“Yeah, she told me about the day she met you.” She tilts her head. “Does she know who you are?”
“We don’t talk about it, but yeah, she does.”
“Zeke, I don’t understand. The two of you seem so close, but then there’s this past that you don’t ever talk about?”
“We don’t need to.” I shrug. “The more time that I spent with Addy, the more I came to realize, like me she lost someone she loved, and with no other family, she’s all alone. I also came to understand Addy didn’t create the monster that killed my parents. Evil isn’t born. Something was seriously wrong with him. He was defective. Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t help him.”
“Why didn’t you tell the police what happened?”
I stare at her. Motherfuckers, Slate or Jax must’ve been running their mouths. How else would she know about all of this? “After I told my dad what happened that day, he made me promise not to talk to anyone about it.” I scrub a hand over my chin. “And,” I drop my hand on the bed, “at seven years old, I listened. Especially, after he died. I wanted to honor what I promised. At the funeral, I overheard my dad’s friend, Mitch, say that my dad called him the day he died. He said Dad asked him to stop by the next day for a visit. Mitch was a cop. As I got older, things started to make sense. I figured Dad sent Jax and Zeke to Grams’ because he wanted me to meet with Mitch at the house. I think he wanted to file charges against Glenn for what he did to me. I also think my dad went to see Glenn that night. From the bruises on his knuckles, I think he went there and roughed him up. I assume that’s why Glenn came to the house. He knew my dad was going to blow him in, and he couldn’t handle it. He was weak. He’d rather die than let anyone know the truth about him, about what he was.”
“So you never told your brothers?”
“No.” I place my hands on her thighs and rub them. “I was young when it happened. I didn’t fully grasp what was going on, and as I got older and I did understand, well. Years had passed. It’s not as though we’d get any justice for my parents. Glenn was dead. Besides, I didn’t want to drudge up the past. It’d hurt too many people, my brothers and Addy, she’s gone through enough.”
“All these years, you’ve had to deal with it alone.”
“Yeah, but I’m talking about it now,” I look up into her glistening eyes, “and if I got to be honest, it feels okay.”
“It’s important to talk about,” her eyes soften, “but Zeke, do you honestly believe no one should love you?”
“For years, I did,” I say, rubbing her thighs a little faster. “I know, it ain’t right, but it’s why I made those rules. I was young and stupid, but as I got older, when I knew better. Well, I guess I just got stuck in that mentality. It was easier than letting myself get too close to anyone.”
“Have you ever been in love?”
“No.” I look up at her, seeing in her eyes that someday I could.
“What about Luna Featherhouse?”
“Woman, who in the hell have you been talking to?” I laugh, “Luna Featherhouse? Shit, I haven’t heard that name in years.”
“Rayna says you really liked her in high school, said that she was the only girl you ever chased after.”
“Yeah,” I laugh again, “I chased after her but not for the reason you think. I did like her, though, a lot, and because she was the kind of girl I could see myself falling for, I wanted to know why she wouldn’t go out with me for I planned to keep doing it to keep the Luna Featherhouse’s of the world away from me. And when I finally did get a straight answer out of her, she told me it was because she heard that I got around. Apparently, it turned her off. So I made it my mission to turn off the types of girls that turned me on and I procured the reputation of being the best damn lay in Galveston County. So, I guess, sweetheart,” I fit my fingers into hers and pull her down onto my chest, “you were right. My rules, they’re there to keep me safe.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
I didn’t tell anyone what Zeke told me the other night, and we haven’t talked about it since, but I think telling someone what happened helped him. I’ve spent the past few nights in his arms, and he hasn’t had any nightmares.
I’m falling for him but I’m leaving in a week, and like his past, we don’t talk about that either.
Opening the door, I find Zeke and Slate fighting in the cage. Manly grunts echo in the large empty room. I get to the ring and their bodies, a ball of muscles and limbs roll together on the floor. Zeke manages to get on top of Slate and pins his arms to the mat.