by Linda Kage
“Jesus fucking Christ, Blondie.” Ten groaned and covered his face. “Why do you think he couldn’t believe you? Cora put him through such a mind fuck, he doesn’t even know if he should believe his own bladder about whether he has to take a piss or not.”
I shuddered and held myself a little harder. “Maybe he was right then. Maybe he does need time and space. Maybe he needs to heal from her before he can move on with anyone else. You said yourself that he shouldn’t rebound right back into a committed relationship.”
“I said...” He shook his head as if boggled. Then he exploded, “I wasn’t talking about you when I said that shit. I was talking about some other nameless-faceless stupid replica of Whora. I thought he was still respectfully staying away from you when I said that. Fuck, I never would’ve...not if I’d known you two were...shit, you two are meant to be together. I don’t care if it happened at the worst time ever for you guys. You just...you’re two halves of a whole. He comes alive when you’re around, he gains confidence, grows happy. You just...damn it. You two weren’t ever supposed to break up.”
My shoulders heaving with pain, I started to cry again. I couldn’t hold the tears in, no matter how hard I tried. I shook from head to toe and cried harder the more I tried to stop.
Ten sighed. “Come on,” he murmured. When he grasped my arm, right at a tender spot that Belcher had bruised earlier, I gasped and wrenched away, cowering from him without meaning to.
“Shit. Sorry.” He lifted his hands and took a step back. “Okay, fine. I’ll just stay over here, then. Can you stand on your own and walk?”
With a nod, I pushed to my feet. My legs felt shaky, but I managed. Ten stayed at least five feet away at all times. If I wasn’t such a mess, I’d probably think it was funny how much a person could hover from so far away. But he kept pace with me and sent me a worried glance every time I winced.
When we reached his truck, I faltered. I knew I could trust him, but I really didn’t want to be enclosed alone with anyone. Not right now. “My car’s over there,” I started, but he shook his head.
“We’ll get your car later. You’re in no condition to drive. Now get in.”
My nerves wrenched with fear, but I followed his instruction. “I don’t want to go back to my apartment.”
“Well, good. I wasn’t planning on taking you there.”
I nodded. I didn’t care where we went from there. I just wanted to get out of here.
Blondie was passed out in the passenger seat when I parked in front of my and Ham’s building. I hoped like hell he was home so he could take over babysitting duty, because this shit was freaking me out.
She looked so scared and small, helplessness ripped through me. I hated not being able to do anything for her, and I wanted to be anywhere else in the world. Ham’s woman already stirred up too many memories in me of someone else, someone precious, who’d been hurt, someone I had also been helpless to help.
I gulped and shook my head, shoving those memories down. I would’ve carried Blondie up to our place, but I didn’t want to scare her in case she woke to me touching her. So I nudged her knee until she stirred.
“Can you still walk?”
She rubbed her bleary eyes and nodded. Without a word, she followed me up to my door. When I unlocked it and let her in ahead of me, she paused, looking worried before she entered.
“Hamilton?” I called as soon as we were inside.
No answer.
Shit.
I swear, Blondie looked relieved though. “C-can I use your shower?” Her voice was so small, making me wish I would’ve hit Belcher a few times before letting him go tonight after all.
Since she knew her way around, I just pointed her down the hall. “I’ll get you something to change into.”
After she hurried away, clutching her shirt to her chest, I went into Ham’s room and found a shirt and sweatpants for her. The water was running when I inched open the door and laid the clothes on the edge of the sink’s counter for her to find. Then I retreated to the front room to pace.
I texted Ham, telling him to get his ass home, but he didn’t respond—fucker probably really did think I’d boned Blondie. The idiot.
No way was I equipped to deal with her in this state, so I shot off another SOS text. All this one said was, I need you. My place. Now.
Thirty second later, an answer came back: Be there in five.
I couldn’t help it, I grinned. But, shit, it was nice to know she would come to me in the middle of the night, just like that, no questions asked.
