Slowly shaking his head in warning, Max's narrowed eyes dart from one brother to the other. "Signùri pensaci tu! Move. Now."
He looks at me briefly and his expressionkillsme. Where his heart used to pump is a black pit. I want more than anything to press my body to his so we can share mine. Because mine is still there, beating fast. For him. For us. Tonight changes nothing for me. But for him... I don't see us in his eyes. I don’t see hope for the future. Our future.
My breath catches when the door swings open and out storms Butch and the crater-faced man.
"What the hell is going on out here?" Butch orders, his complexion instantly reddening at the sight of Max with his pistol raised. The cords in Butch's neck pulse as he charges at Max. A powerhouse of muscles and training, he throws his fist into his son's stomach. They both grunt on impact.
Max drops the gun on the pavement and keels over, gripping his abdomen. He releases a long deep groan and that sound is enough for me to lose what little content is left in my stomach.
I choke out his name. "Max."
Bronson is beside me before the second convulsion racks my body. He holds my hair away from my face and rubs my spasming back.
"Who did this?" Butch orders.
All three Butcher boys reply in unison. "I did!"
"Bronson, get back inside before Jimmy notices we are all gone," Butch barks. "Xander, you too. No one is to disturb Jimmy tonight! I will take care of this. Now go!"
The hand on my back disappears and my stomach twists again, wringing the dregs of water and bile out. "Max..."
Suddenly, a hand grips my waist, the other my shoulder, and even though I'm bent over, facing the floor, unable to see who is touching me, I know that it's him. Nothing feels quite the same as when he's near. As when he's holding me.
"I'm sorry," he whispers, his voice raspy. Fractured. It almost doesn't sound like him.
When I finally straighten, I'm alone with Max, Butch, and the man I now presume is Carter.
"What happened here?" Butch growls, looking from Max to me and back again. Carter stands behind him, a solid and unwavering presence that means business.
Max wipes my mouth and rubs bile and saliva onto his pants. I find his black eyes and they wince at the sight of mine. In this moment, for the first time since Erik punched me, I feel pain in my cheekbone and below my eye.
I find my voice, but am unable to divert my gaze from my Max. "I wasn't going to let him rape me."
Max winces. His eyes squeeze shut for a brief moment. I hear Butch take a step towards us and I turn to look at him. The light from the courtyard flickers around his face as he takes another step, stopping an arm's length away from Max and me.
He studies me, his eyes calculated in their path around my body. From scratch to cut to scratch to gash and back to my bruised eye.
"Good," he finally says. I didn't expect that response. I'm not sure I'd ever painted him as an enemy in my mind, but I'd never placed him as someone I could trust.
Butch speaks frankly. "Was this about the diamond?"
"She took it off." Max wraps his arms around me. There's a tightness to them that might have once scared me, but nowit's something I love and need. "This was about her brother," Max says, and my breathing turns shallow.
"Carter, drive my son and Cassidy to the hospital," Butch says, his eyes glued on me.
"Dustin did this!" Max growls, his body vibrating around mine.
Butch's expression doesn't falter. His blue eyes and firm face are unreadable and yet, contemplative. It's as if he's not surprised by the accusation but merely considering his response. Deliberating. I think he knows that Max won't let what has happened tonight rest. It'll fester.
I almost expect an exchange in Sicilian, but then Butch speaks in English. He includes me, offering me an explanation of sorts. Perhaps I'd earned that from him when I'd fought back. All that I know about the head of the Butcher household is that he respects strength.
"Dustin is threatened by us, Max. You know this. Keep that cool head of yours. You're smarter than them. He's a fucking uneducated Australian mutt. Not a slice of Sicilian in him. And we are Jimmy's family now! My son will take over his empire and Dustin threw away the only son he had. I have four sons! We're the most powerful name in this District, son. They just don't know it yet."
"Why Cassidy?"
Butch looks at me. "Two reasons I can see. I doubt he wanted it to go this far, but... To scare her would work to his advantage, yes. Push her away,se? He doesn't want the sister of the Slater boy associated with our business and,"—he looks straight at Max—"Jimmy has daughters. Dustin has daughters. I have sons. He's been trying to arrange a pairing between our families for years. There are secrets here. One day, I will tell them to you. Not today. This conversation is over."
Max sweeps me up into his arms, cradling me against him. The warmth from his body is like a radiator pressed to my skin. He's running hot. Maybe he won't let this change us. Maybe he won't withdraw. Disappear into his guilt. No, I won't let him. I'll dig him out with my bare hands if I have to.
