“Nexus is starting to show his crazy,” Archer says from his seat, his focus on the TV as him and Hayze battle each other inFortnitelike a couple of fucking twelve-years-olds.
“Why?” I ask.
He shrugs. “He’s been to the hall four times since we last went. When I asked him about it he lied to my face and said he hadn’t been back.” I scratch my chin and lean back in my seat, mulling over his words.
“There is only one reason that little cocksucker would be lying and going back there without us.” All three of them turn to me but it’s Ezekiel who speaks.
“He’s trying to find a way to change my father’s ruling so he can take over.” I nod my head somberly.
“He won’t let us live if he takes over,” Hayze adds.
“We need information on Nexus. I need blackmail material and there is only one person who can get that for us. I won’t allow him to lead and I sure as fuck won’t allow my sister to be blooded in.” The three of them have angry looks on their faces at the thought of Vivian being blooded in. Unlike movies, you don’t slice your palm and drip blood into a bowl then boom you’re in. If it were only that simple. For the Haven Saints you have to walk the fucking line. Being a woman, they will make her strip and do that shit naked and bare for all to maim anyway they see fit. My father did it, so did Ez’s dad and Thomas. Every Lord has had to walk the line and they have all wound up in the hospital for weeks after it—like fuck will I ever allow my sister to be put through that.
“You want to press Nova for information on her stepbrother?” Archer asks with his gaze now focused out the window.
“She has to know something,” I bite out.
“What if she doesn’t?” Hayze says.
I scrub a hand down my face. I have thought about that fact but living in the same house as Thomas and Nexus she would have to have heard something or seen something at the very least.
“We’re about to find out,” Archer announces. I frown at the fucker but I don’t get a chance to question him, the front door opens and Vivian walks in with Nova. I smile at the sight of them both until I spot Nova’s split lip and bruised cheek, her shirt is torn and covered in dirt and grass stains. Her hair is littered with leaves. I cut a glance to my boys asking them without words if one of them did this—they all shake their heads. We have fucked with her but none of us would ever go as far as to actually beat her.
“My room is the second on the right up the stairs, I’ll grab some things and be up soon.” Nova nods and keeps her headdown, refusing to look at any of us as she follows Vivi’s order. The second I hear my sister’s bedroom door click shut, I leap over the arm of the sofa and dash into the kitchen after her with the guys trailing behind me.
“What the fuck happened?” I snap at her. She keeps her back to me as she rummages through the medicine cabinet.
“Stay out of it, Vox,” she snarls as she retrieves the first aid kit and turns to face us with a hurt look in her eyes. “I asked you to back off and leave her alone. I told you she was my friend and now look what you’ve done!” she screams at me.
I reel back. “Vivian, I didn’t fucking touch her!” I roar as I pound a fist against my chest.
“We’ve been here all afternoon since they got out of practice,” Archer says, backing me up.
She shakes her head and sighs. “Yeah, sure.” She brushes past us and goes toward the stairs but I dart in front of her, taking the stairs two at a time ignoring my sister's protest. I burst into her room and slam the door closed behind me, locking it. Nova whirls around with wide eyes in nothing but her bra and skirt.
“What are you doing here?” she asks dejectedly. I ignore her question, and the pounding on the door, as I take in the sight of the new bruises on her body. I saw the one on her side from earlier but the others are fresh, so are the bruises on her arms that were hidden earlier beneath her school blazer. I cross the room and stand before her. She doesn’t flinch when I grip the tops of her shoulders and turn her, a hiss escaping me at the sight of boot prints on her back. I recognize the pattern, those are football cleats. I take a deep breath trying to tamper my rage as I turn her back toward me. I can see the unshed tears in her eyes and that sight has my anger spiking.
“Who. Did. This?”
She scoffs. “Don’t try and act like you don’t know. Message received, Vox.” She pulls free of my hold and shakes her head, then snatches her shirt, blazer and bag off my sister's bed and heads for the door. She yanks it open to reveal Vivian and the guys standing there. My boys either don’t register the bra or they are just too focused on the bruises that litter her tiny body. “You’ve all won, you got what you wanted.”
Hayze jerks back. “Got what?” he slips out.
Nova scoffs. “At least have the decency to do your own dirty work next time and don’t be cowards and cheap shot a girl from behind.” She doesn’t give them a chance to answer as she turns to my sister. “My mom and Thomas are out for the night and Nexus is away. Want to come help me at my house?” Vivian shoots me a death glare, then nods. The four of us watch the girls walk away and don’t utter a single word until they are out of the house.
“I never fucking touched that girl!” Ezekiel vows.
“I would never,” Archer tacks on.
“None of us did but I know who the fuck ordered her to be fucked with and who did it,” I announce.
“Who?” Ez asks.
“Me and Hayze took Leo out for the season for snitching to Nexus. He is the one who would have put him and the others up to jumping Nova and pinning this on us,” I answer.
“How do you know?” Arch grits out through clenched teeth.
“The bruises on her back, they are cleat prints. They would have jumped her after we left practice.” I clench my fists at my side, trying to control my own anger. “They need to be repaid for what they did in our name, I want everyone who touched her out of this town.”