Scarred (Bullied Book 5) (Bullied Series)

by Vera Hollins

  “Hey, little king. It’s just me. I’ll save you from this scary weather, just you wait.”

  It was easier said than done. I had no idea how to pick him up to put him in the carrier. I’d never held bunnies, and it looked tricky.

  I reached for him, but he jumped to the side, avoiding my hands like the plague. I blinked a couple of times, struggling to see through the rain. I tried to reach for him again, but he avoided me, jumping to the other side. The gentle approach wouldn’t work here.

  “Okay, mister. I don’t have time for this.” I moved fast and grabbed him around the stomach. He started thrashing to break free. “You can hate me all you want, but this is for your own good.”

  I dragged him out of the house, my back aching because of the uncomfortable kneeling position. I had to get him in his carrier before he got drenched. I went backward on my knees to get out of his pen, managing to press him against my chest like a baby and shield him with my arms.

  “Phase one of the rescue is almost complete. I just have to put you in the carrier, so stay still.”

  I made it out of the pen and stood up, about to turn to the carrier.

  “Look out,” Masen shouted.

  I didn’t have time to react. Before I knew what was happening, he’d wrapped his arms around me, spinning us around just as a massive branch fell from the tree and smashed against his back, bouncing off him and crashing down nearby. We both lost our balance and fell to the ground, his full weight ending up on top of me, and it felt too oppressive. Panic began to swallow me up. I couldn’t move under his hard body, but then I remembered Pigi and his tiny body squashed between us, and that helped me focus on what was most important.

  “Move. You’re crushing Pigi,” I said between labored breaths, shimmying under him to make as much space for Pigi as possible. He raised himself up on his elbows, and I looked down at Pigi, who was rigid with terror on my chest.

  “It’s okay, mister. We won’t hurt you,” I told him in a gentle tone. I met Masen’s unreadable eyes above me. They were partially hidden by the wet strands of his hair. He observed me with an expression that created a stirring sensation in my stomach, and I could feel my fear fading away. I frowned as a giddy feeling unfurled through me and went all the way to my fingers and toes, making me want to stay right where I was.

  The hell? That was unacceptable.

  “Will you get off me already?” I hissed at him. “Are you trying to crush us or something?”

  His eyes froze over, his lips curling into a sneer. “Could you be any more ungrateful?” He moved to get up, but then he winced and cursed, supporting himself on one hand and knee.

  I was done wasting time. I squirmed to move away from him and get on my feet, rushing to get Pigi into the house. Pigi began twisting and kicking as I tried to put him in his carrier, and after two attempts, I managed to shove him in. I closed the carrier’s side hatch and raced for the house without looking back.

  Eli was waiting for me next to a medium-sized cage in the living room. “This is the cage we use when he’s inside,” he said. “Can you get a towel and dry him off before he gets hypothermia?”

  “Sure.” I went to grab a clean towel from the cabinet in the hallway, dribbling puddles of rainwater all over the floor.

  I saw Masen go into his room, and my stomach flipped as I got a glimpse of his back before he closed the door. His white T-shirt was torn open and stained with blood coming from two long horizontal gashes.

  I fisted my hand. “Fuck.”

  I grabbed the towel and returned to Pigi, chewing my lip with guilt. He was difficult to handle as I wiped him down, trying to run away from me every few seconds. I glanced at the entrance to the living room, looking for Masen, but he didn’t reappear, and my stomach stirred with discomfort.

  He’d taken a branch to the back for me, and I hadn’t even thanked him. Instead, I’d been a bitch.

  Great. Now I felt like crap.

  I dried Pigi off as best as I could and put him in his cage. I was completely soaked, so I figured I should look for a change of clothes, but first things first.

  “Do you have a first-aid kit?” I asked Eli.

  “Yes. It’s in the bathroom. Why?”

  “It’s for your brother. It’s nothing serious, just a tiny, little bit of collateral damage,” I added when he frowned with concern. “Do you need me for anything else?”

  “Not now.”

