Slice (The Elledge Family #1) (45 page)

“Why did you not come with Mark? And why are you here and not at the loft?”

“Why would I come with Mark?”

“What the bloody hell do you mean? Why would you not come to get me out Cypress? I’m your fiancé.” He looked weary. There had not been much effort in his outfit. His basketball shorts hung from his waist and the oversized T-shirt barely revealed his tattoos. Then his hair was down his back and his eyes were heavy.

“I know that.” I paused. “Exactly who are you Lucas?”

“What?” He shifted his weight in front of me and leaned in front of the door. “What do you mean?”

“You heard me.” My teeth were clenched. “The knife... what is so bad about this knife?”

“They got the information from Persephone. I know… I know it looked bad, but that was nothing. They didn't find it.”

“Because I hid it.” I snapped my hands crushed into his chest. “I hid it before Ireland. I wanted to know what you would do if it was gone! Good thing I did because you would be frying with no damn grease right now!”

“Shhhh!” He hissed as his eyes watched for someone surrounding him. “You don’t know what you are talking about Cypress and they are watching my every move, you have to watch what you say. They can try to use anything against me.” Lucas nudged me away from the door and I nodded my head and I held my ground. “What’re you doing?”

“Why were you scared?” I whispered. “Tell me why you were scared.”

“Where is it?”

“You don't need it. Why were you scared damn it! Answer me.”

“You need to calm down before you get too upset.” Lucas looked at my stomach sympathetically and nodded his head. “Just tell me where it is. I want it. It's mine.” He growled.

“You gonna kill me too?” I pushed him back from me and threw my hands in the air. “I have a child coming into this world by a man I thought I knew but I don't.”

“We have a child.” He tried to correct.

“There is no we Lucas.” The words stung as they made their way out.

“Cypress.” He moaned. “Let me in and we can talk all of this out.”

“I would feel safer if you made your way back home.”

“You are home.” He couldn’t look me in the eyes. He held his head down. “We just need to talk.” He mumbled in a small rant under his voice.

“I don't want to hear it. Keep your sappy love shit to yourself. I'll talk to you when I can formulate a sentence to express how pissed off I am at you. But right now… I need for you to get the fuck out of my face and don’t bring your English ass over here again.”

“You are assuming everything wrong. I am not a,” the word sat on his tongue as if he afraid to even say it in front of me. “I'll call you later, okay? And we can talk about everything.”

“Goodbye.” I slammed the door in his face and closed my eyes. What the actual fuck had I gotten myself into? And why?

Lucas

There was something off. She said she knew. She said that she didn't want to see me, but I needed to see her. I needed to see her or there was a chance that I could explode. I had tried to call my father four times, but he had not called back and Callum was out of the country on some business. And everything around me had collapsed into a mess and what was formally known as my life was a disaster zone. I had just got her back and I was here in a daze as I tried to get her back.

“Persephone went and told them about what you done.” Asher leaned back in his chair with his eyes pinched closed. “And now they know what the hell you use to murder people. And Cypress hid it. I was with her when she done it. She said for some reason she felt it should be moved.” He sighed. “Is there anything else that I should know?”

“There is nothing else. And why would you help her behind my back?” I tried to my body from the uncontrollable shake that had taken over the past four days. It had been hell. She would not even see Lydie. And Lydie was a raving lunatic at me and Mark. “I can't get him on the phone.” I said. I hated to call my father for advice, but he always knew how to solve shit with my mom and I was sure that she knew everything that there was to know about him.
      

“He is in Asia for a month.” Asher said.

“So he can't answer the phone.”

“He doesn't have it. Callum does.” Mark added.

“You need to reach out to Cypress because she has the one thing that could put you away for years.” Asher's apartment was almost all packed. “Where are you moving?”

“Ireland,” he said. “My time is almost up here. You two are leaving and Callum said that he would pull some strings to get me a job there.”

“So Ireland?” Mark nodded his head. “Why there?”

“Because,” Asher could not formulate a sentence. There were several reasons that he wanted to go ahead and move to Ireland. There was the chance of being a professor. Our family had some great pull with everything in Ireland. Then there was the fact that he wanted to be around family. He was so easy to read. Asher just wanted a system of normalcy.

“He wants a change of scenery Mark.” I answered simply reading every single reason that appeared on his face.

“Thanks Lucas,” Asher stood up. “I can try to stop by there and talk to her. She likes me so it shouldn't be hard to get her to tell me something.”

“And ask her why she thinks I did it.”

“Because you did.” said Mark. “Cypress is a smart woman. She isn’t going to fall for your façade any longer. She hid the knife because she knew it would be a big deal. She drove it 1500 miles over to protect you.”

“I have to have her back with me. I have this tendency to not think well when she is not around and it is eating me alive. Our party is tomorrow and I have to be there or Tracy and Lydie will murder me.” My mind rambled. “I can't lose her! I need her. And Asher you are going to get her to see it.”

“Whoa,” a chuckled escaped from them both. “I can't force her to take you back baby brother.” Asher shook his head.

“I'm your brother, you can.”

“I can't.” Asher stared at me. “I told you that there was possibility that she was going to find out what the fuck you do. You just have to stop and tell her about some, but not all. Don't you dare tell her about you playing with blood like some fucking kid. You tell her about the necessary deaths not… her ex. Her ex will hurt her.”

“Fuck him.”

