The three of us don’t say anything as we clean ourselves down the best we can. Keaton’s icy eyes are locked on somethingbehind me, and when I turn around, I notice that he’s staring at Menace’s cooling corpse.
“He got off easy,” he rasps in disgust. I can still see the hunger in Skinner’s orbs, the need to maim and destroy. I feel that too.
Rusty steps up to him and squeezes his shoulder. “She needed that, and you know it.” Rusty taps his open palm to Skinner's broad chest before stepping back and wiping down the crimson pearls from his face.
A chill licks its way across the back of my neck, and I palm it away. Physically hurting someone is one thing, but killing them, that’s an entirely different ball game, and I have no idea what this means for Cherry.
“Do you think she’s going to be okay?” I ask, knowing the girl is strong, but this kind of game has the ability to completely fuck you up. I had never killed anyone before today, but I had been around it, exposed to it, conditioned…She hadn’t,and she just made someone swallow a bullet.
I know it’s bad fucking timing, but another shiver tingles its way down my spine, extends across my abdomen, crawling its way beneath the waistband of my now crimson splattered jeans.
It was sexy as fuck seeing her take back everything she had lost.
Skinner points at me. “She will be, because you will make sure she is.”
I suck on my front teeth and nod. The older brother, protective shit was coming.
Skinner speaks again. “I swear to fuck, Goldie. If you hurt–”
I cut him off, piercing my eyes directly into his. “I won’t.”
He stares at me for a beat longer, then nods resolutely. “Good, because I’m getting sick of skinning ugly motherfuckers.”
I snort, then start to laugh, my shoulders shaking. “Wow, thanks.”
Both Skinner and Rusty are laughing too. Skinner takes a towel to his head, rubbing back and forth.
He jerks his chin toward both of us. “Go, I will sort this shit out.”
“You sure, son?” Rusty asks.
Skinner is already nodding. “Yeah, go look after my sister.”
As we ascend the stairs, my name falls from Keaton’s mouth. I turn back around and see him staring up at us, scrubbing over his knuckles.
He drops his chin, and I can tell he swallows because I see the ink on his neck move before his eyes meet mine again. “Thanks for looking after her. I owe–”
“You don’t owe me shit,” I huff out, running my trembling hands through my hair. “That girl means everything to me. I’d fucking die for your sister.”
Keaton stays staring at me for a moment longer, then nods in response before turning around and pinching his nose.
They are the truest words I have ever spoken.
Both mine and Rusty’s blood-stained hands are at the old door, shoving it open, and when we emerge into the low-casted shadows of the morning sun,I seek her out.She’s lying on the bonnet of dad’s truck next to Chase, smoking a blunt.
I whistle, and her body crunches into a seated position. Chase pops upwards too, resting on his forearm as she passes the blunt back over to him with a long exhaled breath of smoke. I can’t help but smile as I take determined strides right to her. Chase jumps down from the car and stops me before I can getto her, pulling me in for a hug and tapping his palm against my back.
He says beneath his breath, “Fuck, she surprised me. She’s doing good. Guess she does share the same blood as that crazy fuck.”
He’s talking about Skinner, and I can’t help but snort when he continues, “You got a good one, bro. Hold her tight.”
My eyes are on Cherry as she slides toward the edge of the bonnet. Her shoulders sit high around her ears when she places both hands between her legs to lean over slightly.
Her mass of deep cherry curls hangs messily over her frame, and her eyes look a little fuller,brighter even.
“Tell me about it.” I tap Chase’s chest, and then I’m stepping forward.
My hands land on her waist and I drag her into me. Her arms find a place around my neck when she flicks her hair behind her, then whispers over my lips, “Before you ask, I’m fine. Actually, I’m great.”
