Page 14 of Riot

My thoughts pinball around my mind as I try to come up with a solution, but there is none.

Tell her and burden her with this awful secret, or hide it and she’ll spend her life looking over her shoulder.

Suddenly, I want to get the fuck out of here. I can’t look her in the eyes knowing this shit and keeping it to myself.

“I’m gonna head off. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I don’t hold back my frustration.

Maylie stands, Mace moving with her, and she puts herself in my path. Despite barely reaching my chin, she’s like a lioness protecting her cubs.

“I hate that you’re involved in this, Riot, and I’m sorry that you are, but I know my sister. And I know what she can handle. Please, just trust me when I say she won’t cope knowing the truth.”

I exhale a rush of air. I can see the weight of this is crushing May. It’s in the set of her shoulders and the pinched lines around her eyes.Maylie ain’t the enemy here. She wants what’s best for Ivy too. It’s just that we ain’t on the same page about what that is.

“I hate lyin’ to her.”

Her brittle smile falters around the edges. “I know. I’m sorry. I wish you didn’t have to carry this.” Her arms wrap around me like a warm blanket, and I rest my chin on the top of her head, holding her tight. “Thank you for looking out for her. It means everything that you’re in her corner.”

Ugly, dark, dirty guilt slithers through my veins. There’s nothing heroic or selfless in this. “Don’t thank me for bein’ a piece of shit.”

A shudder rolls through Maylie, and she squeezes her eyes shut.

Mace’s lips curl into a snarl as his hand wraps around her nape and he pulls her against his chest, glaring at me.

“I hate lying too,” Maylie says finally, “but this won’t help her, Riot. Ivy’s guilt and shame will be a mountain range sitting on her shoulders. She’ll blame herself for bringing Link into our lives, and she’ll shoulder that burden alone. It’ll destroy every broken piece of her she’s somehow glued back together.”

Fuck.What the hell do I say to that?

“I know.” I step back, that space in my ribs where my heart sits pinched and painful. “Night, Maylie.” I lift my gaze to my brother. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Mace mutters, his tone telling me we’ll be talking.

The ride back to the clubhouse gives me time to think, and when I pull into the compound, my mind is whirling. All I want to do is fuck, drink, and fight, but the mood I’m in, I’ll cross lines I shouldn’t, so I head to my room and flop onto the bed fully clothed.

The monsters don’t hide.

Maybe she is just sleep deprived. Maybe it’s hormones or the pressure of parenthood. I don’t fuckin’ know, but her tears were like a thousand jagged cuts.

I close my eyes, and when my exhaustion drags me into the darkness, it’s Ivy’s face that fills my dreams.

FOUR

IVY

I wake in a cold sweat,the last vestiges of the nightmare stamped on my brain. Choking panic stops my breaths before they rush out of me in shaky pants.

The dream was the worst I’ve ever had. Rigors wrack my body as adrenaline dumps through my veins. He was holding me down, shoving his way into my body, laughing at my pain.

It was so real, I could feel my body tear around him. The fierce fire burning between my legs is an imprint of memory, not a physical injury.

I’m alive and I’m safe.

I stare up at the ceiling and drag in a lungful of air. He’s never going to stop tormenting me. He’s not even here, and I’m a mess.

Slowly, I sit up in bed and glance towards the cot. Seren isn’t awake yet, and I’m grateful. I need a second to just…be, and to plant my feet firmly on the ground.

He can’t hurt me.

There are people in my life who will stand between me and my demons—people like Mace, my sister…

---