  “Then I’ll be back in a sec.” I went to fetch the kit, rubbing my hands up and down my arms to warm up.

  My heart rate accelerated as I stopped in front of Masen’s door. Okay. I could do this. This was how I would pay him back. It was crazy, but crazy times called for crazy measures, or however that one went.

  I glanced down at my black shirt, just in case, making sure it wasn’t see-through, because I didn’t need to flaunt my bra at him. Luckily, nothing showed. Phew.

  I knocked on his door, but I didn’t wait for his permission to enter, because I doubted I’d ever get it. I opened the door and stepped inside, but then I froze when I saw him. He was sitting on his bed, dressed only in a pair of dry sweatpants, his naked back turned to me. I couldn’t look away from his bloody wounds mixed with the web of his old scars on his otherwise flawlessly carved back, my stomach twisting over and over again.

  He glared at me over his shoulder. “I didn’t say you could come in.”

  I swallowed slowly. Now that there was no panic or fear, I could acknowledge how warm his body had felt against mine on the cold, wet ground, or how fiercely his arms had held me as he’d shielded me. My heart jolted. He’d actually shielded me.

  I felt insecure as I closed the door behind me, which was a foreign feeling for me. There was something terribly intimate about being in his small room with him sitting half-naked on his bed, with the fresh scent of his air freshener and something I couldn’t pinpoint that appealed to me.

  “I know,” I said in a strangely low voice. “I just want to help you.”

  His eyes widened before he caught himself and made an annoyed expression. “I don’t need your help.” He looked away.

  I approached his bed, a sharp retort almost slipping from my lips, but once again, I felt tired. Always fighting. He’d helped me, and now he was injured. I just couldn’t.

  “I know,” I replied, quite docile for my tastes. “I guess this is the best way for me to thank you. You were right, as much as I hate to admit it. I was ungrateful.”

  “No shit.”

  I glared at him and opened my mouth to put him in his place, but then I reminded myself to be a better person. At least, this time.

  “That’s why I came here to help you,” I gritted out.

  He threw me a surprised look over his shoulder. “You really want to help? Shocking.”

  I bit into my cheek. “No need to get so excited about it. Believe me, I’d rather eat worms than play nurse, but you’re going to bleed to death because of me, and as much as I’d love to let that happen and celebrate it, it’s only fair for me to help you,” I ended the sentence on a mumble, getting more nervous.

  He rolled his eyes and shifted sideways so he could look at me. My eyes immediately dropped to his chest, and I literally had to force myself to look away, shoving the image of the super-defined, taut muscles away.

  “I’m not going to bleed to death.”

  Don’t look at his chest. It’s ugly. It’s super ugly.

  “You’ve got, like, a waterfall pouring down your back. It most certainly looks like you are.”

  “Even if I were dying, I wouldn’t want you to be my nurse. You’re not sexy at all, which makes you a terrible nurse by default.”

  My heart sank. He’d told me at least a dozen times I wasn’t sexy, and I never thought twice about it, but for some stupid reason, I was upset now.

  I willed myself not to show it on my face. “Oh yeah? Just like the eighty percent of actual nurses. Didn’t anyone teach you not to believe everything you see in porn?”
/>
  He smirked at me. “And how would you know what’s in porn?” He raised one eyebrow. “Don’t tell me. You’re actually watching it.”

  “Already watching porn, sugarpie?” His voice carried over from that night, and I stilled, seeing him and the darkness of the woods behind him.

  I could feel it.

  The taste of his saliva.

  His lips against mine.

  The shroud of darkness.

  My hands gripped the first-aid kit so hard, it seemed it might crack at any moment. I relaxed my grip and inhaled deeply twice, casting those thoughts aside as I refocused on Masen. He was observing me too closely.

  “Do you want me to patch you up or not?” I asked gruffly. “I won’t ask you again.”

  His stare lasted for a few moments too long, and I was on the verge of lashing out and throwing the kit at him. I could feel it—he was reading me like an open book—and now that he’d witnessed another weakness, he was going to—

  “Fine,” he said. “But make it quick.”