True to her word, Caroline knocked on my door damn near five minutes later.
I craved seeing her so hard that I wondered if I had called her because she would be the best person for Blondie right now, or the best person for me. Oh, well. Too late to matter now. She was here, and both Blondie and I were going to get a nice, healthy dose of her.
I ripped the door open, and a relieved breath of air seeped from my lungs. Damn, why did it always feel as if I was holding my breath until I could see her again?
She’d come fresh from bed. She hadn’t bothered to comb her hair or even pull it into a ponytail. It looked as if some fucker had been fisting his hands in it all night. Her T-shirt was huge and looked like something she’d probably snagged from her brother, and definitely like something she would sleep in. And her pants were plaid flannel. My mouth watered. I wanted to just invite her to crawl back into bed—my bed—and cuddle with me. Okay, more than just cuddle, but I could live with the cuddling stage for a while and working our way up from there.
Jesus, why did she have to look so damn good?
“What the fuck are you wearing?” I demanded, making sure there was plenty of accusation in my voice. Couldn’t let her know how much I loved her looking like this.
She scowled at me and stepped inside. “Pajamas. You know those clothes people wear in the middle of the night when they’re sleeping?”
I snorted. “Never worn any.”
She snorted right back, narrowing her eyes. “Figures.”
“Seriously.” I motioned to her clothes. “Where’s the slinky, tight, slutty clothes? What if this had been a booty call? Please, God, at least tell me you have a matching bra and panty set under there.”
“I don’t even own a matching bra and panty set. And I knew this wasn’t a booty call.” She tossed me a dry glance. “There was no reason to bother dressing up.”
I scratched my hair, confused. “Then why the hell did you think I was calling you?”
“I assumed you’d accidently strangled one of your whores to death, or something equally kinky and awful, and you needed help disposing of the body.” She yawned and glanced around. “So, where is she?”
I stared at her, touched. “Would you really help me bury a body?” That was so fucking sweet. If Gamble ever gave me his blessing to bang his sister, I’d be all over her so fast. “There is no dead body, by the way.”
She scowled, looking confused. “So, if there’s no dead hooker for me to help bury, then why did you call me over?”
From down the hall, the bathroom door came open. Caroline lifted a curious eyebrow, so I tipped my head that way. “For her,” was all I said.
Caroline moved to the opening of the hallway—God, I even liked watching the way she moved—and peered down it just as Blondie, decked out in Ham’s baggy clothes, ducked her head hesitantly out at us. Her face was blanched of so much color it made the red bruise sprouting on her cheek really stand out.
I hissed a curse under my breath and balled my hand into a fist.
Caroline covered her mouth. “Oh my God. Zoey?”
The two girls rushed toward each other, hugging tightly. If it were under any other circumstances, I might’ve gotten a little excited about watching them come together so eagerly, and I totally would’ve cracked a threesome comment. But then Blondie ruined the possible eroticism of the moment by bursting into tears and sobbing all over Caroline.
Fuck. Poor kid.
Caroline lifted her face to sear me with a fierce stare. “Who did this?”
“Caine Fucking Belcher,” I said. “He had his hand down her pants when I caught them together. He would’ve...you know, done that R-word to her if I hadn’t stumbled across them.”
Blondie shuddered and started gagging. I winced for making her relive that moment again by bringing it up. She burrowed deeper into Caroline, and Caroline petted her hair and murmured soothingly into Blondie’s ear before looking up again.
“Belcher,” she repeated. “The same guy who was passing around naked pictures of Aspen?”
There had only been one naked picture, but I lifted my eyebrows, impressed. “Good memory.”
“That bastard,” she sneered, looking ready to find Belcher and murder him with her bare hands. Then she frowned and glanced around. “Where’s Quinn?”
When Blondie cried even harder at the mention of his name, I scowled at Caroline before saying, “Good fucking question.”
“I don’t understand.”
