Chapter 25 Silver
SILVER
I stand at the edge of the patio watching Cash prepare to propose to Korine, trying to summon happiness for my brother while my own heart feels hollow.
Club events have become torture in recent weeks, each one a reminder of everything I’m hiding and everything I’m losing.
First in regard to Tom’s return and reclaiming of the prez role.
Then with what’s going on between me and Solana.
She’s here somewhere—I caught a glimpse of her at the women’s table earlier—but we haven’t properly spoken in three days. Any texts we’ve exchanged have been short and borderline impersonal. Even longer since the last time we touched.
The break should’ve cleared my head, giving me perspective and helping me realize this thing between us was just temporary insanity. Some temporary tryst between two lonely souls.
Instead, the distance has only made it worse. I still wake up reaching for her. Still catch myself starting to call her in the evening so we could talk about our day. Damn sure still care about her with a fierceness that scares the hell out of me.
But maybe that’s exactly why I need to stay away.
She’s twenty years old, traumatized from being drugged and assaulted, dealing with killing her attacker in self-defense. She should be in therapy working through that, not in my bed complicating her recovery.
What kind of man takes advantage of a vulnerable girl half his age? What kind of man uses her need for safety and protection to satisfy his own loneliness?
I should be ashamed. I should feel like a piece of shit for how I’ve let things get so out of control between us…
Yet deep down I know nothing’s changed. Right or wrong, my feelings for her remain.
“You alright, brother?” Mace comes up beside me, pulling me out of my self-flagellation.
“Fine. Just thinking.”
Tito’s approached too, nodding his head toward the corner where Tom’s off alone for once. He’s nursing a beer and watching the festivities with uncharacteristic silence.
“El jefe’s been quiet today,” he says. “Usually he’d be in the middle of everything, making noise. Giving long speeches.”
He’s right.
Tom’s been gone more often than not lately, disappearing for days without explanation. When he does show up, like this afternoon, he lurks at the edges like a ghost of his former self. The man who used to demand the attention of every room now seems content to observe from the shadows.
Part of me wonders if it has something to do with him meeting up with his probation officer. Maybe he’s been scared shitless about breaking probation and being forced to return to the penitentiary.
He’s definitely been more withdrawn and hands off after insisting we stir up the shit we did with the Penas in the first place.
We still haven’t had the conversation Mick suggested. Every time I seek him out, he either makes up an excuse or vanishes again. The conflict between us festers like an untreated wound, poisoning everything around it.
Cash steps to the center of the patio, pulling Korine with him. The crowd quiets as he takes both her hands. Confusion is scribbled across her face ’til she seems to realize what’s going on.
Meanwhile, several of the old ladies, like Sydney and Zoe, practically vibrate with excitement.
“Kori, it’s no secret you’re my best friend,” Cash begins with his typical easy smile that’s gotten him out of trouble more times than I can count. “You have been since we were, what, six years old? You’ve been there through everything—the good, the bad, the absolutely batshit insane times.”
Scattered chuckles ripple through the crowd. Logan raises his beer in agreement.
“You’ve seen me at my worst, and you somehow still love me,” Cash continues, reaching into his jeans pocket. “I can’t imagine my life without—”
“HOW COULD YOU?!”
The scream drowns out anything that’s supposed to follow.
Everybody turns their head as Rachel storms onto the patio, her face flushed red from fury. She marches straight toward me, hardly pausing once she’s close enough. Her hand whips out and connects with my face in a hard slap.
The sting spreads across my cheek like fire.
“How could you, Jack?” she screams. “How could you sleep with the babysitter?!”
The accusation is so shocking nobody moves or says anything for a long, solitary moment. Everybody’s rooted to the spot as they make sense of what she’s just said.
Then… then chaos erupts.
Eddie’s indignant roar sounds somewhere from the crowd. Moses starts striding straight toward us.
Solana’s risen from her spot at the old ladies’ table, eyes as wide as silver dollars.
Rachel’s chest heaves as she draws ragged, angry breaths and glares at me with pure hatred. “Don’t you dare deny it! These pictures were sent to me!”
She’s holding up her phone, where through an anonymous text chain, she’s been messaged a string of photos that clearly show me and Solana at various times.
The two of us parked in my truck. The two of us heading inside my house. Trading kisses next to my bike.
There’s even one shot at a distance from the afternoon I took her out for ice cream.
