Secrets From the Grave (The Veil Diaries Book 6)

by B. L. Brunnemer

  “Lexie...” Miles called, his eyes worried.

  I don’t know what happened next, all I know is Asher tried to knock Zeke’s hand off my arm. Zeke gave me a small pull back out of the way of Asher’s hand. I ended up sitting on the edge of the couch with his hand still around my arm. Asher’s eyes flashed, he swung. The thud of a fist making contact was loud over my head. It was barely half a heartbeat before Zeke let go of me and went after Asher. They crashed through the coffee table and continued swinging at each other.

  Ethan took advantage of Miles’s distraction and shoved him out of the way. He clocked Isaac, knocking him back into a small table. Miles managed to get between them again. Zeke got to his feet and dragged Asher with him. They slammed into the wall making the tv shake.

  “Knock it off!” I shouted, my voice cracking. Everyone stopped where they were. I got to my feet again and met each of their eyes. “This is all of our faults! Every one of us kept secrets! None of us were honest with each other! And it happened.” My heart hammered in my chest. “But if you can’t wrap your heads around that… then blame me.” My hands shook as I clenched them into fists.

  Zeke let go of Asher and put down his fist. Miles tightened his grip on Ethan’s shirt and jerked him further away from Isaac.

  “It’s my fault. I should have said something to each of you. I’m the one who fucked up!” I told them, unable to stop myself. “So, if you have to fucking blame someone. Blame me.” I couldn’t stay there and watch them fall apart. I couldn’t watch everyone I loved tear into each other. I walked around the couch and through the shattered remains of the glass table. The room was dead quiet as I walked to the door and left the suite. I managed to reach the stairs before tears fell.

  Miles

  The door closed behind Lexie. The silence was so thick, I could taste it on my tongue. I dropped my arms from the twins and stepped on the broken glass and into the middle of the room. “Even I thought you guys would handle that better.”

  Asher continued to glare at Zeke. “I never thought I’d see you push a girl.”

  Zeke bristled. “You almost hit her!”

  “Enough!” I shouted.

  The guys turned to me.

  “We’re in a precarious situation,” I stated. “Lexie doesn’t want to damage our friendships-”

  “Too fucking late for that,” Ethan bit out.

  I turned to meet his eyes as ice settled into my chest. “Stop for one damn minute and think.” I didn’t even bother to try and keep the anger from my voice. “Think about how she’s feeling right now.” I finally had everyone’s attention. “She knows we’ve been friends for most of our lives. And now we’re at each other’s throats. Because of her.”

  “She should have fucking told us,” Isaac bit out.

  “Think!” I snapped, my patience wearing thin. “What is Lexie’s usual modus operandi?”

  “She hides things and runs,” Zeke answered.

  “She doesn’t trust that we’ll be here. So, she keeps secrets from people, anything she thinks might make you leave,” I translated for Zeke. I met each of their eyes. “Today she didn’t.” I let that sink in for several heartbeats. “Today, she called a family meeting to tell us something she had been keeping a secret.”

  Zeke cursed, turned away from Asher, walked to the balcony doors and leaned against the door jamb. The other’s seemed to not grasp the point.

  I spelled it out for them. “She trusted us to deal with this secret. To stay with her. And every one of you lost your shit.”

  “You’re blaming us?” Isaac asked.

  “All of us, yes.” I turned to him. “Think of how hard it was for her to have that secret. That all of us cared for her. That all of us wanted to be with her. That she cares the same way for all of us. Think about what that’s been like for her. And ask yourself, when has Lexie ever walked away from a tough conversation?”

  “Shit,” Asher bit out between clenched teeth as he closed his eyes and dropped his head back.

  “Fuck…” Isaac ran his hands through his hair, his fingers pressing into his scalp.

  “God damn it,” Ethan breathed.

  “Exactly,” I said, glad that they realized what just happened.