She frowned, confused, so I caught her up to speed on the part of the story where Quinn caught us coming out of the room, looking like we’d fucked.
“...and then he took off, so idiot Blondie here didn’t race after him to tell him what had really happened; she just wanted him to believe her all on his own steam, so she raced after him to say pretty much nothing, for which he dumped her and took off...again.”
“Hey, don’t call her an idiot,” Caroline scolded, hugging Blondie to her tighter. “She was nearly raped. I think she’s allowed to have a scrambled brain at the moment.”
Okay, so she might have a point. I grumbled a little under my breath and ran my fingers through my hair.
Caroline sighed and pulled up her phone with one hand while she continued to hold Blondie with the other.
“Good idea,” I said, snapping my fingers. “You try getting a hold of Ham. Maybe he’ll answer for you. He’s been ignoring all my attempts.”
“I’m not calling Quinn. I’m calling Noel.”
I frowned. I hated being around the both of them together. I had to behave myself when Gamble was present, overseeing every move I made near his sister.
“And Asher,” she added after a moment, making me frown even harder.
“Hart? Why the fuck are you calling Hart?” Just how close had those two gotten? If he hadn’t respected my request to stay away from her, I was breaking his face. That’s all there was to it.
“You’re going to need more than two people to contain Quinn when he finds out what really happened. He’ll want to kill Belcher.”
I laughed, when inside I really flinched with jealousy. “Oh, and you think Hart has the kind of muscle to help hold him down? He’s a fucking singer.”
“He’s a good talker. Maybe he can talk sense into Quinn before Quinn does too much damage.”
In my opinion, Quinn needed to do some serious damage. I was going to be haunted for a good long while by the image of a crying Blondie trying to fight Belcher off her. I hoped Ham pounded his fucking face in.
But what I said to Caroline was, “Hey, I’m a good talker. I’ve talked your brother off the ledge more times than I can count.”
She rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to respond, but Zoey lifted her face. “Can I stay at your place tonight?” she asked Caroline.
Caroline’s shock over the request was pretty evident.
“I can’t go back to Cora’s. Not after what she did.”
Caroline glanced at me. “Wait. What did Cora do?”
I frowned and shook my head, clueless. Stepping in a little closer and curious about that answer myself, I had a bad feeling there was more to Cora’s involvement than just jacking with a couple phones.
“She…” Another tear trickled down Blondie’s cheek. She wiped it away and sniffed. “She asked him to…she told him I wanted to be with him. That’s why he was in that room, that’s why he…he…”
“Wait a fucking second,” I said a little more harshly than I intended to because my voice made Blondie flinch. “Are you saying that fucking bitch told Belcher to rape you?”
She nodded, making me fume. “Yeah, or at least…something like that. She called him there, and she…she knew what he’d try to do to me.”
I curled my hands into fists. “I’m going to kill her. I’m going to fucking—”
“You can’t. She—”
“I don’t care how fucking sick she is. No human being that cruel deserves to live. And you are not giving her your kidney. I absolutely refuse to allow it. Not after this.”
“Wait, what?” Caroline broke in.
“Just…” I sighed and took her arm, urging her toward the door. “Take Blondie to your place, okay. We’ll take care of Belcher and the fucking whore.”
“But—”
After I nudged the two girls into the hall, I waved them good-bye. I had a roommate to find and worthless people to destroy.
But Blondie paused and glanced back at me with her huge, green, frightened eyes. “You’re going to tell him, aren’t you? You’re going to tell him everything.”
“He needs to know.” But I shrugged apologetically after I said it.
She nodded, and I kind of felt like shit for making her look so sad. “Just…” She looked up at me again, killing me with her sad eyes. “Please let him know I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for not telling him sooner.”
Noel, Asher and Ten were waiting for me when I unlocked my door and stepped inside my apartment.
Ten started in immediately. “Man, you seriously don’t think I fucked her, do you?”
