CHAPTER TWELVE
Reid
I pace the living room, the soles of my feet wearing into the old, beaten rug.
These four walls, the pictures of our life hanging on them, the ring-shaped heat marks staining the coffee table, even the tear in the rug from where my brother tried to scrub out red wine, all used to bring me comfort.
They made our home a home. The next closest thing was the kitchen.
They are the centre of our family, where we all spend time together.
Yet nothing, not even my mum’s fussing—the soul of our family—is helping the anger coursing through my veins.
It’s only grown in intensity since the moment my eyelids fluttered open to the most angelic sight.
I want blood for this.
Rivers of it.
I want to make them pay.
All of them.
Each time I get a glimpse of the cuts and bruises marking Summer’s toned flesh, and see the tremble in her body and the distance in her eyes, the desire for revenge eats at me even more.
She is innocent in all of this. She smiles with her eyes, laughs with her entire body, and radiates warmth—when she isn’t bitching at me about something.
Now, only a shell is present. Not even a hair should have been moved out of place on her, yet somehow, these monsters have taken who she is at her core.
Or at least, they have for right now. I know deep down this is shock, but it enrages me nonetheless.
None of us know how Todd is doing. His mum showed up, enraged, screaming at us to leave.
His dad promised they didn’t blame us, that it was just a stressful time.
In my head, I know he’s right, yet the feeling in the pit of my stomach is carrying a lot of blame.
We should have sent people home from the very beginning of this war.
Too many innocents are being hurt.
“Will you stop fucking pacing,” Luke snaps at me, his lip curling. “You’re giving me motion sickness.”
I narrow my eyes at my brother. “You get knocked unconscious and see how you feel about it. I’ve been stabbed, nearly barbequed, and now nearly blown up into tiny pieces. You have a scratch on you.”
“I wouldn’t call having six stitches a scratch,” he mutters.
“This needs to end,” I growl, pacing once more.
“You are scaring Summer, son. You need to sit down,” Mum scolds.
I rush to Summer’s side and quickly grab the blanket off the back of the sofa to wrap it around her.
She hasn’t been able to focus enough to realise we brought her to our home instead of hers, she’s been that out of it.
I think it’s beginning to freak my brothers out too because they keep staring at her. “Sorry.”
Still not a word from her mouth, and she hasn’t pushed me away yet either.
I realise my mum used Summer’s condition to get me to calm down. I glare at my mum, who watches us with a calculating look. I roll my eyes. Knowing my mother, she is mentally picking out wedding flowers for us just because of my reaction.
Liam walks in, pushing his phone into his back pocket. “A fence will be installed tomorrow. You will have a code to enter the property from now on, and it will be censored. Blind spots will be covered once I arrange for a place to stay and get settled.”
“You can stay at the bed and breakfast,” Paisley offers. “Wait, won’t a gate be pointless if I have to give guests a code?”
Liam softly smiles at my sister. “It will be to this side of the property only. I can get one put on the bed and breakfast, but you have a tight security system already. There are only a few entry points and all are covered. Here, near the main house, there are different points of entry, and not all can be covered because of how large the land is. They will be now. But it will mean that unless you move some animals closer to the bed and breakfast, the petting zoo will need to be held off.”
My sister’s shoulders sink, and I know she’s thinking about all the sick kids she has arranged to come here to pet some animals.
“It won’t be forever, sis,” I promise her. I know how much this has meant to her ever since she got the idea from Jaxon and Lily when they brought a little girl here to see the animals. Paisley has been doing it for others ever since, some of which Lily has been here to help with.
“We can build a small stable closer to the bed and breakfast until all of this is resolved,” Mum promises.
“I don’t want to risk the animals getting out that close to the main road,” Paisley whispers. “It’s okay, Mum. Everyone’s safety comes first. I’ve been thinking about closing the bed and breakfast temporarily.”
“No!” Jaxon states, walking into the room, followed by Malia and her sister Makayla. They immediately rush to Summer’s side, Malia pushing me out of the way. “You will not put the business you’ve worked so hard for in financial jeopardy.”
“Who the fuck hurt you?” Malia snaps, gently holding Summer’s hand, before Paisley can reply to Jaxon. I grit my teeth at the bandage on Summer’s arm that I know covers a nasty gash. “I’ll fucking kill them.”
Makayla leans in closer. “Why does everyone look and smell like they’ve been playing with fire?”
