Page 131 of Shattered Pieces

“She’s a big girl,” he shrugged, putting his feet on the handlebars and getting comfortable across the bike like he expected to be there for a while.

Hunter huffed but stepped closer to me, scrolling on his phone before turning it to face me. It was a photo of Razor and one of his guys talking outside our gate.

“Razor was here earlier tonight. We’ve been keeping an eye on him, but it’s obvious he’s lurking. We’ll keep tabs on him, but that doesn’t mean you’re safe. Josie really needs permanent security at the gate, or to at least remember to close it. It was open when we arrived. Will you take guns from me? I know you don’t trust me, but⁠—”

“I don’t trust you, but I know you don’t want me locked up or you wouldn’t have worked so hard to get me out,” I scoffed, crossing my arms to try and stop the cold. My feet were frozen on the cold ground, and my skin pebbled with goosebumps. It felt like it was snowing somewhere, the air having an icy chill to it.

He seemed relieved and turned to his car, rummaging inside and pulling a bag out before coming back to hold it out to me.

“They’re all small handguns. If you want to get some practice in, let me know and I’ll go with you. Remember, Skeet’s not on your side, so don’t get cornered at the shooting range with him. I’d highly suggest the others learn to shoot too, but don’t let them keep the guns on them. If you run into trouble, you can toss them one and know they have it handled,” he said seriously as I opened the bag to see four or five guns inside. “Struggling to sleep?”

I frowned, looking back up at him. “Why do you say that?”

“Because there’s no way the guys would be awake if they knew you were out here talking to us and haven’t come down to give me the third degree. You also look like shit,” he answered with a wince, making Marco chuckle as he smoked.

“She’s fine. They just spent the evening gangbanging her, so no wonder she looks like that while they’re dead to the world.”

“Like what?” I demanded, looking down at myself. I looked fine.

“You look like you’ve been awake for a month. Did Lex do those tattoos?” Hunter asked carefully, reaching out to touch my arm, but I stepped back.

“Yes, Lexi did them. I appreciate the guns, but now Marco’s got his bike back, can you leave? You’re wrong, I was sleeping just fine until I woke up because some asshole was sneaking around my house,” I argued, and Hunter sighed.

“Alright, we’re leaving. If you do struggle to sleep, it’s normal. Your brain’s still in survival mode, so give yourself some time to adjust. The tattoos suit you,” he murmured before thankfully stepping back towards his car. “Let’s go.”

Marco huffed but sat up and flicked his cigarette aside, giving me a wink before putting his helmet on.

“They didn’t fuck you right if you’re still awake. You sure you don’t want to come with us? You’d sleep like a baby. You look really hot with tattoos, by the way.”

“Go fuck yourself, Ortega,” I said bluntly, but part of me kind of wished there was a way they could stay. I always slept easily when they were on look-out.

“Hey,” he called out when I turned to walk away, and for some reason, I paused. “You’ll be alright in a few days. It’s rough when you first get out, but once you get a few good nights’ sleep and some good food, you’ll feel better.”

I nodded once to show I’d heard him before walking back into the house and locking the door on my way back upstairs.

Once I’d stashed the bag of guns in my closet, I tiptoed back to Tyler’s room and carefully made my way back into the middle.

I passed out pretty quickly after that.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

LUKAS

Ieyed Rory across the table as we ate breakfast the next morning, waiting to see if she’d bring up her midnight visitors or not. As expected, she kept it to herself, disappointing me a little.

Why couldn’t she trust us enough to be open and honest? I believed her that she wasn’t fucking them, but that didn’t mean something wasn’t there and it wouldn’t happen.

When Jensen and Tyler wandered upstairs to have their showers, I moved around the table to sit beside her, letting out a sigh. “What did they want?”

She paused eating, looking over at me for a second before deciding not to lie about it.

“Marco was grabbing his bike. How did you know they were here?”

“I woke up and you weren’t in bed. Saw you outside with them,” I shrugged, tilting my head. “You don’t need to hide it from us, you know? It makes it look worse than it is.”

“You know I’m not⁠—”

“I know, but if I was sneaking out of the house without pants on to talk to girls in the driveway in the middle of the night, you’d want to know too, and you definitely wouldn’t be okay with it,” I said dryly, her nose scrunching at the thought.