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The ache became a burn, and he hissed. “Sorry, I’m sorry.” Luca scrubbed the tears off one cheek with his shoulder. “But I have to apply pressure.”
“It’s okay.” Copper flavored Nox’s tongue. Blood bubbled from his nose when he breathed.
Isaiah yelled at Tanner in some language Nox didn’t understand, and the big man retreated into one of the motor homes.
“Are you hurt?” Nox said.
“He hit you, not me.” Luca wiped Nox’s hairline, then jaw, then returned to pressing the towel against his temple. The terry cloth soaked up the blood. “I think your nose might be broken.”
Nox made the mistake of touching it. The cartilage crunched and static needles shot through the back of his eyes. “Fuck.” Definitely broken.
A new wash of metallic saliva slid down his throat. He tried to sit up. Everything disappeared under a crash of agony.
“Help me up, so if I puke, I don’t choke.”
Luca did. “Why didn’t you hit him back?”
“He caught me off guard.” Part truth and part lie. If Tanner was hitting Nox, then he couldn’t go after Luca or anyone else.
And if he had fought back, he might have thrown more fuel onto the fire of fear.
“I’m so sorry.” Isaiah came over with an ice pack in his hand.
Luca snatched it before he could even try to help. “Get away from him.” Luca wrapped the ice pack in the small towel and held it to Nox’s temple.
“Joey went to get the first aid kit.”
“Yeah, well, the rest of you don’t have to be around for me to use it.” Luca moved the ice pack to Nox’s jaw.
“We want to help,” Cassie said.
“We don’t need your help.” Luca scanned the group. “We don’twantit.”
“Luca—”
He glared at Nox. “No. I told you this was a shitty idea. None of these people give a damn about you. And if you’re not welcome, then neither am I.”
“This isn’t their fault.”
“Yes, it is.”
“It was one man, Luca.”
“And next time, it might be two, or three, or four. Next time they might not stop whoever it is from beating you to death.”
“There won’t be a next time,” Isaiah said. “I swear to you, no one—”
“Shut up.” The tendons stood out on Luca’s neck. “I don’t want to hear any more of your promises, your apologies, or your bullshit.”
All around them, Isaiah’s people hung their heads, and both men and women wiped the tears from their eyes.
Luca gritted his teeth and dropped his gaze. “C’mon, we’ll go back to the trailer.” He pulled on Nox’s arm.
“Please,” Nox stopped him. “Don’t blame them for this.”
“Too late.”
Nox let Luca help him to his feet.