Malia lowers Summer’s hand, finally glancing around the room, her eyes widening at the sight of me and my brothers.
Her gaze lands on Liam, and something in it burns when she sees the soot and cut on his head.
“Somebody talk. Now! Otherwise I will find the person responsible myself and slaughter them.”
Jaxon moves further into the room, going on alert. “I’m not sure about all the details. I’ve only just come from the hospital and immediately came to get you for Summer. But Liam’s house blew up, and if it wasn’t for Summer warning us, my mum and sister would be planning all our funerals.”
Luke grabs Mum around the waist when she collapses, her gasp filled with anguish and pain. Jaxon grimaces, reaching for her other side and taking a seat on the other sofa with her next to him.
Isaac clears his throat. “We were waiting for you to question Summer about it.”
Malia’s jaw ticks. “She had fuck-all to do with this, I can tell you that right now.”
Isaac scratches his head. “We aren’t saying she did. She came and warned us, so she knows something, but I think the blast broke her.”
I roll my eyes. “She’s in shock, dumbass.”
He waves me off. “Same thing.”
I glance at her around Malia. I don’t think she’s broken. Albeit, she hasn’t said anything since we left the incident. Before, she had just been chanting, ‘everyone’s okay’.
“She got checked out by the paramedic,” I murmur, still staring at her.
Did we get her released too soon?
Maybe she is broken.
Malia snorts and turns back to Summer, clasping her face in her hands. “Talk to me, Summer. What happened?”
Makayla scoffs. “Like soft parenting will work,” she states. “Slap her. That will bring her around.”
My jaw clenches. I’m about to detangle Summer from their grasp, when—
“I can hear you,” Summer rasps.
I sag back into the sofa, pinching the bridge of my nose. I didn’t realise how tense I had been by her catatonic behaviour until now. “She speaks,” I mumble.
“So not a zombie,” Isaac mutters, no longer staring at her, though he does seem disappointed.
“What happened for you to seek us out?” Jaxon questions. “How did you find us?”
She runs over what happened at her workplace, the room growing tenser and tenser with each word.
She had been scared, and not just of the situation, but for us. A grin forms on my mouth when I realise what that means.
She likes me.
Any other girl would have let me burn.
“Why are you smiling?” Isaac whispers to me.
“Wait, can you describe the person the other voice belonged to?” Jaxon asks, his words urgent.
“I didn’t see him. I didn’t recognise his voice either,” she replies softly. “But I was also freaked out. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t ever be sorry. You saved all our lives,” Liam tells her.
“Why are they so obsessed with you?” Makayla blurts out, looking confused. It would be cute if I didn’t think it was an insult. “I don’t get it.”
Paisley chuckles, not the least bit offended like I am. I mean, what’s not to obsess over? We are fucking legends. I’d obsess over me too.
When all eyes go to Makayla, a pink tinge blooms on her cheeks. It’s Malia who replies. “I don’t think it’s about them as people.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time people have obsessed over us,” I remark, letting her know I am offended she thinks we wouldn’t be worthy of someone’s obsession.
“I don’t think they are doing this because they want to date you, Reid,” Summer sasses. “Not everything is about you.”
“I beg to differ,” I sniff, affronted by her comment.
Malia gets to her feet. “Fuck this. I’ve got shit to do.”
Summer inhales sharply, and quicker than I expected her to move in her condition, she immediately follows, diving onto her cousin’s back. I get up when they fall to the ground.
“Oh no you don’t,” Summer argues.
“Get off me, Summer.”
“No. Not until you promise me you won’t do anything. Don’t make me give you a nipple cripple. I will though.”
As hot as it would be to see Summer touching another chick, my mind goes to the last nipple cripple Luke gave me, and I wince. I had a bruise for weeks, he twisted so fucking hard. Women are vicious, so I dread to think what damage they could cause.
I glare at him and his lips pull up into a smirk, like he knows where my mind immediately went.
Malia rolls until she’s on top of Summer. “I will not make that promise. We know who did this. I don’t see the point in sitting around waiting for them to try again. She’s fucking dead.”
Liam peels her up off the floor, restraining her when she goes to leave. “Nuh uh. You aren’t going anywhere.”
“Listen here, handsome, if you want to keep that pretty face, you will let me fucking deal with this my way. I don’t take kindly to people who try to hurt me or mine. And Summer is ours.”
I help Summer up off the floor. “You do realise you were close to an explosion today and really shouldn’t be diving on people.”