“Brother will you listen fully for once in your life?” Mark rolled his eyes. “This is the reason that they are on you so hot right now. You don’t know how to listen. You just assume that everything is going to be fine. Well, this time you could really be fucked up.”

“I done it for her! I killed him so that she can have a better life without him and now you want me to feel sympathetic.”

“We want you to realize that you could be on death row in the next year.” Asher said.

“Fuck you.” I spat.

“This is the crazy shit we mean. Calm yourself.”

“Get her to love me back. Get her to take me back.” The plea in my voice was sincere, for once I could feel the fear. My hands shook and I exhaled. “She’ll take me back.” I mumbled.

“Calm down.” Asher stared. He pushed me down on the brown couch. “I’ll work on it, okay?”

“What the fuck do I wear to the baby shower? We don't even know what we are having.”

“It's not a baby shower. It's a reveal party.”

I looked at Mark. “Reveal Party? What the hell? Whose idea was it?”

“Lydies.”

“Can you go over there tonight?”

“I have plans for tonight.”

“Plans?” Mark and I said at the same time.

“To read a book or end a speech?” Mark asked.

“Fuck you Mark,” Asher laughed. “I have a date with a girl I met a few days ago when we got back. She was on the flight.”

“Well, maybe you aren't gay after all.” I tilted my head at him. “Could you talk to her before tomorrow? I don't want to be in a group of people and they all know that I am a bad guy. I would rather she love me and we just get on with the baby whatever.”

“Fine. But I need you to realize something Lucas. I can't make her love you. You need to remember that. Now will you two find your way out of my apartment. I have like less than 3 hours to shower, make my future sister in law, not hate you and get on my date.”

“I hope you get laid.”

“I will get laid.”

“You think you are gonna get laid?” I burst into laughter and hit him playfully. “If you do… I will give you one hundred dollars. The chick on the plane seemed to be out of your league.”

“Have I ever told you how much I hated you Lucas?”

“Once but that was before you know… we discovered that we are kin. Now you can't hate me. You can save my relationship and hopefully get some ass.”

“I am leaving.” Mark hugged Asher. “I don't really care about the relationship saving part. I really need you to get her to tell you where the knife is and why she moved it. Though we appreciate it, we can't have her out there. She is pregnant and she gets really emotional really fast. She could hate him one day and we all go down the drain for some hormones.”

“Thanks… do that and perhaps I will be out of one hundred dollars. And if you talk to dad... please tell him that I need to talk to him like now.”

“He can't save you from everything Lucas.”

“He always has.” I added.

Asher

How was I always the counselor of horrible situations? Cypress had not answered one phone call from any of us and here I was standing at her door beating like Lucas. She finally opened the door, but she looked distraught and tired.

“Cypress,” I smiled. “What's wrong with you?”

“What's not? I see they sent you over to talk… come in before my kindness wears off.”

The apartment smelled like bleach and pine sol and my guess was had nested herself to death. I drag her bags in. “You left these at Lucas' the other night.”

“Thanks.”

“Are you excited about the reveal tomorrow?”

“I am. I'll know what to name him or her and then I will see Lucas for the first time.”

“Lucas is torn up.”

“Good.” She plopped on the couch with her ice cream. “I hope he thought of some good lies to tell me.”

“I came to talk to you about him a little. But that is not the only reason I am here.”

“Why else would you be here Asher?”

“I have a date.” A smile appeared on my face and she lit up. “She is pretty nice. We have been texting all week and for once I think that I might find happiness after Whit.”

“Whitney was not polite. I hope that you like her Asher.” She rubber her round stomach and smirked. “What you got planned for her?”

“I don't know. Honestly, I was thinking that we would go to a park or something and just talk.”

“Get it together Asher. Take her to a park first and then tell her you are going to take her out to eat. Let her chose and make sure you tell her how good she looks.”

“I promise I will.”

“You will do fine.”

“Thanks,” I had lingered over her words. “You know I think that you can make a difference in his life.”

She sighed deeply and rolled her eyes. “Here comes the don't judge my brother speech. I would rather talk about whatever else is on your mind.”

“I mean it Cy, I think you can make a huge difference in his life and that’s basically all that counts. You know his past is his past and I am not gonna tell you shit. I just want you to know that as far as miracles go you have made a difference. Mark knows it and I know it. Forgive him only if you want to forgive him and don't do it for any other reason.”

“You are the brother that has the most sense. Mark is the protector and Lucas is the idiot.”

“Oh, I love your hierarchy. It's still weird for me to call them brothers, but I like it. It makes me feel like there is finally someone in my corner you know. And it feels good. I love them no matter how asinine they tend to be.”

“I have that habit as well.”

“I heard about the knife.”

“Yeah...” She looked away from me.

“Why did you hide it?”

“I knew that it couldn't be good and what else was I supposed to do? I mean there is this whole conspiracy with the feds that he is a killer. There couldn't be anything good about him having a knife in his night stand. I found it and hid. And thank God I did because I saw his face when they showed him the drawing. He would have fried.”

“You think he is guilty?”

“I think there is something that he is hiding from me Asher. I have known it for the longest. He doesn't tell me everything and he makes everything into a lesser deal than it is. And you said it yourself… he can be dark. He just is different.”

“So you did it to protect him?”

“I do everything to protect him. I don't know how much more I can take though. He just keeps hiding shit and it keeps coming back to bite me in the ass.”

“Well,” I paused. “I guess that means you don't hate him.”

“I can't hate him Asher. I have tried and it was the most miserable month of my life. I just wanted to cry and eat.”