My shoulders slumped, and I collapsed my back against the door as soon as I shut it. Closing my eyes, I fisted my hands down at my sides. So that’s what this was all about. A stupid intervention for our friends to make me forgive Ten...again.
“I told Zoey I believed her,” I said, though seriously I didn’t know what to believe anymore. I just knew I couldn’t trust my own instincts.
I had thought Cora would be faithful, that she’d loved me and wanted me to ask her to marry me. But look how wrong that had been. Then I had thought Zoey had been innocent and incapable of such betrayal, except everything I’d seen tonight pointed in the opposite direction. I still didn’t want to think anything bad of her, but...God. I honestly didn’t know what to think.
“I know you two didn’t do anything.” I said, anyway.
Mostly, I said it because I wanted him to leave me alone. I already felt bad enough. I already missed Zoey. I’d already debated with myself a million times over whether putting space between us had been the right move or not. Maybe if I’d just forced her to tell me why she’d been alone in that room with a shirtless Ten, and why she’d come out looking like someone had kissed her, we could’ve hashed it out and been over it by now. Together and over it. But I’d let Cora condition me into not asking questions, into respecting privacy.
“Well, it kind of sounds like you do think they hooked up,” Noel said. “Otherwise, why’d you break up with Zoey?”
I opened my eyes and stared at them. How did they know about that? “I didn’t break up with her,” I instantly said, though...crap, maybe I kind of had. I only knew I’d needed space. I needed to straighten my head out, and I hadn’t wanted Zoey to get caught up in any of my leftover hang-ups caused by Cora. But I had pushed her away, hadn’t I? I had asked for time apart...right after seeing her and Ten together.
“Blondie sure as fuck thinks you broke up with her,” Ten said.
“Your girl wasn’t very forthright with details about what really happened tonight,” Asher quietly added.
I glanced at him, frowning. What did he know about tonight?
Noel arched an eyebrow. “You ready to hear what really happened?”
Yes.
But I shook my head no.
Ten growled and marched menacingly toward me. “Well, too bad. You’re getting an earful, anyway. Fucking Whora, your fucking ex, found out about your fucking around with Blondie, and had fucking Belcher feel her up at the party tonight.”
I blinked, not expecting to hear that. At all. I didn’t even really process it at first. So, I shook my head to clear it. “What?”
“Yeah.” Ten went on. “Whora said something about how Blondie was so eager to share all their men, she should try out Belcher too, except when she left Blondie alone with him, Belcher didn’t want to stop ‘scaring’ Blondie, so he was trying to fucking rape her when I came across them.”
“What?” I said a little louder this time. This time, his words just barely began to sink in, yet they didn’t totally resonate in my brain. I stepped away from the door, ready to hurt him if he was joking with me.
“Her clothes were all messed up because Caine Belcher had just tried to rape her, and I was half dressed because I took off my shirt and offered it to her since hers was torn, but she was too intent on trying to find you to accept it.”
“You…” Ten could’ve pulled out a knife and stabbed me through the stomach and I don’t think it would’ve surprised me or pulverized me as much as this did. Actually, I would’ve preferred it if he’d stabbed me. That way, Zoey wouldn’t be—
I saw red. Every vein in my body turned into one angry, throbbing heartbeat. I killed Belcher inside my head fifty times between one heartbeat and the next, and then I killed Cora another fifty times within the heartbeat after that.
“Where is she?” I heard myself breathing hard. I felt my hands balling into fists, but I was so disconnected from my own body, it seemed like I was more of an observer than an actual participant in what I did.
“Cora or Zoey?” Noel asked.
I’d meant Zoey, but I said, “Both.”
“Caroline took Zoey home with her. Cora…” Ten shrugged. “Who knows?”
“I’ll try her place first.” I knew where she lived. After that, I’d find out where Belcher lived, and then I’d hunt him down, too. And after that...I didn’t know. I wanted to go to Zoey, but I’d caused this. If she and I hadn’t gotten together, this never would’ve happened to her.
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