“No way,” Hayat snapped, snatching the key fob from him.“Ali is coming with Abi and me.So is Evan.Sammy can ride with you and Sixx.”
“I have my own car,” Sammy tossed out.“I would prefer if Abi rides with me.”
Hayat, Sixx, and Bentley all growled at her, and she just giggled at them.“So damn cute.”
“I’m going with Sixx and Bentley.”Abi and Hayat both started to argue, but I was already walking in the direction of where I remembered seeing Sixx’s car.
“Ali—”
“I’m going with Sixx,” I repeated, cutting Evan off.Yeah, no.I couldn’t even stand to hear his voice, let alone share an enclosed space with him.“And Bentley if he wants to ride with us.”
“Let’s go,” Bentley murmured quietly, falling into step beside me.
“Go straight to our house,” Abi called after us.“If you’re not there when we arrive, I’m sending Sammy to hunt you down.”
Bentley snorted.“Who the fuck even is that chick?”
“No clue,” I muttered, distracted when I felt Sixx right behind me.He still wasn’t touching me, but he was close enough I could feel his heat.
I’d take what I could get.
Sixx
As soon aswe reached my car, I popped the trunk.Digging through my gym bag, I found the extra bottles of water I’d left in there from practice earlier in the week.Thankfully, I also had a change of clothes.
Opening a bottle, I poured it over my hands and arms, washing off the blood.After hissing at the burn of pain from my knuckles, I found a clean shirt and wrapped it around my left hand, which was torn the worst.Once I had the makeshift bandage tied, I started stripping.
Bentley stood behind me with Ali at his side, trying to make herself smaller.I didn’t like that.She shone too bright for that to even be possible.Before all this crap, my daisy girl wasn’t one to shy away from anything.Gaviria had caused this.He’d stolen something special from her.And then Evan had broken her heart.
Fuck, I needed to stop thinking about him before I did something that caused Ali more pain.I could feel her eyes on me.That fucking itch returned, deeper inside my head this time.“Hurry, hurry, hurry,” chanted at the back of my mind.
Once I was down to my boxer briefs, I used another bottle of water to wash my face, and then I pulled on the sweats and a clean T-shirt.As soon as I pulled the shirt down, I reached for Ali.
She wrapped her arms around me the instant I touched her, a little hiccup-sob escaping her.That damned itch vanished, and all the torment inside my mind calmed.Burying my face in her hair, I gulped in one deep breath after another, giving myself a few moments to fully settle.
“You still want to touch me,” she whispered brokenly.
“Of course I want to fucking touch you, daisy girl.”I lifted my head and kissed the tip of her red nose.Her watery eyes were a gut punch.Rolling my forehead against hers, I vowed that she’d never have a reason to cry in fear of anything ever again.“Baby, I had blood all over me.If I got even a drop of it on you… I couldn’t get you dirty with his blood, Ali.Not even you could have brought me back from that.”
“I’m sorry,” she cried, her hands fisting in my shirt.“I’m so sorry.”
A strangled growl rumbled through my chest before I could stop it.“You don’t have to apologize to me for anything.Ever.I know why you made the choices you did.Do I like them?Hard no.Do I respect them?Debatable.Understanding them, though, that’s a different story.”
“I made so many mistakes.”
“You did,” I agreed, swaying us side to side to soothe her.
“I shouldn’t have kept it from you.”
“It’s over now.”
“I promise to never keep secrets from you again.”
“That’s my good girl.”Tipping her head back, I dropped a quick kiss on her lips.“Whatever else happens, you and me, we’re good, Ali.There is nothing that could end us.Do you understand me?”
Her blue eyes, damp from her tears, glittered up at me.It was both a vow and a threat, for her and the universe.This girl was my life.My future.My love.She was my daisy girl.I could practically taste her relief as it finally hit her.
“I love you,” she choked out.
