Crunch.
Tyler’s fist cracks against my jaw in the exact same spot Cameryn’s landed.
It knocks the fucking wind out of me.
My head reluctantly whips to the side, gravity and all that bullshit having a laugh as darkness and short bursts of light shoot behind my eyes.
My hand darts up to my jaw as I help flex the muscle out, Tyler seething in front of me.
While I admire the lengths he’s going to for Cherry, I’m fucking pissed he wasn’t man enough to talk to me about it before throwing fucking fists.
I bite into my bottom lip until it turns numb.
There’s only so much one person can take, so many fists they can harbor before they simply retaliate. I’m not their silent punching bag, and as I begin to count to three, I decidefuck it. My patience is over.
I seek Cherry’s stark eyes out again, collecting the endless stream of blood with my thumb from the same cut Cameryn started, and Tyler just reopened.
I may have left, but you didn’t give me a fucking chance to explain.My words are silent, only for me, and I can feel my eyes narrowing in on hers as I hear them.
I’m kind of pissed at her now too.
I don’t have any right to be, but I just fucking am.
“Don’t you fucking look at her.” Tyler’s words hit me with a low growl, and I can hear him moving back toward me as I lick my thumb clean. My pupils dilate with rage, then I spin around and prowl toward Tyler.
My forehead is rolling against his, my hard eyes meeting his furious ones. “Or what? What are you going to do, motherfucker?” I spit.
I feel my lips brush his, we are that close.
The blaze roaring between us is intense, about to leave our brotherhood in ashes if someone doesn’t intervene.
Boots slap down against loose rock behind Ty, and I don’t need to look to know it’s Asher.
I fist Tyler’s black tank, then I growl loud enough for everyone to hear, includingher. “Throwing fists before you know the full story, huh?” I shove him backwards with a tsk, shaking my head in disappointment. He stumbles slightly, and though he holds his own, Asher’s tattooed hands still shoot out, keeping him on his feet.
“You fucking left her! Who the fuck does that?!” Tyler bites back. He’s trembling. He wants to kill me,I can see it.
I pretend like I don’t hear what he has to say as I continue, “Not gonna lie, I thought you were better than that.”
I spit on his black boots, flicking my eyes to his, then to hers. A few violent beats pass with no words spoken, before I shove past him, turning back over my broad shoulder to say my final fucking piece.
“Brothers.” I let my eyes drop down the length of him before they return to his. “What a load of fucking shit.”
When I get only a few short feet from Cherry, I look away,walking past her.
My veins sizzle, and among my rage, I don’t realize she has latched onto my wrist.
Fuck.
I drop my chin, finding her tiny, yet freezing cold, pale hand wrapped around my bones. I try to suppress a shiver, though it bites across the back of my neck ruthlessly.
Why does she always feel so right?
Like she was made for me.
“Harlen,” she whispers. It’s so quiet, a trembling wave of fear,rejection.Her thumb brushes against my pulse, and I instantly remove my wrist from her grip and grab her face, pulling her right into me. She comes willingly.
Cameryn steps away, realizing this, right here, isn’t her fucking place to intervene. She already said what she wanted to, now it’s time I do the same.