Heat creeps up my neck before I can think how to respond. Though it doesn’t matter much—Rachel rants on, hurling more accusations.
“Tabby mentioned she smelled perfume on you. She said she saw some lip gloss at your house. All while you pretended to be watching movies alone on a Friday night. So you know what I did? I checked the babysitter’s journal myself!
” Rachel digs a notebook out from her purse and brandishes it like a weapon.
It practically is given the situation; it possesses the same level of damage.
“I read for myself how you’ve been fucking this girl for weeks! She wrote all about it, Jack!” she screams. “She’s half your age. She’s the kid’s babysitter and recovering from trauma. What kind of sick man seduces a girl like her?”
It’s the same question I’ve been asking myself, now broadcast for everybody to hear. Both Big Eddie and Moses finally shove their way through the crowd, coming up to join the confrontation with no attempt to hide their rage.
I’d expect no less from Solana’s male relatives. Truth be told, I’d probably react the same way if I were in their shoes.
But it doesn’t change the fact that we’ve ruined Cash’s proposal. The entire barbecue has turned into some scandal, and I’m not about to go into detail about how Solana and me ended up growing close in the first place (much of it her personal story to tell).
“Rachel, lower your voice,” I say, my tone surprisingly even-keeled. “Let’s go somewhere else and talk about this.”
“No!” she shrieks. “You don’t get to silence me, Jack! This is about you getting payback, isn’t it? I’m with Fred, so you decide to fuck the babysitter? Some twisted, perverted way to get back at me and hurt the kids?”
“You have no clue what the fuck you’re talking about,” I snap, my own anger rising to meet hers. “Not everything I do is about you, Rachel. You’re not the center of the universe.”
“Then why her? Why pick the babysitter? A girl half your age? Only a few years older than Tabby? You disgust me!”
“Hold up,” Moses growls, interjecting himself. “Your babysitter? My baby sister the babysitter?”
Solana tries to step forward, wringing her hands. “Moses, it’s none of your business—”
“The fuck it is my business!” Moses roars, turning on me with murder in his gaze. “Silver, what the fuck are you doing with my sister?”
I hold up my hands, trying to defuse the situation even though I know it’s probably pointless. “Solana and I have grown close recently. But this is our private life, nobody else’s.”
I glance around the patio, meeting the eyes of everybody watching this train wreck unfold.
Cash still has the ring box in his hand, Korine forgotten beside him.
Mace looks confused, eyes hard and narrowed.
Logan’s shaking his head. And Tom... Tom stands silent in his corner, his expression completely unreadable, simply watching everything implode.
“It’s my business because she’s my niece!” Eddie barks.
Before I can address him, his massive fist connects with my face.
The blow staggers me backward, pain exploding through my jaw. I taste copper immediately, blood filling my mouth from where my teeth cut into my cheek.
“Uncle Eddie, stop!” Solana screams, jumping between us as Eddie raises his fist for another swing.
I push my tongue around my mouth, checking for loose teeth while spitting blood onto the concrete. My jaw throbs but everything’s still attached. I flex it experimentally, then look Eddie dead in the eyes.
“That first hit was free,” I warn, my own hands balled. “Because you’re pissed and she’s your niece and I get that. But you better get a handle on yourself or I’ll handle you for you.”
“Is that a threat?” Moses starts toward me, ready to back up his uncle.
“Stop it—both of you!” Solana screams. “You barely pay attention to me. You’re never home, never ask how I’m doing, never notice when I’m falling apart.
Silver was the only one there for me, and I’m falling for him!
My feelings are real and it doesn’t matter what either of you think!
I’m an adult and I can make my own life choices! ”
Neither Ed nor Moses can bring themselves to counter what Solana’s said, though they look no less pissed as they glare in disbelief and loud, tense silence presses down on the scene.
But I’ve already had enough of this circus.
Without another word, I turn and storm off the patio, needing distance and time to sort it out. As I pass Tom’s corner, I catch his eye one last time. He’s still silent, watching me like he’s never seen me before.
I don’t give a shit what he or anybody else thinks. Not anymore now that it’s blown up the way it has.
I’m footsteps away from my truck, jaw clenched and heart thundering inside my chest, when I hear Solana calling my name.
“Silver—wait!”
I keep walking as if I haven’t heard her. I’m too fucking angry.