and anguish… How could I not?
“Some,” she says, her voice cracking a little. “They were with those assholes who tried to grab me in Mexico. Dad and the rest took care of them at the time, but not well enough. Now they’ll finish the job.”
She’s saying such dark things, she’s talking about killing, so why am I so happy to hear it? But it’s one thing to resent death and killing, and another to almost lose the person you’ve been closest to your whole life.
I plop down on my sofa and pull my fluffy pink reading blanket up to my chest, because I’m suddenly freezing cold. And it has nothing to do with my hangover.
“I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t around anymore,” I whisper, because those words scare me worse than the dark.
She gasps but covers it up with a giggle. “You’re not getting rid of me yet.”
“I’m serious,” I say. “We all have to be a lot more careful. So many things are going wrong. First Veronica, Harper and Trixie getting taken, and now you.”
“Yeah, we really should’ve seen this coming. I guess you’re next,” she says and laughs again, but it’s a hollow sound.
It makes me shudder. “Don’t say things like that… “
“Don’t worry, you’re safe in your bookstore,” she says. “No one will find you there.”
That used to be true, but it’s not anymore. I can’t tell her that though, not yet.
The sky outside is bright and sunny, the heat reaching me even though the window is firmly shut, but it’s doing nothing to ward off the cold gripping me. I wrap the blanket tighter around myself, but that does nothing either.
“I thought I was being careful,” she says. “I promised myself I would be, after what happened in Mexico. But I didn’t think anything would happen on Main Street in Pleasantville, you know?”
Her voice is hoarse by the time she finishes speaking.
“I thought we were safe here too,” I say.
A very annoying thought is sounding in the back of my mind. It’s saying I should be wary of Tyler. He’s a stranger, I know next to nothing about him, and we are at war. I want it to shut up, but it just keeps nagging and nagging.
“I don’t think it’s hit me completely yet,” Summer says. “I hope it won’t be too bad when it does. It was a really close call. I almost died.”
I shudder, my teeth actually chattering.
“But I’m fine and that’s all that matters,” she says firmly. “It was Edge who found me. He just rode to save me, not stopping for anything, not even Cross’ order.”
“It means he really loves you,” I say. Cross is the president of Devil’s Nightmare MC, and the guys usually do what he tells them to without question, as far as I know.
“You think?” she asks, such hope in her voice.
“You don’t?” I ask, totally perplexed at how she possibly could not.
“I guess… he hasn’t said it yet… I think I love him too… but I haven’t said it yet either.”
“Do it,” I say. “Before it’s too late.”
She scoffs. “OK, Eden, don’t go losing it now. I’m fine. Stop worrying. And the amount of protection we’re gonna get saddled with after this won’t be no joke. Good thing Dad knows about me and Edge, because it’d be impossible to see each other in secret after this if he didn’t.”
“He didn’t mind?”
“I think he was secretly happy about it,” she says. “You know, keeping it in the family… kinda.”
“Eww, gross,” I say.
She laughs. “What, am I wrong?”
Ten years ago, my dad saved Edge and his best friend Ruin from getting beaten to death by a bunch of bikers who wanted to rob them. He’s been treating them almost like the sons he never had ever since. So no, she’s not wrong about Edge being practically family.
“Now all you have to do is bag Ruin and we’re all set,” she adds.
“Oh, come on. Ruin’s only got eyes for Ariel and I don’t like him like that.”
This would be a good time to tell her about Tyler. Maybe. But I don’t.
“OK, yeah, you’re right,” she says. “Listen, I’m gonna go spend some more time with Edge while I still have him. But I’ll see you at dinner?”
I tell her I’ll be there. And as soon as I hang up, I text Tyler and cancel tonight’s dinner date. A voice in my mind is screaming at me to reschedule right away. A couple of minutes later he texts back wanting to do exactly that.
But I can’t. What if he’s not who I think he is? What if after Veronica, Harper, Trixie and my sister, I really am next to be taken?
I don’t think Tyler would hurt me. I don’t think he’s been lying to me, and I don’t think he has anything to do with the war. But I’m still very cold and shaky and I meant it when I told my sister that we need to be careful. And for once, that goes as much for me as it does for her.