  I let out the breath I’d been holding in one shaky exhale. I was actually doing this. I was going to come close to him and even touch him, and not because I was going to whoop his ass, no.

  Maybe I was better off climbing Mount Everest naked, under the harshest possible weather conditions, with no water or food. His door now looked like a magical portal that led me away from this disaster in the making, but I was supposed to be wearing my big-girl pants. Running away wasn’t an option.

  I was about to sit on his bed when he stood up and said, “Nope, you’re not sitting on my bed.”

  My brows scrunched. It wasn’t like I wanted to sit on his bed, but it irked me anyway. “And why not?”

  He motioned at my clothes. “Because you’re completely drenched, obviously. I don’t want you to ruin the bedspread.”

  I looked down my body at my wet clothes. They were dripping rainwater all over his floor. I grinned as I raised my gaze slowly. I set the kit on the nightstand and sat down on his bed with gusto, moving my ass left and right to make the bedspread as wet as possible.

  He pinned me with a glare. “Would it kill you not to be a bitch for a second?”

  “Would it kill you not to be the most annoying person on this planet for a second?” I moved my ass around some more, but then an alarming thought came to mind, and I sprung up to my feet with a grimace.

  “Eww, eww, eww!” I patted my ass to dislodge the invisible germs, imagining all kinds of bacteria crawling all over me.

  “The fuck?” He observed me with a wide gaze.

  “Your bed is most likely a lair of STDs! I can only imagine the number of girls you’ve brought here!”

  His eyes grew a darker shade of blue. “Would you stop with that STD shit already? I’ve never had one.” He looked away. “And I’ve never brought any girls here,” he added quietly.

  Shock snuffed out my reply, and I just stared at him. Silence stretched between us, growing heavy, and my stomach twisted into little knots. The tension was too much. I needed to say something to break it.

  “Still.” I cleared my throat. “You’re lying there and jerking off. I can imagine you spraying your bed with your fluids.”

  I grimaced the moment the last word left my mouth. That was so gross, but he wasn’t grossed out at all. No, he burst into laughter, then winced, straightening his spine. He let out a few chuckles despite the pain they obviously caused him.

  “So, you’re imagining me jerking off. Interesting.” His eyes crinkled with amusement.

  To my most absolute horror, I blushed. I actually fucking blushed. “I most certainly am not!” I crossed my arms over my chest.

  His smirk was wide and devilish. “Your blush begs to differ.”

  My chin jutted forward. “That’s just my allergy to bullshit.”

  He barked another laugh. “I just wonder whose—mine or yours.”

  “Okay, are we doing this or what?”

  He raised his eyebrows at me, even more amused. “Doing what?”

  I didn’t miss the hidden meaning beneath his words. This booger.

  I snapped the kit open and grabbed an alcohol-free wipe from it. “Killing you in the most painful way.”

  I grabbed his arm and spun him around so that his back was facing me. I pressed the wipe none too gently on his cut to clean it, enjoying seeing him wince, because he deserved it.

  “Hey! Easy. Don’t make me regret this.”

  I didn’t answer back, noticing that my hand was shaking. I dabbed at the wound slowly and more gently, my eyes touching the rest of his back. His skin looked even smoother this close up, its bronze hue almost like warm caramel against my ghostly white tone.

  I could see what all the fuss was about. He had a killer body beneath all those designer clothes he used to flaunt himself around school. Even his muscles had muscles, and for the first time, I got a strong urge to just trace them with my fingers and see if they were as hard and satiny as they looked.

  I stopped for a moment and snapped my eyes shut, revolted at myself.

  It’s just a shell. Nothing else. A mask to hide what’s inside. Looks don’t matter. Not when he is who he is—

  “I’m not ashamed of Eli,” he said suddenly, and I opened my eyes. “I was never ashamed of him. I was protecting him.”

  I looked at his whitish scars. It was surprising he was telling me this. “Protecting him from what?”