  “What are we supposed to do?” Isaac asked. “Just magically be okay with each other? With everything? ‘Cause this is fucked up. Fall in love with a girl and all of you care about her too.”

  “No, I’m not saying that.” My voice was back to normal. “I’m saying go to your rooms and cool off. Don’t take shots at each other, don’t start avoiding her. Stay civil around her. I don’t care if you’re pissed. But we’re not going to throw her trust away. Understood?”

  Ethan scoffed. “I’m not going to my fucking room. I’m going for a fucking walk.” He headed for the door.

  “Not alone!” Zeke shouted.

  “Go fuck yourself!” Ethan shot back before slamming the door behind him.

  The silence was thick when I asked, “Anyone else going to take a walk?”

  Zeke stayed put. Isaac stormed down the hallway to the room he shared with Asher and slammed the door.

  Asher shot me a look. “She told you everything tonight, didn’t she?”

  I didn’t give him the reaction he was looking for.

  “Of course she did.” Asher shook his head. “Why the hell does she tell you everything?”

  I held onto my temper by my nails.

  “I’m fucking hoping for her to just tell me what she feels.” He gestured toward me. “And you… She just tells you everything.”

  I thought over my words before answering. “Tonight, I believe everything just came to a head and I happened to be there.”

  Asher snorted and shook his head before heading for the door.

  “Where did she go?” I asked.

  “I lost her two floors down,” Asher snapped. “But I’m sure you’ll find her.” The suite door slammed behind him.

  I turned back to Zeke. He stayed put.

  “Zeke?” He was angry, and quiet. That was never good. Not to mention that he was severely sleep deprived. Not a good combination.

  “I need a few minutes,” he said, his voice even more gravelly than usual.

  I realized what was wrong. “You moved her to keep her from getting hit.”

  Zeke continued to stare out the window. “Did I?”

  “Yes,” I said immediately. “I have no doubt in my mind.”

  “Miles, just…” He clenched and unclenched his jaw. “Just leave. I can’t even fucking talk to you right now.”

  “Zeke…”

  “You knew I cared about her,” he growled, his body trembling with rage. “And you never said a word that you...”

  I couldn’t deny it. It wasn’t hard to see that Zeke cared about her, and I never asked because I didn’t want to know. I didn’t want to face that I had feelings for her too. Guilt ate at me. I had screwed up too. “I’m sorry, there’s no excuse-”

  “Miles. Right now, you need to be somewhere else,” Zeke stated, his deep voice barely more than a snarl.

  He was right, everyone needed some time. I left the hotel suite and headed downstairs. I had a hunch about where she would be.

  I found her down at the pool, with her feet in the water, her skirt pulled up to above her knees.

  When I sat beside her, she threaded our fingers and squeezed tight. “Did I just make the biggest mistake?”

  “No.” I kept my voice the soft one she seemed to like. “They were just shocked, then angry at each other.”

  “They weren’t just shocked, Miles.” She turned to me, her eyes storming. “They were furious and tearing into each other.”

  I nodded. “I know.”

  She turned back to look at the water, her eyes filling. “I shouldn’t have said anything. I should have just left. Given everyone some space…”

  “That would have led to the same situation, only we wouldn’t have been there to stop them from…”

  �
��Killing each other?” she huffed.

  “They weren’t trying to do that. They were just angry, hurt, and they didn’t know how to deal with it.” I tried to explain.

  She shook her head as a tear ran down her cheek. “This is all my fault, Miles.”

  “No, it isn’t.” I took a breath. “It’s mine.”

  She turned to me, stunned.

  “I’m the one who put the no dating you rule up for a vote.” I admitted, my ears burning. “If I hadn’t done that then everyone would have been more open about how they felt.”

  She shook her head. “I should just go. You guys can get through this. I don’t think I should be around anymore.”

  I tightened my hand around hers. “Angel, you’re family. Where you go, we go.”

  Another tear ran down her face.

  I decided to try another tactic. “Could you choose? Does any one of us mean more to you than the others?”

