Chapter 10 #2
“What are you doing?” I glanced up to find Tyler hovering in the doorway, annoyance on his face. “Leave her alone, dude.”
“She knows I’m here,” I answered, forcing myself to stand and leave the room, not wanting to wake her up.
“She knows you’re creeping like a weirdo?” he scoffed, peering over at her to make sure she was okay.
“Some shit happened this morning. She needed me,” I replied, quietly closing the door behind me and motioning for him to follow me downstairs.
“What happened?”
“I’ll tell you once I know we’re alone.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” he muttered, impatiently waiting for me to check the house before harassing me again. “Did someone hurt her?”
“Not exactly. She left with Slash this morning and he locked her in a room with my dad,” I said with a sigh, raking a hand through my hair. “She freaked out and killed him.”
“Wait, she killed your dad?” he asked with surprise.
“Yeah. It was pretty bad. I didn’t see him, but she was covered in blood. It was different this time though. Her emotions shut off about it.”
“She’ll freak out later. Jesus, man. Why didn’t you call me?”
I blew out a breath, dropping onto a chair at the table.
“Skeet called and asked me to bring her home when he found her. By the time I got her home, showered, and comfortable, you showed up. I think a bunch of people crowding her would just piss her off right now, or she would’ve called Luke and Jense to come and get her.
She wanted me, Ty. I wasn’t going to fuck it up by handing her off to someone else. ”
“Luke probably wouldn’t have answered anyway. His mom showed up at school and caused a scene because he won’t go home,” he cringed, sitting opposite me. “She blasted him about Jense.”
“What the fuck did she say?” I snapped, fury racing through me.
“Enough that Luke left with her. Jense is freaking out at home, trying to get Lukas to answer the phone. I was coming to get you to see if you wanted to try and bust Lukas out without his mom seeing him leave,” he admitted, his gaze sliding to the empty staircase. “But I think you should stay here.”
“Can I ask you a question?” I mumbled, drawing his attention. “Have you been sneaking around with Rory and keeping it from me?”
“No, why?” he asked slowly.
“Luke and Jense have. I just wanted to know if I was the only one being kept in the dark,” I chuckled lightly, feeling like an idiot. “She slept with Luke, and I had no idea they’d even seen her. Guess they didn’t tell either of us.”
“Luke won’t risk losing her again, dude. Of course he’d keep her secrets from us, and Jense will always side with Luke. Why has she forgiven them but not us?” he grumbled, resting his elbows on the table, narrowing his eyes when I didn’t reply. “Has she forgiven you?”
“I wouldn’t say it’s forgiveness, but it’s a start. Pretty sure she’s only kept you in the dark because she knows you tell me everything,” I said carefully. “Sorry.”
“If she ran to me for help, I wouldn’t tell you shit.
No offense, but I stuck by you over her last time, and look what happened.
Next time, you’re on your own. You’re my brother, but I’ll be calling you on your bullshit in the future,” he grunted, and I couldn’t blame him.
I was lucky he was even still talking to me.
“I slept with her,” I said offhandedly as if he wouldn’t hear my casual comment, scowling as he kicked me under the table. “Hey, what the fuck?”
“You slept with her today? After she killed your damn dad? What the fuck is wrong with you?” he bit out, kicking me again.
“Stop kicking me!”
“Stop being a fucking idiot then,” he threw back, glaring at me. “You couldn’t help yourself, could you? The second she’s emotional and not thinking clearly, you coerce her into your bed. This is why she fucking hates you, Holloway.”
“She asked me to.” It was a weak argument, I should've known better.
“And you thought you were being a hero by railing her feelings better? Really? Do you even hear yourself when you talk?” he snorted. “Why the fuck did Skeet send her with you in the first place when she fucking hates you?”
“Pretty sure he’s having it out with Slash and didn’t want Rory around to see it. Sue me for having feelings for her, I thought I was going to die before she let me touch her again.”
“Jesus Christ, you’re worse than Luke,” he laughed lightly, shaking his head. “I don’t care if she let you touch her. You’d better grovel some more because you deserve to.”
“So do you.”
“Yeah, but I wasn’t the one who fucked her when she was vulnerable.
I’ll deal with the guys, you stay here since it seems she wants you around.
Call me if you need me, okay? And if she wakes up and decides she’s mad at you, don’t be a dick.
Just call Skeet and bow out,” he ordered, getting to his feet.
“I’ll let you know how things go with Luke.
I doubt he’ll leave the house tonight, Karen really embarrassed him at school.
Pretty sure everyone thinks he’s dating Jensen now. ”
“Do you think he’d hate me if I paid Skeet to kill her?” I asked seriously, earning a flat look in return.
“Yes. She’s a witch, but he loves her.”
“Why does she even give a fuck if he was with Jense?”
“Do you think there’s some truth to it?” he mused, looking thoughtful. “It would make sense. He’d tell us though, right?”
“Karen fucked him up pretty badly with her homophobic bullshit. I don’t think he’d even let himself out of the closet to begin with if he did get feelings. He’d probably send himself to conversion camp to fix himself,” I said with a cringe.
“I think that too. I don’t think losing his mom would even help at this point, he’s brainwashed. I’ll see if Karen will let me in. She’s not really worried about my intentions with her son,” he said as he rolled his eyes, walking towards the door. “Keep me in the loop.”
“You too,” I called back as he left.
I almost went to the home gym to work out, but I found myself sneaking back into Rory’s bedroom, stripping down to my boxers, and sliding back into bed beside her. She stirred, reaching for me when she realized who it was.
“Where’d you go?” she mumbled sleepily, curling up against my chest as I shuffled closer.
“Ty showed up and I didn’t want to wake you. He’s gone now though.”
