Children of Fire (Complete)

forty

Emerson

I woke up the next morning wrapped up graciously in Kya's plush duvet. Her bed wasn't as comfortable as Gideon's, but when she found me sobbing on the ground like a bitch, I had confided in her that I didn't want to sleep alone. The last thing I wanted last night was for someone I knew finding me crying like a baby in the middle of the street. She made a phone call to her boyfriend, Eddie, and told him their date night would need to be postponed, that her best friend needed her, and I was grateful to have someone like her on my side. The rest of the night we sat in our pajamas (well, her pajamas-- my clothes and things were still in Gideon's room at the clubhouse) and gorged ourselves on junk food, whiskey, and joints. I wanted to drown myself in my own sorrows and forget that I ever loved Gideon Walker in the first place.

Kya had promised she wouldn't talk about her love life with Eddy, but I found myself curious about the man that seemed to have stolen her heart. "So, Kya, where did you and Eddy meet?" I asked, taking a long drag off of the cross joint Kya had rolled.

She blushed and shrugged, a smile spreading across her lightly freckled face. She was an exotic beauty, it was easy to see why Eddy had been intrigued by her. "We met at a club a few towns over. He was sitting in the VIP section surrounded by a bunch of other hotties with tattoos, talking to these two white guys. I knew he had to be important, and I wanted to get to know him." She answered, taking a swig out of the whiskey bottle she was holding before passing it back to me. "Actually, now that I think about it, he was talking to those two white guys that Gideon caused a scene about in the bar that night."

My blood ran cold instantly, not just at the mention of Gideon's name, but at the fact that her new boyfriend was conversing with Pierce and Conor, which led me to believe that nothing good could have come from that conversation— that Eddy was obviously involved in some unsavory business as well. Gideon nor Killian had ever confided in me much when it came to club business, but from what I had witnessed and gathered at the gala on my own, I knew Kya could be in danger without even being aware of her own situation.

"Do you know why he was talking to those guys?" I asked her, trying not to sound too curious, although at that point I knew my voice betrayed me.

"Nah, not really. When I walked over they shook hands and left-- trust me it's not like they hung around all night." Kya said, graciously taking the joint from my hands and puffing on it a few times before handing it back to me. She laid back on her bed and stared up at the ceiling for a few moments, watching the smoke twirl around in the air above her. "They must do business with each other, though. I see them around pretty often, which is strange. He always seems to be surrounded by other people-- like they're his body guards or some shit." She laughed wryly.

I knew that after what had happened with Gideon and his wife that I wouldn't be hanging around the club often anymore, but I also knew that I needed to let him know that Kya's boyfriend was spending time with Pierce and Conor, that she could potentially be in danger. I just needed to know that someone would look out for her when I couldn't. I nodded at her statement and we finished off the joint, eventually passing out in her bed not long after our conversation.

As I found myself laying here in Kya's bed, her snoring softly next to me, I did my best to push away the thoughts of last night. Not just the thoughts that Kya could be in danger, but the thoughts I really didn't want to remember... thoughts of Gideon and the fact that he was fucking married. I couldn't believe he had kept that secret from me. I understood having a fucked up past, and I understood having to keep secrets from other people-- but marriage? That was a big fucking secret, and definitely not something you needed to keep from the woman you had been sleeping next to for days at a time, the woman you had been doing your best to protect. I deserved better than that. I deserved more than that, and even someone with as fucked up self esteem issues as I had knew that.