Chapter Nine
Static filled her head, the sound drowning out everything. Sinn drove her somewhere, but she didn’t care where. He and Saint could do their worst. Life pretty much sucked anyway, so what was one more fuck you?
“You’ll be okay.” Sinn’s voice cut through the static in her head.
“If I asked you to kill me, would you?”
The truck came to a screeching halt in the middle of the street. A car honked at them and swerved around them.
“What?” He turned his body toward her and used his finger to turn her head. Concern furrowed his brow. “Why did you ask me that?”
“Because I don’t think I can do it,” she replied, eerily calm.
“I think I’m too afraid to do it. Or maybe I’m afraid I’d do it wrong and get into a worse situation than I’m in now.
Like I’d try to blow my brains out but would miss, and instead the bullet would take off my jaw and I’d have to live without it.
I’d have to use a feeding tube or something. That would really suck.”
“Kira, listen to me closely. You are not to harm yourself.”
“Maybe you’re too nice. I bet Saint would do it. He hates me.”
Sinn shook his head. “No, he wouldn’t and no, he doesn’t. We don’t harm innocent people.”
“But he doesn’t think I’m innocent. He thinks I’m a spy for Lucifer, doesn’t he?” His hesitation was all the proof she needed. “I’ll pay you. I think I only have about sixty dollars on me, but you can have it.”
“Stop it,” he growled, a sound she’d never heard from him before. “Losing your stuff in a fire doesn’t mean the end of the road.”
He didn’t understand. Then again, how could he? Darkness shaded out the edges, pulling her into a tunnel without a light at the end.
“Why are you taking me back to your home?”
“Because you need a place to stay.”
“Saint won’t like this,” she muttered. “He’ll probably believe I burned my own apartment building to the ground just so you’d take me in.”
“Nah, he’ll be fine with it.” Somber Sinn was gone, replaced with Cheerful Sinn once more. “Just you wait. We’ll be one big happy family before long.”
She highly doubted that.
“One quick stop to Wal-Mart to pick you up some essentials.”
She didn’t want to go to Wal-Mart. How could she shop when everything she had was now ash? All she wanted to do was crawl into bed, pull the covers over her head, and never come out.
When they arrived, he told her to wait, which she did. He came around the front and opened the truck door to help her out, then held her hand, refusing to let it go as they walked into the store. His cell phone went off, and it turned out Taylor Swift was his ringtone.
“It’s Saint,” he said and connected the call. “Hey. Yes, she’s here with me. We’re at Wal-Mart to pick stuff up she’s going to need. Yes, it was her apartment building. Okay.”
He walked a bit away and spoke to his brother so quietly, she couldn’t hear what he was saying. When he finally ended the call, he slid the phone back into his pocket and moseyed back to her.
“What did he say?”
“Told me to bring you back home. I told you he’d come around.”
She highly doubted that was the reason, but at this point, she couldn’t care less what Saint thought about her.
Or what he’d do to her. Remembering how angry he was earlier, perhaps he wouldn’t mind putting her out of her misery.
Sinn asked for her size and then grabbed a couple pairs of jeans, and a couple of tops.
He told her to pick out her undergarments and then they headed into the care isle where he grabbed a toothbrush, toothpaste and deodorant.
All of this took about fifteen minutes, and at the checkout, he swiped his card.
Which was good because, as she said, she had sixty dollars to her name.
Silence descended between them as Sinn drove back to his house.
Hollowness stretched through her, rendering her numb.
No thoughts, no feelings. Just a blank canvas where Kira used to be.
When they reached the house, Saint was already there, opening the door to pull her into his arms. At first, she went rigid because it had been a long time since she allowed a man this close, besides Sinn, that is, and his touch left her shaken.
After everything she’d gone through in the past twenty-four hours, this was what broke her.
Tears filled her eyes and her legs gave out.
Saint swooped her up into his arms, much like his brother had done earlier, and marched into their house.
Reality drifted by as the storm inside her raged, and when the calm came, her head pounded.
Still, he comforted her. This big brutish man who had threatened her only an hour or so before, held her as her world crumbled.
Giving her a soothing touch as he ran his fingers through her hair, until she leaned into his warmth, utterly spent.
“I told her she could stay with us,” Sinn murmured.
“I don’t want to be a burden,” she whispered. “I can stay with Joe. I stayed with him before when I, er, before.”
“No, Sinn’s right,” Saint said. “You’ll stay with us.”
“But you hate me.”
“Our girl believes you’ll think she started the fire for some masterminded plan,” Sinn chimed in. “Like a fucked-up Hallmark movie.”
“I don’t.” Saint cupped her face. “When I heard which building was on fire, all I wanted to do was make sure you weren’t hurt.”
“But you believe—”
“I know what you are going to say, and no, I don’t believe you burned down your apartment. Or that you’re working for Lucifer.” His thumb brushed over lips. “Now, where’s the girl who swung that bat with beautiful precision?”
“How did you know that?”
