Chapter 2 #2
Turning around, I’m already met with Eli’s eyes. The bikes start outside, but our eyes don’t move from one another’s as the engines rev. Slowly, the noise fades before it’s trailed into the distance.
“I need to go,” he finally whispers, making his way over to the balcony, peering out to make sure it’s clear.
“Please,” I whisper, pleading with him as he turns back around, looking down at me. He knows what I’m asking him.
“Drew…” he trails off as if he’s not sure what to say.
“Please. Don’t.”
He looks conflicted as he continues to stare at me, sighing.
“I shouldn’t be here.” He mumbles again as he turns back to move past me.
“Elias…” I call out to him, trying to get him to reason with me. “I guess this is what I get for fucking a cop.”
His hand stops after dropping the chain lock and looking back at me. “Why did you fuck a cop?”
“Because I thought I could trust you.” I pause, exhaling again. “And obviously I didn’t know my brother was going to show up and implicate himself in first-degree murder.”
“You know, it’ll be worse for him when he ends up in prison than anything Z can do to him.”
“If.”
“What?”
“If he even goes to prison. It was a failed attempt. At best, you have drugging and an attempt. And that’s if he gets convicted.”
He says nothing, just looks at me.
“How many actually get convicted? How many of them having something like ‘they come from a good family’ said about them and get off easy. For fuck’s sake, Z will end up with a longer sentence than he will.
” I pause, shaking my head. “You know as well as I do, if anything goes to trial, I’ll have to tell my side, and they’ll pick me apart because of who my family is. ”
He exhales as he looks at me, knowing I’m right. “I can’t be here.” He pauses, looking back at me again. “I won’t say anything.”
“How do I know I can trust you?”
“You just said you knew you could.” He chuckles.
I can’t help but roll my eyes, turning around and walking back towards the kitchen bar counter.
“About sex, not about your morality.” Placing my hands on the counter, for some reason not wanting to watch him walk out of the apartment.
His breath on my neck causes a slight jolt in me as he whispers in my ear. “You have no idea about my morality, Sketch.”
Turning around, I look up at him, smirking and laughing slightly. “You’re a cop. You have an oath to protect.”
“You’re right.” He nods his head.
“If I even think you’re going there, I will call him and let him know.”
“I’m not going.”
“How can I be sure?”
“Cause then I’d have to explain how I know. And if I do that…” he trails off, chuckling to himself, “death.” Leaning into me, he speaks directly into my ear. “And between you and me, for what he was planning, that motherfucker deserves to die.”
“You’re only saying that because you just fucked me.” Rolling my eyes again.
“No,” shaking his head. “I’m saying that in addition to just fucking you. And remember, it’s a onetime thing. I have no reason to lie about it.” His lips come down, pressing against mine hard as he pulls me closer to him. His hands roam my body as I feverishly kiss him back. Needing one last taste.
His hands resting on the curve of my ass, picking me up and placing me on the counter.
Pulling away, we’re both panting as he smirks. I’m sure he can read the confusion all over my face.
“I’m not calling anyone.” He presses his lips to mine once more. “I’m not going there myself.” One more kiss, but this one feels different from the rest. “Trust me, it’s not just this right now. I have always done everything in my power to not arrest him.”
“Why?”
He pauses, looking at me again, almost as if he has to arrange his thoughts to figure out exactly what to say.
“You have a loyalty to him?” I ask, surprising myself. Slowly, he shakes his head, but a smirk still lingers on his face. “To us…” I trail, realizing it’s not just Z, it’s always been the entire family.
“Don’t tell anyone.”
He smirks at me before turning and walking out the door.
I’m still not completely sure that he won’t go after Z; he seemed pretty convincing, but I’ve been misled before.
Looking down at my phone, I contemplate whether I should call Z and warn him just in case, but I can already hear the lecture he’s going to give me when he finds out why.
So instead, I just call Ella.
* * *
Ella showed up an hour after Eli left, pizza in hand. Now, she’s been staring at me for the last 15 minutes, or at least I’ve been aware of it for the last 15 minutes, trying to make sure I’m okay. If only she knew that I’ve been going over today in my head since she got here.
“I’m fine.” I finally gasp out to her.
“It’s okay to not be okay.”
I can’t help but roll my eyes, thinking about how Eli just said that earlier.
“Believe me, I know how okay it is.” She exhales a breath of air. “I was raped.” She says, causing me to snap my head over and look at her.
“When?”
“Right before I turned 18.”
I fall silent for a few moments. “What happened? I’m sorry, you don’t have to tell me.” I quickly correct myself.
“It’s okay; it was a long time ago. The cliff notes are: I met a guy, thought he was nice enough, sure there were probably some red flags I overlooked, but I was trying to get over my crush on Axe.
He had told me it wasn’t going anywhere.
Anyway, I went out a couple of times with this asshole.
When your dad got out of the hospital, I thought it’d be a good idea to take him with me to make Axe jealous.
” She laughs, shaking her head. I’m sure she can sense my questioning look.
“I was trying to hurt him as much as he did me when I walked in on a girl giving him head.”
“What?”
She ignores my questions. “Apparently, seeing Axe and me talking was enough to know. But I’m sure my telling him to lose my number didn’t help. He was mad, so he came back.” Her emotionless eyes surprise me.
“But I wasn’t…”
“Not for lack of trying.” She shakes her head, reaching over and touching me as if to remind me she’s here. “The only reason is that your brother hooked up with a girl who’s just as insane as he is.”
We laugh in unison.
“It’s still violating.” She presses her lips into a thin line.
Falling silent, I look at her, realizing that maybe she’s right. “How’d you get over it?”
“I didn’t.” She shakes her head. “Not really... Learning to live with it is a process, though.” She shrugs. “I numbed myself for months. I only stopped because Axe gave me a place to feel safe enough to work through some of it.”
“And that worked?”
“Kind of.” She laughs, looking back over. “But when I killed him, that helped.”
My eyes widen looking at Ella, seeing her in a new light.