  She wiped her face, turned back to me and shook her head.

  “Then this happened the way it needed to,” I said, careful to keep my voice neutral. Of course, I wanted her to say she felt more for me but that wasn’t the way it was. Lexie had a big heart and if anyone could have feelings for this many people, it’d be her. “Everything will work out.”

  “How?” she asked, her voice shaking along the edges. “If I choose… I don’t even think I can.”

  She had me there. “We’ll manage. We always have and we always will.”

  Lexie

  I hesitated outside the door to the suite. Miles had decided to stay behind at the pool to give the others some space. Leaving me to face Zeke alone. He’d never hurt me, I know that. But that didn’t mean my heart wouldn’t break if… Come on, Lexie. Nut up.

  I stopped chewing on the corner of my lower lip and walked into the suite, closing the door behind me. I found Zeke leaning against the door jamb of the balcony doors with his arms crossed.

  Heart hammering, I took several steps closer. His shoulders grew tense. I stopped. I hurt him, I know I did. My eyes burned. All I wanted was to make it right and I had no clue how. “I’m sorry.” My throat tightened. “I didn’t mean-”

  “Did I hurt you?” he growled.

  It didn’t surprise me that asked that first. “No, you just got me out of the way. All I did was sit down. Look, I know I fucked up-”

  “Yeah, you did,” he said, his voice was a quiet rasp. He finally turned around, the storm in his eyes pierced my heart.

  “After this, I’m not stupid enough to think... I didn’t mean to hurt you…” I couldn’t seem to get the words out in a complete sentence. I couldn’t hold his gaze, my eyes dropped to the collar of his shirt as tears started to roll down my face.

  He stepped closer, dug into his back pocket and handed me his blue handkerchief.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered in a cracked voice. It was all I could seem to say.

  His eyes were raging with anger and something darker I couldn’t name. “I can’t talk to you yet.” He stepped around me and walked down the hall.

  When his door closed, my heart shattered. Tears poured down my face as I closed my bedroom door behind me. I laid down and cried into my pillow, clutching Zeke’s handkerchief to my chest.

  Chapter 13

  July 15th, Sunday Morning

  I don’t know when the others came back or even if they did. All I know is I didn’t really sleep that night. I stayed curled up, crying off and on as I tried to figure out what I should do. My mind running over the worst-case scenarios, agonizing over what I did. How I should have been open right from the start.

  Now, I was standing in my bathroom trying to get the nerve to go out and have breakfast with the guys. A heavy weight sat on my chest, making it hard to breathe. My eyes were bloodshot from crying all night. I rinsed my face again hoping to get the swelling down but it was no use. I looked like shit and there was nothing to do about it.

  I left my bathroom and stopped at the door. I took a deep breath and went into the now cleaned living room. Miles and Asher were quiet in the kitchen, leaning against the counters as they drank coffee. Isaac was in the living room area, picking at his food. The tension in the room was thick as I closed my door behind me.

  Miles looked up from the floor and sent me a small strained smile. “Morning.”

  “Morning,” I muttered as I walked into the kitchen and picked up a mug. The room was silent except for the sound of coffee being poured. Every moment, guilt ate at my gut more and more. By the time I was done mixing sugar and cream into my coffee, my appetite was gone. Needing some air, I headed for the balcony. Only, Zeke was out there on one of the patio couches looking out at the street with unfocused eyes. My heart squeezed in my chest as I stayed inside and sat in the corner of the other couch instead.

  “Lexie?” Miles called from the kitchen. “Aren’t you going to have breakfast?”

  I shook my head. “I’m not hungry,” I muttered, wondering if I should go back to my room. But everything was a mess and I had made it that way. I couldn’t run away from that. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath through the weight crushing my heart.

  Asher

  Ally took several deep breaths. My chest gave a deep painful throb. It didn’t look like she had gotten any sleep. And her eyes… they were swollen and red. As if she had cried all night.

