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“Reed,” I heard Casper say as I quickly left the bus and walked toward the man on the ground. The closer I got, the easier it was to notice how badly he trembled. His body was wrapped tightly in the fetal position.
“Who the fuck are you?” one attacker said to me.
“I’m the one who’s going to stop you from hurting him more than you already have.”
The leader of their little group looked me up and down, clearly not recognizing me. Though, to be fair, I didn’t have my eyes lined like I normally did on stage and my hair wasn’t styled. Plus, he could have hated our music. “You?” He laughed as his friends joined in. “You couldn’t hurt me.” It was something I’d heard before. I was six feet tall and slender. I didn’t have the same muscle Casper did, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t throw a punch.
A broad back entered my line of sight as Casper stepped in front of me. “Did you say you wanted to play?” He cracked his knuckles. “I could use a good fight.”
Slater and Dash got off the bus next. Slater was slightly bigger than his brother. They weren’t as built as Casper, who took working out more seriously than the rest of us did, but I wouldn’t want to go up against them in a fight. They were both strong.
Moving to the right of Casper, I got a look at the group of assholes again. One guy took the four of us in, recognition dawning on his face. “Holy shit, you’re Ruined and Relinquished. You’re fucking amazing.”
Casper stepped forward. “Our names don’t matter. You about to fight Reed does.”
The guy held up his hands and backed away. “Not me, man.”
“You might not have shoved him,” I said, pointing to the man still on the ground, “but you laughed.”
He kept backing up, not trying to dispute what I’d said. Two others did the same, leaving only the lead prick to stand there. He glanced behind him to find he stood alone against us. “Fuck you,” he seethed, then spit on the ground near the man.
I lunged forward, ready to hit him, but Casper held me back. My stepbrother had been my protector from the day he grew bigger than me. And while I secretly loved watching him get like this, I also hated how he thought I couldn’t take care of myself.
A groan from beside me had me turning my attention back to the injured man. The dog had gone to his other side and was lying near his head, licking the man’s face.
“Hey, are you okay?” I asked as I crouched beside him. “Are you hurt?” That was a stupid question. He was limping before they shoved him.
He shook his head and tried to curl into a tighter ball.
I carefully placed my hand on his arm, hoping to let him know I wasn’t a threat. He flinched so hard; a pained sound left him.
“I just want to help,” I said softly.
He tried to inch away while finally looking up to see me and the others. His eyes widened as his bottom lip shook. “Please,” he whispered. “I don’t want that. I don’t need the money. Just let me go.”
It was my turn to lift my hands. “I don’t want anything from you. None of us do. We want to help.”
Cars on the street started honking. The bus blocked the lane; the traffic in front of it moving again. Shit, I completely forgot about it. There was nowhere to park it here. With the band off the bus, Molly wasn’t going anywhere without us.
“Shove it up your ass!” Molly yelled, climbing down from the bus. Molly was a woman who took no shit. She couldn’t when she drove a bus of rock stars. She pushed between Slater and Dash and came to crouch by me. Her face softened as she peered down at the man. “Dear, let us help you. These boys mean no harm, honest. Reed wouldn’t hurt a soul and for all the growling Casper does, he’s just fluffing his feathers so no one bothers Reed. The other two are good men too. Let’s get you on your feet.”
It took a few seconds, but the man finally reached out and gave Molly his unsteady hand.
2
ELIC
This street was one I regularly traveled because it was more out in the open, not down an alleyway where I knew all too well what could happen. Today wasn’t my lucky day. Of course, I had to find a pack of assholes to mess with me. I even kept my head down as not to provoke them unintentionally, which didn’t work. Someone shoved me to the ground. Starry tried to come to my rescue, growling at the group. I did the best I could to curl in on myself in case they started kicking me.
My foot was still fucked up from the last guy who hired me to blow him in the still dark hours of the morning. Afterward, he pushed me hard. I stumbled and ended up cutting my foot due to the shitty shoes I wore. Then he dropped half of what he owed me on the ground. He knew he could get away with it. I wasn’t about to run to the cops and say I was illegally earning money in exchange for blowjobs.
I was trying to get to the overpass I liked to climb under to protect myself from the elements. There was a group of us who stayed together in that location, understanding none of the others would attempt to steal what little we had. But I couldn’t even get there, couldn’t get down the street.
When a new guy touched my arm, I couldn’t help but jerk away. His touch was gentle. I’d learned the hard way they started out like that before they got me in the position they wanted me in before unleashing.
The woman was the one who coaxed me out of my cocoon. Her voice was kind yet firm. Women, I wasn’t afraid of, not like I was of men.
My eyes latched on to every one of the guys who surrounded me, staying the longest on the guy with the pink-streaked hair. He looked at me with sympathy. By the clothes they wore, I doubted any of them understood what it was like to do things they’d rather not just to get a shitty meal.
