Page 71 of Overstaying His Welcome

I shot off a text to Frost while the others kept talking. He replied instantly with a selfie of them playing video games.

“If you agree with me, then what happens now?” Cohen asked.

“Now you decide if you can get past my lies and trust that I hid the truth for valid reasons.” Tank took a deep breath. “Or you decide you don’t want to be here anymore. It’s as simple as that, Cohen. I love you deeply. You’re my friend and my family. I don’t want to lose you. And as much as I want to say I’d change the past, I wouldn’t. It all had to happen this way.”

Godric placed his hand on Cohen’s neck. He didn’t shake him off this time.

The room stilled as we waited for what Cohen had to say. I hated the idea of him not being part of the life we’d built, but I also understood where he was coming from. At the end of the day, I’d hidden my own past though. I’d been in Tank’s shoes. Itjust didn’t matter as much because mine was a trauma versus a whole ass relationship.

Or I figured that’s how Cohen saw it anyway.

“We all have secrets,” Memphis eventually said.

Takeshi snapped his finger to draw our eyes, then signed, “He’s right.”

Knowing I was the last of the “OG group” as Tank called us, I nodded as well. “Think about this Cohen. You know it’s true. Through the years, we’ve all kept certain things to ourselves . No matter the amount of time or how big the secret, one thing has remained the same.”

“We’ve remained supportive of one another.” Godric’s words had Cohen’s spine straightening.

I wasn’t sure if it was from anger or because he’d finally seen it in him to forgive Tank and move on. I really hoped it was the second one. We needed to remain a united front. We were too close to ending this shit once and for all for it not to be.

“Fuck,” he bit out scrubbing his hands over his face. “I’m sorry for being such a dick about this. It felt like everything was changing all at once. I thought we were finally getting back to the good old days.”

“The good old days as in when you and Godric weren’t together? Or when none of the guys had partners? When we were just living but not truly happy?”

At my passionate words, Cohen’s jaw dropped.

“Damn,” Damari whispered.

Everyone turned to look his way. It was very rare for him to pipe in with an opinion these days. The more we grew in number, the more introverted he’d become.

Him speaking, even just one word, felt like a blow.

Cohen dramatically fell onto the table. “Shots fired. Damari got me.”

We all laughed, taking the mood in the room from a subzero chill into a friendlier mode.

“If we’re all done holding hands, I’d like to go over this email with everyone,” Memphis called out.

“Before we get to that, there’s something else you should know.” Tank then dove into the explanation of Pratt and his brother. He told us of how they’d been living under the radar, and how Kendall had uncovered everything.

Ronan grunted. “We need to contact Stabler again. He needs to get here pronto. This is getting too twisted to not include him.”

“He’s been included from the start,” Tank reminded him. “The issue is that we don’t work within the confines of the law. He can’t be linked to what we do at the end of this.”

“But what if he gets linked to what we’ve already done? There’s no walking away clean from this if he’s helping at all. It’s too risky for him to be in the dark.”

Tank considered my opinion on the matter for a minute before nodding. “Ok, fine. Let’s call him in.”

As a group, we decided not to tell Stabler what was going on over the phone. There was no telling who else was in on everything.

“You can’t possibly have more to tell me already,” he sighed as he answered his phone.

Tank chuckled. “Don’t say you don’t miss us all the time. We’re your favorite people.”

“Sure. Let’s go with that. What can I help you with now?”

“You need to get to NightShade. As soon as possible, preferably. Tell me you’re still in the area.” There was a mix of pleading and demanding in Tank’s tone. It gave just the right amount of urgency for Stabler to turn serious.

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