out of fuckin’ nowhere shooting at us,” Renny agrees, grimacing. “But I also shot back at them, and one of them was...injured.”
“How injured?” Izzy presses, brow furrowing.
“We think he’s dead,” Temper admits, rubbing the back of his neck. “And that’s why I brought Abbie back, because she saw the whole thing.”
Izzy’s jaw drops open. “Why didn’t you tell me this, Renny? What the fuck? And you brought Abbie back because she was a witness to this whole thing and you didn’t want her to talk?”
“Temper brought Abbie back,” Renny corrects, brown eyes filled with concern. “It was a messed-up situation, but they came at us, and I did what I had to do to protect us.”
Izzy softens, her shoulders dropping. “Why didn’t you just tell me the truth, though? You had to have known this was going to come out eventually.”
“I didn’t want you to look at me different. I killed someone, okay? It’s not exactly something I’m proud of. I see his face every time I close my eyes, so I’m not exactly handling it well,” he admits, looking down at his hands.
Izzy moves closer and hugs him. “I’m not going to look at you any different. I know the man you are. I do want you to be honest with me, though. I don’t want to have to find out things like this after they happen. That’s what I’m hurt about.”
The two of them leave to talk things through, while the rest of us try to come up with a game plan.
“We need to find everything we can on them,” Temper announces, looking to Saint. “Who they are, what they want. What their problem with us is. Before we couldn’t remember any of the faces of the men who shot at us, but this time we got a good look at them. We can find out who they are.”
“I’m already on it,” Saint responds from the couch, arm around Skylar. “I’m going to get the surveillance footage of what happened.”
“How?” I can’t help but ask.
He leans forward to look at me, grinning. “I have my ways. Let’s just say the club owner owes me a favor or two.”
“So what happens when you find out who they are?” I ask with eyes wide. This whole world is new to me. I have no idea what is normal and what is not.
“Let’s see what we’re dealing with first,” Temper says, offering me his hand. “Come on, let’s get to bed. It’s three in the morning.”
I don’t know if I’m going to be able to sleep after everything, but I can try. Temper grabs us both a bottle of water and walks me to my room.
“Can I get you anything? Painkillers?” he asks, watching me open the water and drink half of it in one gulp.
“I have some in my handbag; I’ll be okay,” I reply, and then pause, and ask him, “Would you mind lying down with me until I fall asleep?”
I feel like a little baby asking, but I just want him near me right now. Tonight has been full of mixed emotions between us, and then with everything that happened afterward. It’s been a lot, and I know I’m going to be up all night replaying everything and overthinking if he’s not with me.
“Of course,” he says, stepping inside my room and turning the light on. “I’ll have a quick shower and be back, okay?”
I nod, and take the time to do the same, having a shower and removing my makeup before getting dressed in my pajamas.
He’s lying in my bed when I come out, shirtless, in nothing but a pair of silk boxers. It’s the first time I’m seeing his bare chest, and I’m actually taken aback at how muscular he is, his six-pack defined and flawless, and his large biceps proof of his strength.
“Are you sure you don’t go to the gym?” I ask, swallowing hard. “Because you really look like you go to the gym.” I’m suddenly feeling a little frumpy, my body having no definition whatsoever.
“No, I don’t.” He chuckles. “I box here with the