Page 49 of Entangled By You
“You’re here.” My voice croaks, and my eyes stick from salty tears.
How long was I asleep?
“Pierce thought you could use a friendly face to wake up to. How are you handling everything?”
The scoff puffs past my lips. “Handling everything? Well, I threw up and basically passed out, so you could say I’m a regular Gemma Teller.” I throw her a look that conveys my honest feelings on the subject.
She laughs at my sarcasm and shakes her head.
“How long was I out?”
“A few hours. The guys got everything squared away. They’re just waiting for nightfall to move the bodies.”
I stiffen. How does she do it? Sounds so casual about everything, just like Pierce? Like it’s no big deal. I’m about to ask just that when my bedroom door swings open.
“Good, you’re awake.” His tone is gruff, and I’m not used to the jarring edge.
Pierce is soft for me. He might have a playful mean streak, but that’s all but faded now with our feelings on the table. This man, in the doorway, is someone my brain can’t perceive. His eyes are cold. His stance is rigid. Something more’s happened while I was out.
“We all need to talk. Come out to the living room.”
His command leaves little room for argument, especially when he turns on his heels and stomps down the hallway out of sight.
“Give me a couple of minutes to freshen up, and I’ll be out,” I tell Harlow, and she looks at me, her own unreadable thoughts etched on her beautiful face.
When I emerge begrudgingly into the living room, it looks like nothing happened. Some of the furniture is back in place. The bodies are somewhere, according to Harlow, but I can’t see them anywhere—that’s for the best. The blood’s been cleaned up, and I have a new carpet and accent chair.
There’s no way these three did all of that within a couple of hours, but they’re the only ones here now. Pierce stands across the room with his back to me. His eyes are cast out the front window, letting the darkening evening overtake the low light of the living room. Silas is kicked back on the loveseat, like he’s over to catch up, but he’s busy with something on his phone.
Harlow’s the only one who moves when I step into the room. She brings me a mug, and the peppermint tea wafts up my nose, immediately relaxing my energy.
I make it two feet from the open seat I’m headed for when I spot the coffee table. The file folder is open, and the documents I spent years collecting are spread across the flat surface.
Dread eats through my stomach, and I stop dead in my tracks.
FOLDER OF TRUTH
PIERCE
Her breath hitches,and I know she’s seen them. I can’t look at her after going through that file. It’s all laid out clear as day, and it doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together. This is what he was after. What he wanted from her, and she kept it from me. She kept it from all of us.
Si’s rage boils to the point of calmness, and it’s terrifying as fuck. If he snaps at her… I shake my head. We don’t need another dead body to deal with. I don’t think the club would back me on that one.
“How? How did you find them?” Her voice is so quiet, I think the only reason I hear it from all the way over here is because I’m that tuned into her.
“I mentioned he said something about hidden files. It took Harlow all of two seconds to find them in my room.”
My room. The room that hasn’t been used in weeks. There isn’t a night lately that I’m not beside Lexi in bed with her body tucked perfectly into the curves of mine.
“I… I can explain.”
The loveseat groans behind me, likely due to Si readjusting or standing up to address his sister. I finally turn to face theroom. Lexi’s face looks like a sheet of paper, and sweat peppers her hairline. I want to go to her. Hold her. Tell her everything’s going to be okay now, that this is all over, but I don’t know about that.
“Explain.” The one word draws her gaze from the floor up to mine.
Her delicate throat works hard over a swallow, but she nods and walks to the single open chair, leaving me no space to sit with her if I wanted to. It’s a message. Loud and clear.
Leaning forward awkwardly over her pregnant belly, she riffles through the mess of papers until she finds the one she’s looking for and plops it on the top of the rest.
