Nowhere But Here (Thunder Road #1)(115)

“They haven’t asked to speak with you again,” Cyrus says.

Eli and Cyrus want me and Emily to lie. Since I was young, Cyrus has been my guidepost. Olivia, the heart. I’ve always done everything he’s said and when I have a problem, he’s who I’ve sought advice from. “Do you guys mind if I talk to Dad for a few minutes?”

Without another word, Hook and Pigpen rise and leave the room. Cyrus stays seated. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stick around?”

“You mind giving me a few with Dad?” I repeat.

Cyrus sizes me up like the question shocked him and I can’t help the flash of guilt. It’s like not discussing this with him is a betrayal. “I’ll be right out there if you want to talk.”

I nod and Cyrus leaves. Dad remains standing and I wonder if he’s also replaying the last full conversation we had. “What’s on your mind?”

“I thought this club was legit?”

He eyes me warily. “It is.”

“Then why am I being asked to lie to the police?”

Dad eases into the seat beside me. “I don’t think they consider it lying as much as they consider it not mentioning certain details.”

A smile tugs on my lips as I remember Emily informing me with that impatient sway of her head that not mentioning something was the same as lying. She never has a problem calling me out on my integrity issues. “A few days ago, you said you’d fight for me.”

“I did.”

“What if I ask you not to fight for me, but at least stand with me? Because I’m about to piss a lot of people off.”

* * *

My footsteps echo in the long hallway as I head toward the pinnacle of this running disaster. Razor’s on guard outside Eli’s door and he opens it the moment he spots me. The voice of a sportscaster drifts out and I hesitate.

What I’m about to do will change everything. Me. Emily. Eli. The club. My parents. Everything. But sometimes what we need the most is what we fight the hardest: change.

From the waiting room at the other end of the hallway, Pigpen’s head snaps up. Soon the rest of the board appears as they stand. Dad walks ahead of me and holds up his hands in the nonverbal stop sign. I’m not sure if he agrees with my decision, but I straighten as I step inside, knowing Dad’s on my side.

Except for Eli, the room’s empty. Emily’s dad took her out to lunch. Mom herded Olivia to an appointment. Razor closes the door and, with the click of a button, Eli turns off the TV.

He’s lying on top of the covers in a pair of jeans. Because Eli’s a tough son of a bitch, he was placed in a regular room a few days ago. He’s shirtless and there’s a bandage over his chest where the bullet went clean through. “You don’t agree?”

Incapable of bullshitting. It’s what I like about Eli. What I also like? He knows what’s going on without anyone telling him.

“No. Emily doesn’t lie and I’m not going to ask her to.”

Eli rubs at the spot above his wound. “I don’t want her involved in this, nor do I want her name on some police report, and I wouldn’t think you’d want her to relive what happened. I especially don’t want her to say anything that’s going to cause problems for her. Think about it. There is nothing you or Emily can add. You didn’t see what happened. You were outside.”

He’s right. It’s the conversation Emily and I have had with the club’s lawyer again and again. We never heard the Riot threaten Eli.

I assess the man in front of me. He’s the person I’ve longed to be. He was always larger than life. The complete badass who I thought had it all. “You gave Emily up so she could have a better life, right? So she wouldn’t be scared?”

Eli nods like I explained my concerns away. “Exactly.”

“Do you know what Emily taught me?”

“What?”

That I don’t want to be the man who people second-guess. I want to be known for my integrity. “That I’m good with kids, especially ones like Brian.”

Good enough that maybe my future isn’t as set as I thought it was. Good enough that I’m willing to do this for Emily and myself. It’s time that I do what Dad has been waiting for me to do: become my own man.

Eli’s cut hangs on the chair across the room. The skull with the fire blazing out of it stares at me. “Emily definitely had a different life than she would’ve had if she and Meg stayed in Snowflake. She has options now that she never would have if she had grown up here, but you and Meg were wrong.”

Eli studies me from toe to head. “How’s that?”

“You and Meg hurt a lot of people along the way in the name of protecting Emily. Told a ton of lies to cover your tracks and Emily still grew up scared. Whether she was raised in Florida or here in Snowflake, the result turned out to be the same. The lies—they were for nothing.”

I slip the cut off my back and slide my thumb over my name: Oz. All I desired was to be part of the whole, to be part of the club. It’s still important to me, but it’s not important enough to ruin any more lives.

With a sensation close to being punched in the gut, I lay my cut on Eli’s bed. “I’m not lying and I won’t ask Emily to, either.”

My footsteps fill the room as I head for the door and when I place my hand on the knob, Eli calls out to me, “Oz.”