Elijah plunged first, “What are you doing here, Skeet? You don’t need to be concerned if this is about Bri. She hasn't really been a part of my life since you left.” She hasn't? Then he added more, “And I have stopped selling. Haven’t you heard?” He flashed me a grin, but it was empty. “My mom went and got herself pregnant a while ago. Who will support the kid after she screws up and loses custody?”

“So, you’re going to take care of him?”

He shrugged. “Gonna try. Whether they let me or not is another thing, but you didn’t come over to talk to me about my problems. You’re here because of Bri? She sent you?”

“No.” Why would she? “I’m here about Emerson.”

“Oh.” He scratched behind his ear. “What about him?”

“He’s still buying. I’m wondering if you’d help us to deal with him?”

He barked out another laugh, and his shoulders loosened. “Deal with him?” His green eyes narrowed. “How exactly?”

“Tell us how to stop him? We’re open to suggestions.”

He looked down at the floor and held his breath. He seemed to be thinking it over, but he looked back up. A resigned look was in his eyes. “You can’t. I know enough about this shit to know you can’t stop him until he hits rock bottom.”

Well. That wasn’t helpful. Glancing around, I didn’t see any of his stuff. I asked, “Is he here?” I began moving down the hallway to the room Emerson always used. “Still sleeping?”

“No,” he called after me. His body snapped to attention. “I mean.” He scratched behind his ear. “Don’t go down there. He was an ass last night. I’d steer clear until he’s in a better mood.”

I stared at him. Hard.

Eli didn’t look away. There was no flicker of hesitation or question in his eyes. He didn’t move at all, holding my gaze the whole time.

He was lying.

I’d grown up with Elijah Turner. Not many knew when he was holding something back, but I did. I had studied him all my life. That’s what I did when he had the girl I loved. And I knew he was bluffing. I wondered if Elijah had even seen Emerson last night.

When I got into the truck, I called Braden. “We have a problem.”

I wanted the guys to meet at The Shack, but Braden mentioned it’d be better if we met somewhere Peter and Priss wouldn’t know about. My old house it was. Pulling into my driveway, I looked at my house—my dad’s house—and heaved a breath. Getting out of the truck, I could tell it’d been freshly painted. The last step had been fixed. The crack was gone from the middle of it. Heading up to the back door, I noticed the knob was secured back into place. Skimming an eye at Braden’s house, I saw the curtain from Bri’s old room had fallen back into place. A second later, her light switched off, and the knot was back in my gut. I had started calling the damn thing the Bri knot.

“What am I going to do with you?” I muttered under my breath. I wasn’t sure whom I meant, the knot or the girl.

“Yo.” Braden had come out of their back door and jumped over their patio steps. Landing smoothly on his feet, he stuffed his hands into his pockets and hunched his shoulders over, darting over to me. “Did you stay at The Shack last night? Bri said you never came back here.”

Of course, she would’ve known.

Had she been watching for me the whole night? I grimaced. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. “I had to air out the place, didn’t figure on driving back. It was too late.” After I unlocked the door, we filtered inside. Shit. I stopped abruptly. The air was heavy, and there was an undercurrent of stale booze. I could smell it all. Tears, blood, screams, crying, my dad’s cursing. Even now, I flinched because I could imagine the scrape of his boot when he stood from the couch. I never knew if he would head to my room and decide to beat me or if he would leave me alone. Fuck. That fear was still there; it had a death grip on me.

Braden mused beside me, “The place hasn’t changed much.”

I wanted to burn the place down. “No, it doesn’t seem like it.”

We heard tires on the loose gravel outside as someone else pulled into the driveway. The stairs creaked loudly underneath Gunn’s weight. He looked freshly showered and relaxed. Giving us a wink, he said, “Hey there.”

“I see you had a good night with the girlfriend.”

“Yeah, man.”

Braden frowned, hopping onto the counter. “We need to meet this chick.”

“She’s no chick. She’s a woman.” Gunn went to the kitchen table and sat down. He shook his head. “And no way am I letting her meet you. You and Luke are too pretty. The girls go crazy over you. You can meet her on our wedding day. Too late to leave me then.”

Braden grinned. “Aw, sweet, controlling love.”

Gunn gave him the middle finger, remarking, “Nah, that’s called being smart.”

I barked out a laugh. “Something you don’t know, huh?”

“Hey!” Braden swung his head from Gunn to me, then back. “Pick on Braden Day? Is that what this is?”

“Stuff it. Like you can’t handle it.” Gunn leaned back in his chair, trying to restrain a smile. “You start it half the time.”

Braden laughed. “You’re right, I do. Okay, carry on. I wish you many nights of sex and blow jobs.” He gave me a look, and just like that, I knew the joking was done. It was time for our unofficial meeting.