“Naw, poison’s not my thing. Did Emily tell you that she has a flight to catch?”
“No. She hasn’t been talkative to be honest,” my grandmother says as my grandfather eases onto the couch next to her and rests his arms on his bent knees.
“She acts like she’s terrified of us,” he says in this mock lighthearted tone that gives me the chills.
A mock dismissive twitch of Eli’s wrist. “Can’t imagine why.”
“You’re the one with the felony record,” interjects my uncle.
Eli points at him. “Emily, if you’re going to watch TV to make an assumption on someone’s life then think of any tragic TV show that involves drugs. Ten bucks the horrible ending is what happens to him in five years.”
“You asshole.” My uncle is on the move, Oz steps forward, his hand reaching for his back and both Eli and my grandfather raise their hands while staring emotionlessly at each other.
Oz backs off and so does my uncle while I suck in air so I don’t puke.
“You okay, Emily?” asks Eli.
I slowly angle my head toward him. Is he kidding? I’m not even close to okay.
“I don’t want the deal,” my grandmother whispers.
“What does that mean?” I ask.
My grandfather laces his fingers with his wife’s. “Why did you come here, Emily?”
“It’s okay to answer them,” Eli says with a kindness that causes pain.
“I...” I clear my throat. “I wanted to know why Eli hurt...” I pathetically gesture to my uncle. “Him. I wanted to understand.”
Eli peers over at Oz and I swear Oz nods just slightly. Eli nods back and then focuses on my grandparents. “The deal we reached stands as it is. Emily’s going home to Florida and you’re going to leave Emily and Meg alone.”
The hair on the back of my neck sticks up. He told them we live in Florida.
“We weren’t at the motel to hurt Emily,” my uncle says. “We were there to protect her.”
“From what?” Oz demands.
“From you. Meg turned Eli in for what he did to me. She’s a snitch in your eyes and we sure as hell weren’t going to let Meg and Emily walk into your territory and hope you guys were in a forgiving mood. We called Meg at the motel and told her we knew she was there and that we were watching her back.”
The phone call Mom received that sparked her and Dad’s late-night conversation in the bathroom. But still, I’m very confused. I wipe my hands on my jeans and will away the fuzzy sensation that suggests fainting.
Eli’s shaking his head. “See, that’s where you’re fucked up in your thinking. The Terror doesn’t operate by the same rules you do. It’s not eye for an eye with us. We operate by our code while respecting the laws surrounding us.”
“The Terror are wannabes,” my uncle spits. “Men who can’t hack the real way of life.”
“No, they’re men of integrity.” Eli pats my knee. “You reminded me of that, Emily”
Eli stands. “Meg left you and she left me. Fifteen years ago we struck an agreement and I was under the impression we decided to uphold that agreement last week.” He digs into his pocket and tosses his keys to Oz. “Remember what we talked about?”
Every head turns to Oz and my heart bottoms out when Oz’s face hardens. No.
“Whatever this is,” I say, “I don’t want any part of it.”
Oz
EMILY SLOWLY RISES from her chair. Do I remember what Eli and I talked about? Not sure I could forget and I’m catching on that I made a promise too fast.
“Meg was right about me, Oz,” Eli says. “And I lost everything in my life that was important over it. Be more of a man than I was. You make the decisions that I didn’t. Do you understand me?”
My heart is picking up speed and resolve turns into steel in my veins.
Eli lifts his chin as he addresses the head of the Riot. “You’ve wanted an eye for an eye, we made an agreement, and I broke the rules. You can take what’s important to you now.”
I pop my neck to the side to stop from throwing myself in front of him. I don’t know what deal was reached fifteen years ago. I don’t know what agreement was struck last week. But I know that the deal he’s striking now involves his life in exchange for them staying away from Emily.
As sadness and anger pour through me, I begin walking across the room. One foot in front of another. I made a promise. I made a promise and I’m going to keep it. Tears are pooling at the bottom of Emily’s eyes and she’s already grabbed on to Eli. There’s no way she understands what’s going on, but it doesn’t require a master’s degree to figure out it’s not good.
I clutch Emily’s hand and she plants her feet firmly next to Eli. “What’s going on? We’re going to leave, right? All of us, right now. We’re going to leave.”
Eli kisses her forehead then lowers his head until he’s eye level with Emily. “I love you. I have always loved you and your mother. Now, you need to go.”
Emily’s eyes go wide, too wide, and I shove away all the fear, all the pain at what I’m about to lose, and keep the promise I made. I wrap my arms around Emily’s waist and I lift her off the floor. She’s fighting. Shouting. Echoing the emotions tearing at me.
I’m dragging her out of the living room, out of the kitchen. On my heels is her uncle, yelling at me to move faster, but I tune him out and focus on Emily’s screams because those are my screams. Her tears are my tears because I don’t know how to save Emily and Eli. I don’t know how to save them both.
Emily
THE DOOR SHUTS in my face. The man with the scar, my uncle, wore the look of death. He was wielding the judgment that should be reserved only for the Grim Reaper.
Oz’s hold on me is strong and I keep pushing. My feet barely brush the ground as we go down the stairs. My throat is raw. The screaming won’t stop. “Oz, please. We need to go back! We need to go back!”
My mind has fractured and is skipping between fast-forward and slow motion. My face is wet. My vision blurry. There’s a chant in the back of my head that everything’s okay. Everything’s okay, but it’s not. It’s not. Eli didn’t walk out with us. He didn’t leave.
I’m kicking and Oz hesitates, enough that when I thrust back hard my feet land on the ground. Oz grabs my face and he is the only thing in my line of sight. “We have to go.”