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“Everything okay?”
It was Matthew, strolling to my other side, appearing casual with one hand in a pocket.
“Do I know you?” CJ asked, squinting.
“C’mon, CJ,” Andromeda said, morphing at his side. She put an arm around him playfully and tugged. “Let’s go make some shots and leave these two alone.”
I liked her more and more every day.
He pulled back, however, stumbling with the move and pulling me into him. His mouth landed at my ear, the crunching of the candy filling my head. Matthew and Adam both reached for me, but I went cold in a way that had nothing to do with the weather.
The smell. Sweet. Sickly-sweet.
“Oomph,” he grunted as he righted himself, using me before straightening his black Iron Maiden hoodie. “Sorry ’bout that.”
“Jesus, CJ,” Andromeda said under her breath. “You’re wasted. Let’s—”
“Get off me, chica,” CJ said, turning on her, his hand still firmly on my neck. “You had your chance, you don’t...”
There were more words, but I didn’t hear them. They were background noise to the screaming in my head. The crunching. The feel of his body behind me. The hoodie.
Chica.
Phantom pain sliced into my side and abdomen, piercing. Burning. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. Everything slowed. My eyes met Matthew’s, and I saw it. He’d heard it, too. A squawking noise escaped my throat, and that was all it took to confirm it. He grabbed my arm and yanked me free of CJ, shoving me at Adam before either of us could react.
“What—?” Adam began.
“It’s him,” I breathed, my hands at my throat like I could find air there. I sucked in large gasps as I backed away.
“What?” I heard Andromeda say.
“What the fuck?” Adam said, staring between us.
“Damn, little brother,” CJ slurred, sneering at Matthew. “You got balls.” His expression morphed into something I’d never seen on him. Sinister. “Watch yourself.”
“It’s who?” Adam demanded through the ringing in my ears, but I couldn’t answer.
I nearly doubled over with pain and nausea, and my head buzzed so loudly, all I could do was point. “You did this,” I hissed at CJ, sucking in a large breath, my arms folded over my middle. “You—you—ripped me apart.” CJ’s eyes narrowed to slits, and I saw it then. The shadowed man in the hoodie, threatening me. Taunting me before he’d spun me around and—“I’ll never have babies because of you, you son of a bitch!”
I lunged forward, but strong arms caught me, lifting me off my feet as I flailed.
“What did she say?” I heard Grace cry out as well as what sounded like a million other gasps and cries all around me.
“Hold on—” Adam’s voice was next to my ear, harsh and growling.
But all I could feel was rage. Hot, thick, and ravaging. For myself, for Adam, for my unborn children. For everything that could have been.
Matthew had CJ by the collar just as Adam set me on my feet and Mateo rushed up.
And with all eyes on the devil in their midst, I ran. Parting the gasping crowd, I grabbed my keys blindly and ran out the door.
“Faith!” I heard Hope yell.
Exactly. That’s who I needed to be again. No idea what I was running to or from, just that I needed to not be the attacked one anymore. The protected one. The weak one. The one so gullible that men lied to protect me or slyly went to work every day right beneath where I slept.
More yells reached my ears, but my car door shut it all out as my wheels spun in the gravel on my way out of the swamp.
