Society Girls: Neveah (12 page)

Neveah

We’re in Dylan’s large family room, which is
pretty fitting, since we’re all “family” in here. Reina is sitting
on one side of Matt, while I’m on the other. Nate, Darcy, Aiden,
and Ellie round out our side of the room while Dylan and…my
father…sit on the couch across from us. No one says anything as we
just stare across the open space between us. Matt squeezes my hand,
and I squeeze back.

“Explain,” Reina finally says, and I hear
the strain in her voice. She lost over a decade with Matt because
he felt so much guilt over killing an innocent man, who is now not
only alive, but also looking not so innocent at the moment.

“I saw some strange things happening at
work. It took me a few months to realize what was going on, because
I didn’t want anyone to realize that I was looking. Once I figured
out that I was seeing money laundering transactions for a drug
cartel, I didn’t know what to do.”

“Drug cartel?” I ask. I would’ve expected
weapons, or something related to war. Not drugs.

“Yes. Many people take advantage of a war,
and in this instance it was a drug cartel. My employer was getting
rich while he cleaned up the money for a group that operates out of
an island in the Caribbean.”

“Our government came to you,” Matt says in a
monotone voice.

“Yes. I was approached by a woman who said
she knew what I had found, and she could use my help. I didn’t
hesitate to agree because our country was suffering enough from the
war, and we didn’t need drugs coming in on top of that. I knew in
my heart that it would come to it—these people would not stop at
money laundering, but bring their drugs in as well.”

“Shit. They found out, didn’t they? You
didn’t just walk into that plaza, did you?” Aiden asks.

“Yes, they found out. I thought I was being
smart, but I wasn’t being careful enough. My handler let me know
that my family was in danger, and there was only one way out. I had
to ‘die’ to save them. I walked into that plaza, was shot with
blanks by a sniper inside one of the buildings, puncturing the
blood packets under my clothes,” he tells us, then looks at Matt.
“You were in shock, so I don’t think you remember that no one was
allowed near my body except for your Commanding Officer and the
medics that appeared right away.”

“I remember trying to run to you, but I was
held back,” Matt says, and I’m afraid he’s going into shock again
right now. I squeeze his hand to bring him back, and he kisses the
top of my head.

“I know you’ve suffered because of what you
thought you’d done, but I want you to know you weren’t targeted, or
chosen for this. You just happened to be there and facing my way.
It could’ve been any of the other men there with you.”

“That makes me feel so much better,” Matt
tells him, sarcastically. “My life was ruined because I happened to
be shooting the wrong way.”

“Your life was not ruined. You are a
successful CEO and you have a beautiful wife,” my father says, and
I jump to my feet.

“Don’t you dare try and
downplay what this did to Matt. He lost so much time with Reina
because he thought he’d killed an innocent man. You didn’t see
him…know him…all those years. You also didn’t see
us
. Your family. Mom and
Sully and me. Her life has been over since the day Matt came to our
door. Sully has hidden himself away from caring about anyone or
making real friends, and I almost couldn’t do what I needed to do
in order to have a job that makes me happy.”

“I sent you Dylan to help you, my beautiful
girl. I could only choose one of you, and I knew I had chosen
wisely when he told me you were overcoming your fears.”

“Sent him to me? Chose me? What the hell are
you talking about?”

“The vow. He’s talking about the vow Dylan
made to him when he was just a boy,” Ellie says, looking like she’s
going to be sick.

“What vow?” I ask her.

“That’s my story to tell,” Dylan says,
speaking for the first time. “Please sit down, and I’ll tell you
everything.”

* * *

Dylan

Nev sits down, and I run my hand over the
top of my head, trying to give myself some extra courage before I
bare most of my secrets to her, and everyone else in the room.

“I was a scrawny kid, and when I hit
puberty, I became a chubby kid. I always loved basketball, but no
one wanted to give me the chance to play because I didn’t look like
what they thought a good player should look like. When my older
brothers were at school with me, kids left me alone because they
were good-looking and popular. Once they moved up to high school,
and it was just Ellie and me, things started getting hard.”