He reached into his back pocket, pulled out his cell, and played the video. Because of the endorphins streaming through her body, most of the night was a blur, but she saw how ferocious she defended a girl who didn’t deserve to be defended.
“This is the woman I couldn’t stop watching,” he said softly. “She’s fierce. Battle tested, and nothing can stop her.”
She stared into his eyes, trying to determine if he told the truth, and all she saw reflected back was honesty.
“Sometimes it’s hard to keep my chin up,” she admitted in a near whisper.
“I know.” He brushed a few strands of hair off her brow. “Maybe one day you’ll trust us enough to let us know why.”
Without thinking, she leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss on his lips, but before she pulled back, his hand slid around to firmly hold her head.
He angled and fit his lips over hers, teasing them apart until his tongue swept inside to dance with hers.
She breathed in his scent, an intoxicating blend of male and raw sexuality.
Kissing had aways been a dominance move from her ex.
Something that rarely gave her pleasure.
However, Saint was completely different from her past experiences, and before she knew what was happening, she raised her arms to encircle his neck.
He sifted his hand gently through her hair and gripped it lightly to pull her closer to him.
Her head tilted back as she placed her hands upon his chest. They broke for air, and her heart thundered in her ears as she drew in deep breaths.
She stared up at him in wonder. How had these two men managed to turn her world upside down?
“I won’t apologize for kissing you,” he murmured. “Only for not asking permission.”
“I’m pretty sure I kissed you.”
“Then, permission granted.” A ghost of a smile broke over his face. “No more talk of hurting yourself, okay?”
“Okay,” she replied.
“You are fierce,” he continued. “And the bravest goddamn woman I’ve ever known.”
“You don’t really know me.”
“I know enough,” he said. “No more talk of being weak. Or passive. Or a fool. You can stay here as long as you need to. Understood?”
Her heart just melted into a pile of goo because it had been a while since someone showed her such caring. Not since Joe, actually.
“Thank you,” she said.
“You can stay in the same bedroom.”
Tiredness smacked her between the eyes, and oblivion beckoned. She nodded, and Saint lifted her up to take her to her bedroom. She wanted more than anything to sleep and not remember all the bad shit going on in her life. Maybe ... just maybe her luck was about to change.
****
“One of us will have to be with her at all times, so let’s make this quick,” Sinn said in a low voice, keeping his eye on the door.
Saint frowned. “What did I miss?”
“She asked if I would kill her, and when I declined, she offered money. And when I declined again, she said you’d do it because you hate her.”
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Saint growled. He ran a hand over his face. “I find the timing of this fire very suspicious. I don’t think it’s coincidence that she’s attacked, almost taken by a soon-to-be-dead motherfucker, and then the very next day, her apartment complex burns down.”
Sinn frowned. “You think they’re related?”
“Yep, and all this started the night we dealt with the Bone Breakers.”
“It always comes back to them, doesn’t it?” Sinn asked. “Though it doesn’t explain how the shooter knew about her. It was her coworker who went after the duffel, not her. Kira put it in a to-go bag to conceal it when she left.”
Saint thought for a moment. “The asshole meant to grab it after the shooting stopped when he tried to get us to kill each other. Or at the very least, if the Bone Breakers fled and we scampered away with our tails between our legs, each club blaming the other.”
“We already figured out it was a setup.”
“Yes, but the shooter thought we’d leave the area too, only you stayed to search for the bag, delaying it from being retrieved. Giving the coworker enough time to grab it.”
“And then Kira brought it to us.” Sinn frowned. “It has to be one of our guys. The Bone Breakers left, so they wouldn’t know she brought it to us.”
“Damn it,” Saint muttered. “I can hardly fucking believe it. Where are you in your investigation?”
“I’m gonna sit in on poker night. You know those fuckers have loose lips when booze, broads, and bucks are front and center.”
“All right,” Saint said. “I’ll stay here with Kira.”
Sinn gave him a mocking salute. “I’ll be sending you an invoice for all the money I’m about to blow.”
Saint flipped him the bird. “You do that. I’ll reimburse you half past never.”
Sinn laughed as he hopped in the truck, started it, and took off.
Saint looked at the house. It wasn’t big or flashy, just comfortable.
Some people might think it odd that two brothers live with each other, but they honestly never thought about living on their own.
It had been him and Sinn since the womb, and it would probably be him and Sinn dying together, going out in a blaze of glory.
Sinn was always talking about finding a woman for both of them.
Someone they could love and share. Saint always thought that would never happen.
They were mostly around club girls, and although he knew there was a place for them, he didn’t want one of them by his side forever.
Once back inside, he made his way to Kira’s bedroom door and opened it to check on her.
One glance and he couldn’t help himself.
He silently entered and sat on the edge of the bed, touching the silky strands of her hair that lay latticed over her pillow.
Even in sleep, heaviness weighed on her face, so he gently soothed away the frown on her brow with a caress.
Was she the woman for both of them?
He supposed time would tell.