“Fuck, just tell me. So, when they come back to question me, I know what I need to hide.”
“But that’s the thing,” Mila says. “If we tell you, you’ll have to lie. The more you know, the deeper you get.”
“We can’t tell you without you now being involved. If something were to come out, you would be an accessory to the… crime,” Hunter finishes and shakes his head at me. He lets out a deep breath, letting go of Mila and taking a few steps away from her to pace.
“Crime?” Fuck, I just didn’t want to be left out. But now I’m worried this is something much bigger than I thought. Self-defense. That’s not what I would call a crime. Murder… now, that’s a crime.
Roman stands up abruptly, his eyes meeting mine. He says four words that I never expected.
“I killed my dad.”
Well…fuck.
FOUR
MILA
Jace sits on the sofa, staring at Roman like he can’t believe what he just said. I’m still in shock that Roman announced it like that, he hasn’t said a word about it since it happened. And he just straight-up told Jace that he killed his dad.
Although, it wasn’t like that; he didn’t just kill him. It was in self-defense. Not a crime like Hunter said. Except, with how much we changed and covered up, that’s the crime. It would make us look guilty for tampering with the crime scene and lying about who killed him.
Roman is in the armchair, zoned out, and I’m left standing here with Hunter to pick up the pieces. If the cops are snooping around, that means something didn’t add up, and I have no idea what that could be. DNA, fingerprints, shit, did Roman leave a bloody fingerprint somewhere? I assumed they would believe my story enough that they wouldn’t test the whole place. Why would they? It was all wrapped up, an easy, open-and-shut case.
Roman went there to get some clothes and stuff with an officer, but that’s the last time any of us have been there. He didn’t say much, but maybe we should have all gone with him to do it. But wouldn’t that have looked suspicious?Fuck.
“It’s okay. It’s gonna be okay, Mila.” Hunter takes my hand from where I was twirling and pulling on the ends of my hair. I didn’t even know I was doing that.
Will it be okay?
Our entire childhood, he has said that.Everything will be okay.I trust Hunter when he says it. I know he will try everything to make sure it’s okay. But this is bigger than us.
Much bigger.
“I don’t even understand. What… why? How? Was it really self-defense?” Jace asks Roman, who doesn’t move. The only indication he’s heard him is a tick in his jaw at that last question.
As if Roman would have murdered his father, he deserved it, but Roman isn’t that type of person. But I guess Jace is confused and just asking questions. You can’t start with, “I killed my dad,” then completely shut down and not expect Jace to say something dumb. But maybe Roman just needed to say it, to get it off his chest.
“Jace,” I say, bringing his attention back to me. “It was self-defense. We don’t want to whisper and leave you out, but we had to protect you. From the truth, the lies… hell, all of it.” I throw my hand up. “We have so many lies, I don’t know what’s real and what’s not anymore. It’s sometimes easier to live the lie than face reality.”
Jace shakes his head, but before he can speak, I put my hand up to stop him.
“Look, what we say here—it stays with us. You said you would never break my trust again, and I need to believe that right now. The three of us… we’re the only ones who know what really happened. About everything. And if it gets out, we areallfucked.”
He nods, his big eyes reminding me of when we were kids. Innocent and trusting. This is the Jace from my past, not the asshole quarterback with a chip on his shoulder. I give a sad smile. I’ve missed this boy. Where has he been?
“Mila. You can trust me. You all can. If you go down, I’ll go down with you.” He looks at his palm, and I do the same to mine. I run my finger over the blood pact. The blood brother mark. We all carry the same scar made from the same blade. Even if it was so we would stay best friends forever, we all now belong to something bigger than friendship with these marks. Trust, loyalty, love…family.
“There was an accident at Roman’s trailer. Only, I wasn’t the one who killed Damon in self-defense. Roman did, and I took the fall to protect him.”
I look at Roman, and his eyes meet mine behind his hair. It’s taking everything in him not to run away. I reach my hand out toward him, wanting to comfort him, wanting him to comfort me. Waiting until he opens his arms, I sit on his lap, and when he pulls me to him, I melt under his warmth.
Hugs from Roman are becoming more frequent. Anytime he lets me in, it’s a huge step forward. Like now. Even when he initiates a hug, I don’t touch his chest, since that will set him off. Instead, I curl my hands into myself as he hugs me to his chest.
I turn to see Jace staring at us, and Roman nuzzles his nose into my throat as he breathes me in. Jace seems surprised. He’s seen us kiss. Hell, he walked in on us earlier, and I’m a little upset about that, as I’d been worked up and was hoping one of them or both would get me off. But Jace hasn’t seen this side of Roman, where he freely touches me and lets me in. It’s new for all of us.
Hunter clears his throat, and all attention shifts to him. He takes a seat on the edge of the coffee table and clasps his hands together, looks over to me, and nods. Hunter will tell Jace. I don’t have to relive it anymore. I do that in my nightmares enough as it is. At least I don’t have nightmares about being hit by that car anymore. Sometimes, I wish I didn’t have to go to sleep at all.
“Damon was getting drugs from the Amato family, and he ran up a huge debt. One that Roman has been paying off by fighting. They’re the ones who hit Mila on her bike and put her in the hospital. They were sending Roman a message.”
