everything in Rainybanks, so I wasn't replacing yet another phone and there was no need to bang on Cass's door for my spare key. Not that he was likely to be home at eleven thirty on a Friday night.
"I swear to fuck, Kodiak Jones," I snapped, pushing the door open and stepping back for him to enter, "if you lie to me one more time, I'll stab you myself. I've had enough bullshit to last me a damn lifetime. Either start fronting up some truths or get the fuck out."
I stayed there in the doorway, leaning my shoulder against the jamb while Kody pulled a gun from his waistband and swept through my whole apartment. He flipped lights on and checked the closets, under the bed, behind the curtains—the whole deal—before putting his weapon away and returning to me.
"I'm not lying, babe," he told me with a small frown. "I don't know those punks. Arch, Steele, and I, we broke ties with Zane and the Reapers about three years ago." He paused, his jaw tight, and I knew there was more to the story. Zane D'Ath didn't just let people leave his gang because they wanted to. The Reapers—just like the Wraiths—were life gangs. Once you were in, the only way out was in a body bag.
"But..." Kody continued, and I nodded in satisfaction. Smart boy. I closed my front door and tossed my keys onto the little table that I'd designated my key place.
"Maybe they heard some rumors about things from the past," he offered, mimicking my movements as I sank down onto the couch.
I shifted, turning slightly to face him. Despite all my anger and heartbreak, he was still Kody. I knew him. I cared about him. And yeah, I wanted to forgive him. Deep down... really fucking deep down, I wanted all the bullshit between us to go away so we could go back to being whatever the fuck we’d been. Before the murders. Before the information bombs. Before the betrayals...
But that wasn't possible. We couldn't turn back time, and no one I knew had invented a selective-memory erasing tool. So we either needed to move forward... or walk away.
I hadn't totally decided which of those options would hurt me less. For now, I just wanted to understand him better. I needed to know what made Kodiak Jones tick and why he’d chosen to keep such a monumental, life-altering secret from me, despite the fact that he’d known it would totally crush me.
"Tell me something real," I whispered, meeting his gaze as I rested my cheek on the back of the couch. "Something truthful."
He exhaled heavily, ruffling his fingers through the top of his bleached hair. The pink from my prank had faded almost completely out, and I found myself itching to trick him again.
"You want to know how we broke away from the Reapers," he said. It was a statement, not a question, but I nodded anyway. "This isn't totally my story to tell," he started, but before I could interrupt with a snappy insult, he kept going. "But Arch and Steele can just kiss my ass if they have an issue with it. I told Arch I was done keeping secrets from you, and I meant it."
Ugh. Kody always knew the right things to say to hit me straight in the heart.
"So tell me," I gently prompted when the silence stretched between us. I pulled my knees up on the couch, getting comfortable as I settled in to listen.
He cast a sheepish look at me, his eyes tight with tension. "I'm trying to work out how to phrase it so you don't think the worst of us. Any of us. We've all done shit..."
"Like purchased underage girls and forced them into marriage without their knowledge?" I filled in the blank when he trailed off, and his shoulders slumped in defeat. "I'm teasing," I murmured, "but seriously, I feel like it can't be much worse than human trafficking. Right?"
Kody's answering smile was sad and tortured, and cold dread pooled in my belly.
"There's always something worse, babe. Always."
8
"So, I guess I should just tell you," Kody said after nearly a full minute of silence during which the tension kept building inside me. I was trying really hard not to speak, not to push him any harder... but it wasn't easy. I wanted to know all of it. The good, the bad, the awful. If there was going to be any chance of reconciliation between us, I needed