  “We need to do better than this,” Miles announced.

  “Not all of us are handling this as well as you are,” Isaac snapped, his voice bitter as he glared at Miles.

  “Who says I’m handling it well?” Miles asked. “You’re not the only ones who are having trouble.”

  She took a shaky breath as she started to chew on the corner of her lower lip. The urge to kiss her crashed through me. To make her stop chewing on her lip, to make her smile. Instead, I pushed away from the counter and picked up a plate. Knowing her, her stomach would be queasy. She tended to stay away from eggs, pancakes or bacon when she’s upset. So, I kept it light with fruit, and some toast. Miles watched in silence as I put the plate together. When I was done, I slid it over the counter to him, figuring he would take it to her. After all, she told him everything.

  His eyes were sharp and cold when he picked up the plate and shoved it back into my hands. Surprised, I could only eye him as he went back to the coffee maker. I gritted my teeth and walked around the counter. She was taking slow deep breaths when I set it on the arm of the couch. She looked up, her bloodshot eyes driving the breath from me. Her voice from last night haunted me. The way she cried, the way she kept telling herself that it would be okay. That we weren’t going to leave her… Miles was right. We weren’t the only ones hurting. Lexie was too. And she was trying not to run.

  “Eat something or Zeke’s going to be an even bigger jerk than usual,” I muttered as I turned away.

  “Thanks.” Her voice was so soft I barely heard it. Before I knew it, I reached down and squeezed her shoulder before walking into the kitchen again.

  “Has anyone heard from Ethan?” Zeke demanded from the balcony doors. His shadowed eyes met mine, a bruise had formed under his right eye and stretched up over his eyelid. His bruised fist clenched and unclenched. He obviously saw me touch her and he didn’t like it. I shook my head and ignored him.

  “No.” Miles turned back around with a fresh cup of coffee.

  “He’s disappeared before,” Isaac bit out. My gaze shot to his dark gaze. Shit. One fucking shoulder touch and we’re ready to kill each other. Ally rolled the berries in her fingers. We needed to do better.

  Biting down on my own jealousy and anger, I said. “With the Witches Council in town, it’s not good.”

  “We’ll give him until noon before we start calling,” Miles said. “He’s probably still in the hotel somewhere.”

  We fell into a tense silence, the room was heavy with unspoken words.

  “Is anyone ready to talk?” Miles asked carefully.

  Ally’s phone rang.

  “Hello?”
Her voice was at least a little louder this time. She frowned. “Yeah, I’ll meet you there.” She hung up, got to her feet and picked up her barely touched plate. “I need to go to the hospital, Louis and Willow want to check out the people who’ve been affected by the council.” She set the plate on the counter. “Is anyone going to go?”

  “I am.” We answered in unison.

  Lexie.

  We met Louis and Willow at the entrance to the hospital. We almost didn’t make it. When we went to get into the SUV, Asher and Isaac almost broke in to another fist fight over where I was sitting. I finally cut through the tension by just climbing into the front passenger seat. My stomach was in knots from the silence the entire trip.

  So, when we met up with Louis and Willow I was already on edge. “Morning.”

  Louis eyed me then the guys, who were clearly tense. When he turned back to me he raised an eyebrow.

  Willow didn’t notice. “Good morning.” She turned and headed into the hospital.

  I moved up past the guys to walk in beside Louis. The tension back there with the guys was just too much. “So, what are we doing?”

  “I want to check on the people who the council attacked,” Willow explained as we moved down the hall.

  “And I want to show you how working together in a mixed supernatural area is supposed to go,” Louis added.

  “Right now we’re looking for anything out of the ordinary,” Willow said. “Most of them should have gotten better by now.”

  We headed toward the administration area. “Then why aren’t we going to the rooms?”

  “There’s one of my people in the administration offices. It’ll be faster to get the information from her.” Willow turned down another hallway.

  We stopped outside an office. Louis turned and looked at the guys. “Are you all coming in or…?”