“It won’t come to that.” Atlas chastises, glaring at the three of us. “Alex will choose to stay, we’ll make sure of it.”
“And if she d… doesn’t?” Tristan asks, his brows creasing into a scowl.
“If she doesn’t.” Ezra hisses, glaring at Tristan from his rearview mirror. “I’ll keep you blissfully unaware, baby brother, so you can still sleep well at night knowing you had nothing to do with it.”
Four
“Put me down, you asshole.”
From the second I pulled her out of the car, Stevie hasn’t stopped complaining. Part of me wants to drop her on her ass and watch her limp up the driveway with her tail between her legs. The other part of me, the stupid overprotective fuckhead part, would rather deal with her relentless stubbornness than watch her feel another second of pain. The second part wins.
“Not going t… to happen, Pet.” I retort, shifting her body higher in my arms. She glares up at me with narrowed eyes.
“What happened to ‘baby’?” She scoffs, bitterness coating her tongue. Stevie is being her usual stubborn ass self, but after the shit that went down tonight, I’ve had about as much of her bullshit as I can handle.
“You’re the one f… fighting us like a rabid fucking animal.” I say, glaring down at her. “You want to act like a f… fucking pet, then we’ll treat you like one.”
Silence falls between the two of us as she soaks in my words.
“I can walk, you know.” She says, glaring up at me. “By all means, don’t let me hold you back from your little family meeting.” She nods her head towards the window of the study for emphasis. “I’m sure they’re making more decisions for my life in there. Wouldn’t want you to miss that.”
“God. Why are you s… so fucking stubborn.” I grunt, refusing to look down at her again as I continue our climb up the driveway. “Learn how to accept help when it’s given t… to you.”
She jerks her head towards me and stabs her index finger into my chest.
“Maybe you should learn how to listen when a girl tells you no. I need to find Alex and wasting time with you isn’t going to make that happen any faster.”
I stop moving and glare at her,hard.
“Wasting t… time, huh?” I ask, looming over her. “You think this is a waste of f… fucking time?”
She says nothing in response, so I continue. The words shoot out of me and cut into her like knives.
“You’re s… so hell bent on taking care of everyone else. On making s.. sure every other person in your world is okay. But t… tell me, who the fuck takes care of you, Stevie? Huh?”
I see a war forming behind her eyes. She wants to fight back. To tell me I’m fucking wrong. But she knows I’m right. She doesn’t say so, but it’s written all over her face. Her mouth falls open and her wide eyes shine with unshed tears.
I know Stevie, so I focus my attention back on the house to give her a second to recollect herself. She may be reluctantly accepting my help, but she’d never forgive me if I don’t let her have her pride. It’s one of the few things in this world she holds sacred.
“Ezra is going back t… to the motel.” I offer, picking up my pace again as if nothing happened. “As s… soon as she shows up, he’ll bring her home.”
The rest of the walk into the house is silent as an unspoken peace treaty settles over us. I said everything I wanted to say and Stevie seems too stuck in her own head to want to say anything else. We made finding her sister a priority, which, based on the look in her dazed eyes, came as a shock. But it shouldn’t have. We may be morally corrupt assholes who linger on the outskirts of law, but we are men of our word. We told her we’d retrieve her sister and we’re doing everything we can to keep that promise.
Once we get inside, I make my way up the long staircase and chance a glance down at her. I expect to see the anger on her face return, but when I see her, I find nothing of the sort. Stevie looks lost, like a girl who’s just gone through hell and barely made it out alive. The skin around her wrists is raw and I can already see the bruising finger prints on her arms forming. I wish we could resurrect the bastards that hurt her, only to slaughter them all over again for what they did.
I haven’t pressed her for details, but it’s hard not to think about what would’ve happened had we shown up a few seconds later. She’s strong. So much stronger than my brothers and I in a lot of ways, but she’s still so goddamn fragile. So fucking human.
I could’ve lost her before I ever really had her. Before we could figure out whatever the hell this was between us. She loves Atlas and apparently has, for quite some time, she embraces Ezra with all his idiosyncrasies, and has an unspoken bond with Cyrus. But with me, all we have is miscommunication after miscommunication. Fight after fucking fight. I want what’s best for her. I just haven’t been the best at showing it.
We close in on her room and I know this is where our peace treaty will end. I’ll go back to my room without ever telling her how I really feel and she’ll go back to hers, despising the men that forced her away from her sister. Given their connections, my brothers may get back in her good graces, but I’ll always be the asshole that didn’t want her sister. That fate was sealed the second she denied my offer.
We’re almost at her door and I can’t help but slow my pace. She feels so fucking good in my arms, but in a few seconds, they’ll be empty again. Fuck. I’m not ready to let her go. To let this peace treaty between us end. I want more of her. I need it. So, like the selfish fuck I am, I keep walking.
“Where are you taking me?” Stevie asks, noticing we’ve moved past her bedroom.
“My bathroom.” I say, thinking on my feet. “We have t… to clean your wounds before they get infected.”
It isn’t a bad idea. Who knows what kind of shit was on the ground in that parking lot.
