Page 178 of Salvation

“Not really, but hit me anyway.”

“Follow him. Dante is going to come looking for you regardless. Don’t make this any more difficult than it needs to be. He loves you. He might not always show it, but he does. He’s not going to cause you any serious harm. Don’t hide away andshow guilt. Stand up to him. Be the woman we all know you are. You fucked up, but so has Dante. He’s not judge, jury and executioner here. Get your ass out to the bar and face the music.”

We locked eyes for a moment before I nodded and raced after Vienna. My stomach was doing somersaults, and any second now I was going to hurl. I just knew it.

But Hacksaw was right. The only way to get through this was to just do it. Rip off the band aid and face the wound underneath before we could all begin to heal.

As I entered the bar, my resolve almost wavered. The music had been shut off and everyone was looking at Vienna in confusion.

“Nice to see you, brother,” Dante grinned. “Ladies, raise your hands. Who is surprised to learn Vienna likes to use the back door?”

The room was divided. Behind Dante, there were roars of laughter. Behind Vienna, there was a silence filled with dread.

“What’s going on? Did the hospital say something to you before you left?” Dante asked, finally twigging that something was wrong. He put his pint down on the nearest table and walked towards us.

I took a deep breath, in through my nose and out through my mouth.

And then I repeated it a bunch more times.

Jenna walked over to me and linked her fingers with mine, giving me a reassuring squeeze. I looked at her, seeing her face was just as pale as she had said mine was earlier. No doubt Hacksaw had told her what was about to happen, and just like me, she was now shitting herself.

My heart was hammering in my chest, my palms were sweaty and all I could think about was how he was going to deliver the news.

“No. But I need to talk to you.”

“There will be time to talk in the morning. It’s a party, Vienna.Yourparty. Since when have you ever turned a celebration down?”

“Dante, I kissed Rachel.”

Well. That’s how he was doing it.

The entire room grew so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. Dante froze, his body stiffening. Jenna took a sharp intake of breath, and her hand squeezed mine once more—though I barely felt it. I was numb. The silence was deafening, so much so I could hear the blood roaring through my body.

“Say that again,” Dante said quietly.

There was no emotion in his tone. No anger, no hurt. Nothing. And that scared me more than any screaming or shouting could have done.

“The night you and Rachel… When I took her to the bar. I kissed her.”

“Did you kiss him back?” Dante asked, without looking in my direction. His fist clenched at his side, and that was the only sign he gave that he was at war with himself.

I recognised that Vienna was giving me an out. He was willing to take the blame. He was willing to say that he kissed me, and let me walk away the innocent party.

It would be so easy for me to go along with what he said, and come out of this relatively scar free.

But I was not that woman. I would not let him take the fall for this. We were both to blame.

I liked to say I was this strong, fierce woman, and yet one too many times in my life I had allowed people to take the blame for my actions. This would not be one of those instances.

“Yes,” I said, my voice loud and clear.

Dante’s lips thinned as he nodded his head.

“That’s all it was, Dante. Just a drunken kiss. I swear I—”

Dante shot forward as Vienna spoke, moving at a speed that defied his size, and the sound of his fist connecting with Vienna’s jaw was like a thunderclap in the silent room.

He hit him again, and again, each time making me cringe as the sound of his solid fist against Vienna’s skin rattled in my ears.

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