my father after all. Mom said he wasn’t a good man. Well, guess what, Mom? I wasn’t a good girl. I was a very, very bad girl, and I knew she’d be disappointed in me if she heard what I’d just admitted, if she could read my thoughts.
My mom couldn’t do anything, because she was dead.
“Please,” I murmured, closing the distance between us and resting my head against his bare, wet shoulder. “Don’t let me become a monster.” A monster who enjoyed killing, who looked for trouble just to feel the blood on her hands. That couldn’t be me. It wouldn’t be.
And yet, I was so deathly afraid that’s what I would become if I wasn’t careful.
“I won’t,” Vaughn spoke, soothing me. He ran a hand along my hair, his fingers weaving through the wet strands. He was quiet for a long time, both of us simply focusing on our breathing, on being there, alive and with each other. But the silence couldn’t last. “I finally figured out what I want from you.”
I pulled away from him, meeting those black eyes. Right. The price for his help, for his family’s help. I was certain that price would be higher now, with Markus downstairs. “What?” I nearly broke down on the word, but I held it in. A part of me wanted to cry, but it was the strangest thing; tears gathered in my eyes, but they wouldn’t fall.
“Be patient with me,” he said, his gaze breaking away to stare at our feet. “I’ll have to work for my family, but if you’re with me, I… you can help keep me sane. Don’t let me become like my brothers.” An urgent plea that, somehow, caused a tear to escape and fall down my cheek.
Sniffing, I nodded. “Okay.”
Vaughn brought his lips to mine, placing a single kiss upon my mouth. Just a peck, nothing deep, reassuring me he was there, and he wasn’t going anywhere.
He helped me wash off, helped get the rest of the blood off me. Vaughn even helped to scrub my nailbeds, not once trying to push for a more physical, intimate shower. Now really wasn’t the time for sex, anyway, not when I still felt so broken and confused inside.
When I was in the clear, we got out. Vaughn took a towel, drying me off, helping me to wrap myself. The boys had found new clothes for me, but I didn’t want them. I bit my lip as Vaughn threw on his pants, sat me down at the toilet, and began to stitch my wound. When it was done, I got up, the pain hardly registering in my head anymore. I was too numb, I think.
I crossed the hall to my room. While Vaughn hung back and got dressed, I found Dante and Archer in my room, both guys looking out of place. They sat on my bed, careful not to touch each other, though when I walked into the room, they hopped up.
“Jaz,” Archer spoke. He’d already changed out of the clothes I’d gotten bloody by hugging him. His blonde hair was wet too, like he’d rinsed himself off. The pain he’d worn for so long was tenfold now, empathy for me and my loss.
“What do you want us to do?” Dante questioned, hooking his hands in his back pockets.
I looked between them, glancing back at Vaughn, who’d walked in behind me. What did I want them to do? One thing, really. “Stay with me.” The words left me in a whisper, and even though I wore nothing but a towel, I crawled into bed.
The guys looked at each other, and then they decided to forgo their differences and come together for me. They climbed into my bed one by one. Dante flipped himself over me, putting his back against the wall. He pulled me against him to make more room for the others, and Archer and Vaughn filed in, too.
I was safe between them, snug between their heat. They might have their own issues, but I had mine, too. We’d figure out a way to navigate this world together. Everything we did, everything we would do, we would do it together.
Night fell outside, and we refused to get out of bed. Eventually Jacob made his way into my room; he wore a shirt that looked to be pilfered from Archer’s clothes. A t-shirt, among all of the things, that showed off his muscles. He spotted us laying in bed together, but he didn’t scowl like he