Asa’s arms grew so tight around me that it was a struggle to breathe, but still he kept silent, letting Michael finish the story.

“We thought it was over, man, we thought we made things clear.” He raised his hands in supplication, but I felt no sympathy as he finished. “No way that broken arm came from her mama.”

I wrenched myself from Asa and flew across the room at a silent Echo, punching him over and over wherever I could reach. He stood there stoically, letting me pound him, with his jaw clenched and his chin raised until Asa yanked me away from him.

“He deserved respect?” I screeched. “She was being hurt and you did nothing? What the fuck is wrong with you!” I pulled at Asa’s arms, my hair flying in all directions as I reached for Echo. “Where were you? She needed you! Where the fuck were you?”

I fought and screamed until Asa finally subdued me with a hand over my mouth. I watched Echo, my chest burning, and I could have gladly killed him and felt no remorse.

“She told me shit was getting better. She said that Gator wasn’t around as much and she was spending most of her time here with you!” He looked at me accusingly until Asa growled in warning.

“This afternoon, we got in a fight because she wouldn’t stay at my place and wait while I took a meet. She said she was coming here. She said she was coming here, so when she called me, I ignored it. She said she was coming here!” He spun around and punched the wall over and over, mumbling to himself. “I ignored it. She said she was coming here,” he repeated over and over again until his shoulders slumped and he grew quiet.

“You did what you could, brother,” Asa told him quietly, and my eyes shot to him in accusation. “You did what you could, there ain’t no use looking back. But you got a girl in there that needs you to get straight so we can handle this. You with me?”

I couldn’t believe what he was saying and my chest burned in betrayal. I didn’t hear Echo’s answer because I reached back and pinched Asa hard, startling him into loosening his arms so I could escape.

“Don’t touch me!” I hissed as he reached out to grab me. “You guys are disgusting! He did everything he could, huh? A little intimidation, because, hey, the guy is a brother and deserves respect? That’s all he could do? You all make me sick.”

I stormed into my room to find Farrah sitting up in my bed, crying softly.

Chapter 45

Callie

I lay in bed with Farrah after she’d cried herself to sleep, but I couldn’t shut down my brain.

I was guilty—as guilty as the guys talking quietly in my living room. I’d noticed something was wrong with Farrah. I’d seen all the signs, but I hadn’t pressed her for information because I’d believed that my life was so incredibly difficult that I couldn’t handle her issues, too.

When I’d been screaming at Echo, I was also screaming at myself.

I should have done something.

I watched Farrah’s chest rise and fall as I thought about how the guys had thought they’d handled things and how I felt about Asa’s commiserating words. He’d acted like what they’d done was normal—that they were completely justified in keeping things quiet and not even going to the police.

I knew that Asa’s world was different than the world everyone else lived in. I’d known it from the moment he walked brashly into the party where I’d met him. Everything he did was a testament to how he lived his life, from taking in a girl of sixteen to the tattoos that were slowly working their way up his neck.

So what he’d said wasn’t surprising—not really. It was apparent that they lived under a code that I could never understand; I just hadn’t seen the ugliness of that code until that night. Asa was still the same man I ran to if things were bad, the same person I called if I had good news, and even as I lay there in bed, I ached to touch him after being away from him for so long.

I had to make a decision, and I had no idea how I’d do that. If I chose to overlook what I’d heard in the kitchen, I felt like I was condoning their decision to leave Farrah to the wolves, but if I left Asa, I didn’t think I would survive it.

When Farrah woke up late the next morning, she practically made the decision for me.

“Hey, Callie?” she called sleepily from the bed. “Can you go get Echo for me?”

I looked at her in confusion, but when she pushed herself up as if to get him herself, I scrambled out of the room. Asa wasn’t in the apartment when I made my way to the kitchen, but Echo was. I nodded my head toward the bedroom, taking in his dirty clothes and messy hair before turning away as he left the room. I never found out what they said that day, and it really wasn’t any of my business—but when I went to check on Farrah two hours later, the two were cuddled in the middle of the bed with Farrah tucked gently against Echo’s chest.

Asa showed up after I’d showered and made myself lunch, and I had to force myself not to look at him as he grabbed a beer out of our fridge.

“You ignoring me?” he grumbled quietly, his tone implying that I was being unreasonable.

“Not ignoring you, just don’t have anything to say,” I replied, never looking his way.

“Yeah, okay,” he scoffed, and my head snapped up in irritation. “Ah, there’s my girl.”

“I can’t believe you said that last night!” I growled quietly, hoping to keep our conversation from Echo and Farrah. “He fucked up, badly!”