Page 143 of Secrets (The Sins Trilogy 2)
Chapter Fifty-Five
Anthony
“It’s taking too long,” I say, sitting in the Cullinan.
“They’re women,” TJ says.
He’s right. But I hate that Iris is in the same building as Marty. She didn’t look well after that parasite hugged her. Of course, I wouldn’t look so good either if I got body-locked by a slimy leech.
“If they aren’t back in the next five seconds, I’m going in,” I say.
“They’re in the women’s bathroom.”
“And?”
“What do you think is happening? Sam’s boy is attacking her?” He snorts. “Bobbi picks her teeth with guys like that.”
I start opening the door. I’m only going to check up on her, in case she isn’t feeling well. I should’ve insisted she skip this travesty of a funeral. It isn’t like either of us is really sorry Sam’s gone.
Just as I’m about to step out, I spot Iris and Bobbi coming toward the car. Iris’s complexion is completely bloodless. It reminds me of the way Katherine looked in her casket.
I jump out of the car. “Are you all right?” I hold her hands. They’re icy.
“Just not feeling well.” She gives me a wan smile.
I give Bobbi a quick look past Iris and mouth, Marty? Bobbi shakes her head. The tightness inside me eases a bit. The bastard didn’t touch Iris again. I lead her toward the Cullinan and help her get in. Bobbi rides shotgun.
“What’s wrong?” I ask Iris as TJ pulls out of the driveway. “Should I have Dr. Young meet us at home?”
“No. It’s just the breakfast. Isn’t sitting well.”
She didn’t eat that much in the morning, and I chalked it up to nerves. After all, seeing a little shit like Marty couldn’t be good for one’s digestion. Even I don’t feel so great. But it upsets me that her stomach issue is bad enough to make her this unwell.
“TJ, pull over when you see a store,” I say.
He grunts. A few miles later, he pulls into a strip mall, and I run inside the grocery store to grab a bottle of ginger ale. I remember how it used to settle Mother’s stomach when she had indigestion.
I return to the car, twist the cap and hand it to Iris. “Here.”
She stares at the drink for a moment, her eyes oddly remote. Something I can’t quite name slides cold talons along my shoulders.
“Iris? You don’t want the ginger ale?”
She blinks once, then looks at me. The smile she shoots me is half-hearted. “Sorry. Got distracted. Thank you.” She takes the bottle and takes a small sip, closing her eyes the entire time.
Somehow it feels like she’s shutting me out. I’m being ridiculous, of course. She’s just tired. But I can’t shake the ugly apprehension.
“Tony?” she says suddenly, her eyes open now.
“Yes?”
She lowers her voice until it’s barely a whisper. “You know it bothers me I don’t remember everything, right?”
“Of course.” Do I ever. She jumped into the pool and tried to drown herself to find some missing pieces of her past. The pain she carries still breaks my heart, every time I think about it. I wish there were a way to fix it all for her, but I know there isn’t, short of some medical miracle or magic.
“If you knew something…anything about me that I didn’t know, you’d tell me, right?”
I go still, surprised and uneasy over why she’s asking me this all of a sudden. The question is a no-win—a choice between a minefield and sinkhole. The only right answer is yes, but that isn’t the truth of what I’ve been doing. If I tell her now…
She waits for an answer, her body tense.
Nothing stays secret forever.
Ryder told me that. I’ve been ignoring it, hoping if I do, maybe it won’t come true.
Every little lie spins another, until the skein is as complex and inescapable as a spider web. The only way to start over is to destroy it, clear every strand, but if I do that, I’m going to lose Iris.
“Of course.” I reach over and hold her hand in mine. “I’m going to do everything in my power to keep you safe.”
The tension in her eases. I force a smile despite my apprehension, and count my blessings that she didn’t notice my evasion.