  “From other kids. Bullies. You know how cruel they can be. I’m one of them myself. So, I didn’t want them to mock him or make him feel inferior to them. I wanted him away from that shit.”

  I opened a new wipe, throwing the used one in the trash can next to his bed. His cuts weren’t as deep as I’d thought, so he wouldn’t need any stitches. I continued to work in silence.

  “And I know he wants to race cars. I even promised to take him to the track in New Haven and find an instructor who has experience with quadriplegic drivers.”

  “He doesn’t know you’re in a gang?” I asked to confirm it. He went rigid.

  “No, he doesn’t.”

  I reached for a large bandage. “Why? Is that another way you’re protecting him?”

  “Of course it’s to protect him. I don’t want my brother involved with that.”

  I cocked my head to the side and applied the bandage on the upper wound. “Why are you involved, then?”

  He glanced coldly over his shoulder at me. “Mind your own business.”

  I clicked my tongue. “It’s not a hard guess, really. It’s all for money, which helps you cover Eli’s expenses.” He didn’t reply which told me enough. “So, what? You plan to support him like this your whole life? Illegal fighting and racing until you drop dead or end up in prison, locked away for life?”

  “Mind your own business,” he repeated, his tone frosty.

  I ignored him. “And what about those guys who warned you not to race? What was that about? Also, what about the cops? How do they play into this?”

  His scowl grew to the size of an elephant as he looked over his shoulder at me again. “Guess what? Mind your own fucking business.”

  I pinched him just below his neck because he was such a pain in the ass, but I caught one of his scars between my fingers, and my pulse fluttered in my throat. I released his skin and brushed my fingers over it without thinking, surprised by how silky it felt.

  He drew in his breath abruptly; his back muscles locked up under the soft caress of my fingers. I stopped short, aware only now of what I’d done. Our gazes locked over his shoulder, something alluringly dark passing through his blue eyes.

  Heat climbed up my neck, and I retracted my hand at the speed of light. I quickly placed another bandage on his second cut, making sure I touched him as little as possible, and stepped away.

  “There. All done.”

  “I’m sorry for what I said last time.” He turned around, locking his gaze on mine. “I didn’t mean any of that.”

  His words stole
the breath from my lungs, and my neutral mask almost slipped off my face. I fought my hardest not to show him how much he affected me.

  “I should seek shelter,” I said. He cocked his eyebrow at me. “Because the world must be ending. Masen Brown has apologized once again, ladies and gentlemen.”

  His eyes hooded. “And he can easily take that apology back.”

  “And he’s referring to himself in the third person like the rotten diva he is.”

  He smiled, showing his commercial-worthy white teeth. “That’s it. I’m taking it back.”

  I plastered my hand across my heart. “Oh no! Don’t do that! I won’t be able to survive without it! I’ll wither away like a lovely flower on a moonlit field and people will sing ballads about me forever—”

  “Why don’t you have a boyfriend?” He turned serious.

  My heart contracted with a pang. “What’s up with that question?”

  He crossed his arms over his chest, and I had to remind myself once again not to look down at it. “I’ve never seen you with any guy. And even when someone flirts with you, you turn them down before they can even blink.”

  I looked at him under my lashes. “And aren’t you observant? Someone seems to be obsessed with me if they’ve noticed this,” I mocked him, but I could hear the tremble in my voice. “To quote you: mind your own business.”

  He uncrossed his arms and advanced on me slowly. I took a quick step back.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  His unblinking eyes were too sharp, too perceptive. “You’re way too tense whenever I’m close to you. And you’re looking at me like you’re seeing a naked guy for the first time.”

  I looked at the imaginary watch on my wrist. “Now, would you look at that? I’m late for my meeting with the president of Botswana. See you never!”

  I swiveled around and moved for the door, but he was right behind me. He slammed his hands against the door on both sides of my head before I could open it, only inches separating our bodies. My pulse picked up as his scent crashed over me in an encompassing wave.

  “Will you stop with this bullshit macho behavior already—”