“Have you heard from Skeet?”
“No. He’ll probably be pretty busy today. He’ll check in when he’s got time,” I answered, grateful when she fell back asleep and didn’t tell me to leave.
I didn’t mean to, but I fell asleep too.
Skeeter
It had been a long fucking day. Slash and I were both pretty bruised by the end of it, and Diesel ended up telling us both to go home and that he could handle the rest of the mess that we had to bury.
Slash stomped off without argument, but I waited a little longer to make sure Diesel wasn’t just saying it to make us shut up. We were a crew, which meant despite how mad we got at each other, we still had a job to do.
“Go, I mean it,” Diesel huffed. “You’ve been wanting to check on Rory for hours, so go.”
“She’s fine or Holloway would’ve called,” I scoffed, but part of me was worried about their silence too.
Maybe she blamed me? It made sense since Slash was my boss and my best friend.
“Check on her for me then because I’m worried about her.”
“Considering you think she’s too young for you, you sure seem to be invested in her,” I stated dryly, earning a scowl.
“Of course I worry about her. She’s a fucking teenager, Skeet. You’re the one that brought her into this mess, so do her a favor and keep her alive.”
“She walked her ass into our world all by herself.”
“Yeah, and you couldn’t help but take her for a ride and make her feel welcome,” he muttered, checking his phone and making me roll my eyes. It was obvious he was waiting for a text from her too.
“Fine, I’m leaving. I’ll see you tomorrow,” I answered, not bothering to say goodbye to anyone else before heading outside to my car. The Slaughterhouse was being dealt with and it was a quiet night at the Shed, despite today’s chaos, so I trusted Diesel to make sure everything was handled.
I’d organized a cover-up for Tristan’s death, so as long as Diesel stuck to the plan, Rory would be okay.
I drove straight to Caden’s, parking right by the garage and not even bothering to try the front door. It was close to midnight and all the lights were off, so I assumed that Rory and Caden were asleep.
I walked around the side of the house, dodging the cameras easily thanks to their blind spots, and found the dodgy window I’d been using to sneak in, pushing it open and climbing inside.
I gave my eyes a few moments to adjust to the dark before walking through the living room and kitchen towards the stairs.
The house was silent as I made my way upstairs, quietly opening Rory’s bedroom door and peeking inside to find her curled up with Caden, and as much as I wanted to be annoyed that he was in here, I couldn’t be.
At least she’d had someone with her today that she was comfortable around.
I closed the door behind me as I walked in, moving to the other side of the bed and stripping down to my boxers, waiting Caden out.
He was awake, his breathing had changed.
When he didn’t speak, I chuckled quietly. “You just checking me out, or what?”
“How do you keep getting in?” he grumbled, not seeming to give a shit that I was there.
“If I tell you, you’ll find a way to stop it from happening,” I replied, sliding into bed and wrapping myself around Rory’s back. “How is she?”
“She slept most of the day. I don’t know how she’s still sleeping,” he admitted.
“It’s the emotional crash. She’ll probably sleep until daylight. Has she said much?”
“She’s more worried that I hate her, I think.”
“Do you? I know you weren’t close with the prick, but he was still your dad.”
“He put me and Mom in the hospital more times than I can count. I’m glad he’s dead,” he replied, a sigh leaving him. “I just hate that Rory was the one to do it. She’s messed up from Liam, so what will this do to her?”
“Make or break her. She’ll either find peace in it or let it sink her. I think she'll be fine. I’m more worried about her and Slash. They’re going to end up having it out soon, and it won’t end well. The crew wants her dead,” I admitted, making him jerk upright to glare down at me in the dark.
“Why do you let her near them then? What the fuck, Skeet?”
“I don’t let her do shit. I’ve kicked her out and she keeps coming back. The guys are starting to notice her lack of rules and they’re pissed. If she was anyone else, she’d be dead already.”
“Why are you telling me this?” he asked.
“Because I know you love her. I’m tired, man. My crew thinks I’m against them, and I’m worried they’re going to make a stand. Pretty sure that’s what Slash’s bullshit today was. I should cut her off completely this time to make sure she’s safe.”
The thought made me sick. This goddamn girl had me beating up my best friend and boss.
I couldn’t imagine walking away from her though.
“But you’re not going to,” Caden said with annoyance as if reading my mind, making me snort.
“The smart thing to do is for all of us to push her away and let her track down her mom, but we’re all too selfish.”
“My love for her isn’t going to get her killed, unlike yours,” he argued.
“I’m trying to keep her safe.”
“How’s that working out for you?” he growled, and the little shit was lucky Rory was sleeping between us, or I would’ve punched him.
“If she listened to me, this wouldn’t be a problem.”
It was like she wanted to keep getting caught up in Slash’s bullshit. Running off with him had been reckless, and it baffled me that she kept trusting him not to hurt her.
I didn’t want to sound like an asshole, but hopefully today made her realize that Slash wasn’t her fucking friend.
“I’m not letting her go or bowing out,” Caden stated after a moment of silence as he got comfortable again, and my stupid heart beat a little faster as Rory rolled over and curled into me, her arm draping across my stomach as she mumbled something in her sleep.
“How about we make a deal? We stop fighting over her and work together to keep an eye on her. I was glad she had you today while I was busy, so thanks,” I said, and I was a little surprised when he didn’t flip out at me.
“You mean we share her? Do you even know how to do that?”
“Do you?” I challenged, making him huff.
“I’ve been sharing her with the guys, I think I can manage.”
I doubted that. He’d spent most of that time throwing tantrums at them.
“We’ll see then. I’m going to sleep because I’m beat.”
I was too tired to even wake Rory with my dick for a quick round, and within minutes of Caden’s breathing evening out as he fell asleep, I did too.