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“You did that?!” Aspen asked, sounding as upset as I was.
Levi looked from Kye to Saxon, but said nothing.
“Is it done?” Huck asked, scowling at both of them.
Kye looked at Saxon, then shrugged. “Depends on him. He’s got some shit to work out.”
“What did you say to him, Kye?” Levi asked, and his glare made me nervous.
“Cleared something up,” Saxon said tightly. “Let’s not talk about it here.” His hand tightened on mine, and he pulled me closer.
Huck looked at Levi, and then I saw some unspoken communication between Saxon and Levi as they stared at each other. Something had happened between the three of them- Levi, Kye and Saxon.
Trinity walked back into the room with a first aid kit and handed it to me. “Here you go.”
“Thanks,” I told her, then looked up at Saxon. “Let’s go clean this up first.”
“Okay,” he replied, turning from the stare-off he and Levi had been having to me.
I led him to the nearest bathroom, glad to be away from all of them for a moment. Whatever had happened between Saxon and Kye wasn’t over. At least not from the way Saxon had been glaring at him. I didn’t want Saxon to get hurt more.
“Hey! If y’all do the make up and fuck thing, leave the door open so I can hear!” Kye called out.
“KYE!” Trinity and Aspen shouted at the same time.
Saxon tensed beside me. I tugged on his arm when he paused.
“It’s okay. Come on,” I urged.
The last thing I needed was for them to get in another fight.
Saxon’s jaw was clenched, but he nodded and continued to the bathroom with me.
I went inside first and nodded at the toilet. “Sit down,” I told him.
He closed the lid and sat while I opened the kit to pull out the peroxide first. When I turned back to look at him, he was watching me with a look of adoration that made my stomach flutter.
“It’s going to sting, but not as bad as the alcohol would,” I warned him, stepping between his legs to clean the scratch on his face and his lip.
He never winced. His eyes stayed locked on my face.
“I think I hate Kye,” I muttered.
Saxon grinned, and his hands slid up the back of my legs and squeezed my thighs. When I was finished cleaning, he released me, and I turned to get the antibiotic ointment.
“Thank you for cleaning me up,” he said behind me.
I looked back at him. “I don’t like seeing you hurt.” I started applying the medicine to the cut on his cheek.
“It has its pros. I like having you take care of me.”
My eyes moved from his cheek to meet his gaze. We stood there like that for a moment before I went back to my task. When I finished, I put the things back in the box while he stood up behind me. I lifted my eyes to meet his in the mirror.
“You didn’t want to end things before,” he said as he ran his hands down my arms. The fierce look in his gaze as he stared at me made my heart act funny. “You were forced.”
I nodded, swallowing hard. Was that what he and Kye had fought about? Kye had told him about them threatening me if I ever saw him again?
He inhaled sharply. “Fuck, Haisley,” he said in a ragged whisper. “That’s going to haunt me. All of this is. I just want to protect you, make you happy, and all the shit I’ve put you through …”
I shook my head. “Don’t say that. None of this was your fault.”
It was a hard thing to juggle mentally. My brother was dead. He hadn’t been a good person. I knew he had issues, but somewhere along the way, he’d gone bad. He took me, not once caring that he was putting me in danger. The words he’d shouted at me were cruel and sliced deeply.
While lying in bed last night, staring at the ceiling, I’d come to terms with the fact that AJ hadn’t loved me. He had loved power, drugs, and himself. The world he had been in would have brought more danger to my family than anything Silver did would have. It hurt to know my brother had clearly hated me. I would never know why now.
Loving Saxon was easy. It wasn’t even about forgiving him, I realized. I already had. I was just trying to find a way to mourn with him beside me. It was a struggle to make sense of.
“I hurt you. I said things. The way I treated you, that’s going to tear me up over and over again.” Saxon’s expression looked tormented.
I didn’t have the words right now to make him feel better.
“I’m sorry. I’m throwing this on you, and you’re dealing with so much already,” he said, threading his fingers through mine. “I promise I’ll spend forever making you forget the things I said … and last night. I love you, Haisley. I don’t have any other explanation.”
