Dirty Little Mistake (Hard to Love #2)

Chapter 48

Trystan

" S plit up." The words tasted like fear. "Kaia, Cam—take the house." My gaze swept our tight circle. "Jax, you're with me on the boardwalk. Harlow, Owen—beach sweep."

"If anyone—" Jax started.

"Group text," three voices finished. We'd done this before. Too many times.

"Wait." Kaia's voice sliced through our momentum. We turned—six bodies moving as one—and found her holding up her phone. "Has anyone actually tried calling her?"

The silence that followed was deafening. Amateur mistake. We were so busy planning a search that we'd forgotten the simplest solution. Rookie panic—the kind that only came when you knew exactly what someone was capable of.

And we all knew what Sebastian was capable of.

"Wait—" Cam's voice cut through our planning. "Her location. Did anyone?—"

My phone was already in hand, the screen glowing. "Under the pier." Jax's eyes met mine, understanding passing between us without words.

"You guys stay here." I turned to leave, but Cam caught my sleeve.

"Be careful, okay? Sebastian..." The name hung between us like a threat.

I caught her hand and pressed a quick kiss to her forehead. No time for lingering goodbyes. "I'll be fine. Promise."

I knew how dangerous Sebastian was, and that was why I needed to get Syn as far away from him as possible, even if that meant locking her in her room until she came to her senses.

Jax and I bolted down the beach. The pier was in sight but still felt so far away. Our pace slowed as a dark silhouette appeared from the darkness.

Syn.

The moonlight caught the wet strands of her black hair, twisted into a wild mess on top of her head. Her turquoise bridesmaid's dress, now several shades darker from seawater, clung to her small frame like a second skin. Fine grains of sand crusted her bare arms and legs, catching the dim light from the pier's overhead lamps. As we got closer, dark droplets fell from her nose, leaving crimson spots in the pale sand at her feet.

"What the fuck?" Jax's growl echoed under the pier. He reached for her?—

Syn stumbled back, shoving his hand away. "I'm fine, Jax." The tremble in her voice betrayed her.

"You are not fine." Jax's muscles coiled tight as a spring. In one fluid motion, he stripped off his shirt and pressed it toward her. "You're bleeding."

She snatched the fabric, pressing it to her nose. The white cotton bloomed red.

My hands clenched at my sides. Keep calm. Keep steady. But beneath that forced control, rage burned hot and familiar. Someone had touched my little sister. Had made her bleed.

Had signed their own death warrant.

"What happened, Syn?" My fingernails bit into my palms, forcing calm into my voice. "Who did this?"

Her shoulders curled inward. "I just want to go home."

"Syn..." Jax snapped, raising his voice. "Who the fuck hurt you?" Jax was angry, and I didn't blame him, but right now, that wasn't what she needed.

"Jax," I said, my tone commanding his attention. "Can you go back and let everyone know Syn is okay?"

Jax's face darkened. "What?"

"Jax." One word. A command wrapped in understanding. His gaze darted between us—Syn's bloodied face, my steady stare—before he surrendered with a sharp nod.

"Fine." The word was pure venom. He backed away, each step radiating reluctance until the darkness swallowed him.

I waited. One wave crashed. Two. Three.

"What happened?"

Syn lifted her chin. "First, promise you'll let it go."

My jaw flexed because I wasn't sure I could let it go. Walking away from someone putting their hands on my sister would be the hardest thing I ever did. "Just tell me what happened."

"I'm not saying a word until you promise, Trystan." She squared her narrow shoulders. "I need you to trust that I can handle myself. That I don't need you to defend me."

Sucking in a heavy breath, I nodded. "Fine, I promise," I said through gritted teeth. "Are you dating Sebastian? Did he do this?"

"Do you want to tell the story?" Rolling my eyes, I waved my hand for her to continue. "Yes, or I was."

"What? Syn..." I shook my head. "Why?"

"I don't know." She sighed. "I thought he was different with me and..." She paused, her gaze dropping to the sand as we walked. "I'm not really attracted to normal guys. I kind of like..."

"The bad boys," I finished for her.

She shrugged. "Yeah, I guess, but now I know that's the wrong kind of bad I'm looking for."

"So Sebastian put his hands on you?"

"Yeah." Something flickered across her face—pride warring with leftover fear. "But he's the one who needed the ambulance."

"What?"

"Forehead split open." Her lips curved, savage satisfaction bleeding through. "Guess he didn't expect the bottle to break that easily."

The knot in my chest loosened, just a fraction. Of course. This was Syn—the same girl who'd broken Abel Martinez's nose in third grade for trying to cut her hair.

The same girl who'd never needed saving.

I'd forgotten that, somewhere between big brother instincts and blind rage. Sebastian had, too, apparently.

His mistake.

"Is he the one putting those bruises all over you?"

Her fingers traced the fading marks on her wrist. "Yeah." She stared out at the dark water. "I was blinded by..." The waves crashed against the pier, filling the silence. "By I don't know what, but something that made me think he didn't mean to."

"You know guys like him don't usually walk away that easy."

She nodded again. "Yeah," she said. "I'm figuring this isn't the last I've heard of him."

"What's your plan?" The question hung between us, heavy with everything unsaid. Everything that could happen if she stayed.

Syn traced patterns in the wet sand with her toe. Once. Twice. Three times before answering. "Jax and Kaia offered their place." The words came slow, testing the weight of them. "Kaia needs help with the baby, and Jax..." She swallowed. "He said he'd front the money. For my own tattoo shop if I moved with them."

"And?" I watched her face, reading the micro-expressions I'd learned from years of being her brother. The slight furrow between her brows. The way her teeth worried her bottom lip.

"And what?" False lightness. A deflection as familiar as breathing.

But deflection meant she was considering it. Meant she was scared enough to consider it.

That, more than the blood or the bruises, made my stomach turn.

"You should go. Put some distance between you and Sebastian. Plus, I'm not going to be here much between recording and touring."

"What about Camryn?"

"She finishes school this year." I kicked at a broken shell, sending it skittering across the sand. "I'm hoping she'll go with me."

The corners of her lips lifted into a grin, the first real one I'd seen all night. "Then you need to lock that shit down." She bumped her shoulder against mine, momentarily forgetting her own troubles. "Let her know this is real. That you're serious?" Her eyebrows raised. "Well, if you are serious?"

"What, you mean like marriage?"

"That is the end game, right?"

"Honestly," I sighed, "I love Cam. The thought of losing her again makes me sick to my stomach, but marriage terrifies me."

"Because of Mom and Dad?"

I nodded, my jaw tight.

"You and Cam aren't Mom and Dad." She stopped walking, forcing me to face her. "I don't think our dad was really capable of loving Mom—not the way she deserved to be loved, but you..." Her finger jabbed into my shoulder, punctuating each word. "You are capable of loving Cam the way she deserves to be loved?"

She was right, but she was also the queen of changing the subject to take the heat off herself. "I will definitely think about it, but back to you and moving."

"I don't know, Tryst. My whole life is here."

"Do it for a year, and if you hate it, you can come back?" Her eyes met mine. "Do it for me?"

"I'll tell you what." Her artist's eyes traced the ink visible on my forearm. "I'll go with Jax and Kaia if you'll be my first customer when I open my tattoo shop."

The corner of my mouth lifted. "You want to give me another tattoo?"

Her fingers sketched invisible designs in the air between us.

If letting her give me a tattoo meant she moved as far away from Sebastian to safety, then I would do it in a heartbeat. "Okay, deal." I caught her hand, squeezed once. Promise sealed.