“Those little bastards are probably crying
in their pillows now,” Ellie tells me.

“Actually, they’re calling me like we were
friends and asking me for autographs and tickets, but that’s not
important.” I look at Sadiq before continuing. “One day when I was
alone, some of them didn’t stop calling me names. Instead, they
followed me home and attacked me. They threw things at me and
started punching and kicking me. Sadiq had moved in a couple of
months before, but no one had talked to him, or really seen him.
That day, he made himself known. He came out waving a giant sword
and scared them off.

“After they ran, he took me inside, cleaned
me up, and said he would help me learn to fight if I wanted him to.
I definitely wanted that, so I started going to his house every
day. He got me into shape with weights, boxing, and martial arts.
He never went easy on me, but his training made me stronger, both
physically and mentally. I made the basketball team, and the
bullies left me alone. When I was older, he taught me about swords,
knives, and guns. But the most important things I got from him were
reinforcements of what my parents had always taught me and my
siblings—that loyalty, integrity, and compassion are more important
than popularity or money.”

“Yet you had no problem lying to me,” Nev
says with tears shimmering in her eyes.

“That’s not true. As Ellie said, I made a
vow. One I didn’t think I’d ever break.”

“But you were prepared to,” Sadiq reminds
me.

“Yes. I was.”

“You were going to break the vow?” Ellie
asks, her eyes wide. “You’ve always been adamant that you’d never
break it.”

“Yes. I know what I said, but
things…changed.”

“You really do love her.”

“Yes.”

“I’m right here,” Nev says. “What is this
damn vow about?”

“It’s about you. I vowed to one day help him
re-connect with one of his family members. He knew reaching out to
all of you would be dangerous, so when the time came, I would help
him with whoever he chose.”

“You chose me?” she asks, glaring at her
father. “Why not my mother? Or Sully? Why did you choose me?”

“I saw Matt start to train you. I didn’t
know why at first, but then the women who had gotten me into all of
this told me about the secret group of women who fought for the
world. I watched you fear guns, but learn everything else you
needed to know in order to join the Society. I knew the skills Matt
taught you could help us stay hidden, and while I never wanted you
to pick up a gun, I didn’t forbid Dylan from helping you with that.
I dissuaded him, but I let him do it.”

“So, what, this was all a set-up? All of it?
The gala?”

The answer to all of her questions is the
same, but I can’t look at her when I answer. “Yes.”

* * *

Neveah

I’m going to be sick. I hold my stomach and
run for the bathroom. I hear Dylan yelling and then a crash, but I
keep going. Once I get inside the room, I fall to my knees and dry
heave. I hadn’t eaten today because I was so nervous to see him,
but my body seems to know that I need the action of purging.

A minute later, arms are around me. Familiar
arms. I turn to him, intent on making him leave, but what I see
stops the words from coming. Dylan is bleeding from his forehead,
cheek, and mouth, but he seems oblivious to all of that. His eyes
search my face, and he looks worried.

“What happened?” I ask, reaching out to
touch his face.

“Your friends didn’t want me to come after
you. Ellie and your dad stepped in, and I was able to get away.
They’re going to come for me any minute now.”

“They shouldn’t have done this,” I say, even
though I wanted to do it a few minutes ago. I still want to hit
him, but no one else should’ve done it for me. I get up and close
the door, locking it before I sit in front of him on the floor.

He shrugs. “I’ll take a beating any day for
you.”

“Because of your vow?”

“Didn’t you hear what I said in there? I was
going to break my vow. I love you, Nev. I couldn’t convince you to
leave after I fell in love with you.”

“Tell me the rest of it. I know there’s
more. Please tell me—just me.”

He nods, and then reaches out to take my
hand in his. I let him because while I feel like my heart is
shredded, the pieces still beat for him. I can’t stop loving him
just because I want to. And believe me, I really want to right
now.

