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I step forward, but he snags my arm. I expect him to protest, but he looks at me momentarily before turning and hurrying toward Hunter’s dresser. He digs through one of the drawers and retrieves a shirt. Then he tears a strip off it.
“What’re you doing?” I ask as he returns to me.
He gently takes hold of my wrist and ties the section of the torn shirt around the wound. “To stop the bleeding,” he explains. “And so you don’t have to let people see it.”
And there’s that twisting sensation again, the one I want to despise but can’t seem to.
Once he gets the piece of fabric tied around my wrist, we hurry out of the room and jog down the stairs where the banging and shouting are coming from. When we finally arrive, I’m surprised to see a fight happening between Zay and Benton.
They’re rolling around on the floor, people are surrounding them, and Hunter is trying to break it up by shouting at them, but a guy keeps shoving him away. They start yelling at each other, standing like an inch away, all red faced and rolling with fury. Jax curses underneath his breath and hurries into the room, towing me with him.
By the time we push our way through the crowd, Benton has Zay pinned down with his finger wrapped around Zay’s throat. But it’s clear by the massive welt and split lip that Benton has that Zay has gotten in a few swings. Benton laughs darkly as he cranes his arm back to punch Zay again.
I blame what I do next on some stupid connection I feel to the surfacing memories—the ones where the guys—including Zay—were my protectors. The connection is like a ghost inside me, faint and barely existing, but it’s enough to drive me forward.
Jax is so engulfed in trying to assess the situation that my hand easily slips from his.
“Raven,” he starts to call out, but I ignore him, shoving my way to where Benton is about to punch Zay.
No one pays attention to me. Why would they? I’m just a girl, right?
A girl with a fucking hell of a killer right hook.
I don’t even hesitate. I swing back and bash my fist into Benton’s face so hard it hurts my goddamn hand. But it’s enough force to knock him off of Zay.
The guy shoving Hunter back freezes as Benton topples over, groaning in pain. Hunter pauses, his eyes wide as he glances down at Benton and then at me.
I’m clutching my hand and trying to ignore the pain radiating in it. Honestly, I’m feeling a bit relieved to have a different kind of pain to focus on right now.
A trace of a smile appears on Hunter’s lips, but he hastily collects himself and slams his fists against the guy’s chest that was holding him back, shoving him . Zay stumbles to his feet, his eyes flickering with a hint of shock. But he only looks at me briefly before storming over to his brother, boots thudding against the floor. Benton staggers to his feet, and clutches the side of his face where I sucker-punched him.
“Get the hell out of my house,” Zay warns, getting into his face.
Benton continues to cradle the side of his face, a smile creeping up onto his lips, his mouth all bloody. “Why the hell would I do that, little brother?” He casts a glance around at the mob of people crowding us. “You’re outnumbered.”
My heart hammers inside my chest. He’s right. We’re outnumbered big time.
Zay inches closer to him. “Get the hell out of my house now, or I’m going to tell our father about that little extra you have hidden out in the hills.”
Um… what?”
I feel a hand touch the small of my back, and I jolt, turning, about to clock whoever is touching me and bring more pain to my hand. But when my gaze collides with Jax’s stormy eyes, the tension subsides from my body.
He doesn’t appear stressed out, which I find odd. He gently takes hold of my hurt hand.
“You okay?” he asks, lightly skimming his fingertips along my knuckles.
I nod, baffled because aren’t we supposed to be in the middle of a fight?
I sneak a glance back over at Benton. He’s assessing Zay. Then he lets out a nervous laugh.
“Look at you, finally growing some balls.” He wipes the blood from his mouth with his shirt sleeve and then steps back from Zay. “Don’t think this is over, baby brother. You may have won the fight, but you’ve officially been marked twice.” With a manic grin, he continues to back away from Zay, his gaze landing on me. “And you? If you want to be on the winning side of this game, I’d suggest joining another group. One that has actually has ties to a family instead of just being the outcasts.” He drags his tongue across his bottom lip. “In fact, I’m going to extend an invitation to you right now to join my group. I could do a lot with you.” He says it like it’s the most enticing offer.
Like I’ll take it.
Like I didn’t just hit him in the face because he was about to punch Zay.
Yeah, if that didn’t declare my loyalty to these guys, I don’t know what will.
