Page 49 of Thorned Vengeance

“What the hell is happening?” I groan and bang my forehead on the table.

Apple rubs my back. “We’re just teasing you.”

“RaRa, do you have any orders?” Skye asks, taking the focus off me, and RaRa shakes his head. “Pull up a chair and let us tell you all about how Delaney here took on the men of Saints Purgatory.”

“Gossip!” RaRa squeals as he pours our drinks. Then he slides a chair between Skye and me as she begins relaying all the details I told them on the way here.

“I wish we’d have been there to see it all,” Violet complains. “The guys’ jaws were on the floor when we arrived, and I’m pretty sure some are still there. She’s tiny, like me, but she put each one of them on their asses.”

“Until Jacob took a cheap shot,” Apple snarls. “I hope they kick his as?—.”

“Guys, I really appreciate it,” I interrupt. “But we’ve been over this. It was an accident. I’ve been in the ring a lot with guys who are bigger than Jacob. I let myself get distracted. It wasn’t his fault. Cut him some slack.”

Cece picks up her shot glass. “To Delaney, one badass bitch!”

We all clink our glasses and toss back our shots. I wrinkle my nose as the liquor burns my throat on its way down. Tequila isn’t my favorite because it leaves me sappy or horny, and I never know which personality will appear until it’s too late.

Three shots and two margaritas later, the room slightly sways from side to side. It’s not full-blown spinning yet, but it’s close.

These women are my best friends in the whole world.

Oh good! It’s sappy Delaney. I’ve missed her.

“Can I tell you girls a secret?” I whisper yell. “RaRa, you can hear too because, well, you’re one of us, right?”

“Hell yeah, I am!” He high-fives me.

“Thorn punched Jacob for me… in the face. No one’s ever stood up for me today like you all did,” I confess. “Sure, I’ve had my parents, but ever since Daph died, I’ve pushed everyone away. Thank you for being there for me. It means a lot.”

Oh no, too many emotions, Delaney. Pull back, pull back. You’ll scare them away.

Violet stands and stumbles around the table to wrap me in a hug. “You’re one of us,” she cries. “We take care of our own.”

“It’s hard to let people in. I’m scared that if I do, something bad will happen, and all the good will be taken away.”

“Don’t do that anymore, Delaney,” RaRa admonishes. “How are you gonna hang out with cool bitches like us and fuck sexy men like Thorn if you hide from the world?”

“Thorn single-handedly ruined all other men out there for me,” I blurt.

Apple leans forward on her elbows. “Oooh, do tell.”

“Yeah, Delaney, do tell.”

I twist in my chair and see Thorn standing behind me.

Fuck me.

CHAPTER 23

THORN

“Ima be sick.”

Scooping Delaney into my arms, I hightail it to my room. As soon as I get her to the bathroom, I drop to my knees, and she scrambles to the toilet. The sound of her vomiting cuts through me like a knife, and I quickly get to my feet to get a washcloth out of the cabinet.

“You really tied one on, sweetheart,” I say when I lower myself to her side and pull her hair away from her face.

“Fuck you,” she says between bouts of puking.

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