“Your dad contacted me once the season was
over, and told me it was time for me to fulfill my vow. He said he
had definitely chosen you, and I needed to get to Vegas because you
were working with my sister. I didn’t know about the Society yet,
because I guess Ellie chose our mom as her one person to tell. I
couldn’t believe the things your dad told me, but then again, I
could. A lot of things made sense once I knew what was going
on.”

“What exactly were you supposed to do?”

He clenches his jaw, and looks away for a
moment before looking me in the eye once again. “I was supposed to
get you to trust me, pretend to help you get over your fear of
guns, convince you to marry me, and then take you to your dad. Once
you saw him, he was sure you’d run away with him. He doesn’t want
you in the Society.”

“But you
did
help me with the
guns.”

“I couldn’t not help you once I got to know
you. Even that first night at the gala…you had so much fire,
and…yeah, I was slowly rebelling against that vow, hating myself
for going against the man who saved me, but loving you too much to
stick to his plan.”

“You really need to stop saying that.”

“Saying what?”

“That you love me. We both know it’s not
true, and it’s starting to feel like an insult.”

“An insult? You think me being in love with
you is an insult? What the fuck, Nev?”

“It’s an insult because you don’t mean it.
You’re hiding behind those words, using them to make you do
something your conscience told you was wrong. You thought you were
too honorable to break your vow, but you knew my father’s plan
wouldn’t ever work. You convinced yourself that you fell in love
with me, but when things got hard, the truth came out.”

“What are you even talking about?”

Is he serious? “You sat by and let your
friend insult me, call me a terrorist bitch. You can spout off all
your bullshit about me being strong, but that’s what it
is—bullshit. You sat in this same house and told me you wanted to
hurt other men for treating me differently because of my religion.
You said you’d stand up for me. And then you didn’t.”

“I couldn’t, Nev. I wanted to, but I
couldn’t.”

“If you wanted to, you could’ve.”

“It’s complicated…Eric…he’s not my
friend…it’s just complicated.”

“Un-complicate it for me then. Tell me why
you just sat there while everyone else stood for me—with me.”

“I can’t.”

“Can’t, couldn’t…is there nothing else you
have to say to me?”

“I love you. I. Love. You.”

“Stop throwing those words
around. You met me because of a vow, you fucked me because…I don’t
know why…and you let me get hurt because ‘it’s complicated.’ I
can’t do this with you Dylan. I’m barely processing the fact that
my father is alive. I don’t know how I’m going to tell my mom and
brother, because I
am
going to tell them no matter what he says. I should be out
there talking to Matt, because he’s going to be more messed up than
my family is over dear old dad rising from the dead. I have all
that to deal with, and honestly, I’ve got nothing left for this,” I
say, motioning between us.

“You don’t want us?”

“Not the way things are right now. You don’t
trust me with your secrets, and really, right now I don’t trust you
at all.”

“I trust you, Nev. It’s not that, damn
it!”

“Well, whatever it is, when you’re ready to
talk to me, I promise to listen. Until then, I have other things to
deal with.”

“You mean that?”

“Yes, but I won’t listen to more half-truths
and excuses. I want to know the truth—all of it—and nothing
less.”

“It’s embarrassing.”

“I embarrassed myself in front of you more
than once. Because I love you. Loving someone means showing them
all of you, even the parts you wish you could hide.”

“You didn’t tell me about the Society.”

“I would have when I could have. Telling you
was out of my control right now.”

“I know. I shouldn’t have thrown that at
you. I just don’t know what to do.”

“Take some time to think about what you
want, and if you decide I’m part of that, just tell me the truth.
That’s all I need. I know I should demand more from you after all
of this, but I also know I can’t just stop loving you. There’s no
on and off switch for love.”

“Do you wish there was?”

“Right now, I kinda do. Not just for me, but
for my mom too. It’s going to kill her to know he’s been alive all
this time.”