Page 86 of Unwrapping Deviance

“She’s feisty.” Gap-Tooth snickers. “I like it when they fight. Makes them taste extra sweet.”

My stomach curdles. I can feel the heave of bile shoot up my chest to fill my mouth. My heart cracks in my chest, a rampant hammering so loud I’m surprised no one else can hear it.

“Stupid of them to leave such a pretty thing all alone where anything can happen to her,” Tufty leers, murky, gray eyes on my chest.

“Maybe she likes it. She’s with both of them anyhow. Probably likes it in all the holes.”

I’m trying my best not to react. I know it’s what they want; they’re trying to scare me, but there’s only so much I can stomach before I throw up on their shoes.

“You stay away from me,” I warn them.

The two howl with laughter like I’d said the funniest thing.

“Why? The MacAllisters owe us.” Gap-Tooth rubs a greasy hand across his thin chest, adding a fresh smear of oil across the gray of his t-shirt. “Maybe if they give us you, we’ll be even.”

“A tight, pretty whore for the brother they killed,” Tufty spits in.

“And the sister they took advantage of,” Gap-Tooth adds.

It was the same thing Clemence had said back at the diner. She’d called Daniel and Christian murdering rapists.

I still don’t believe it, but I’m not going to argue with these idiots about it.

“You’re lying.”

“Sure are not,” Tufty assures with a definite shake of his head. “You should ask them. Ask them about Lucy and Wyatt. Ask them why they weren’t supposed to come back to Jefferson. Why nobody here wants them around.”

I say nothing because I don’t know what to say. I can’t defend the boys when I don’t know what these assholes are talking about.

Daniel would fucking never, and I don’t know Christian very well yet, but Daniel is a lawyer. A criminal lawyer. He’s made it his life’s purpose to put murderers and rapists behind bars. He would never sit idly by and let his brother get away with such a thing.

So, either they’re lying and trying to turn me against the boys, or they’re telling me the truth, but only part of it.

“We’re leaving soon,” I tell them shortly. “Trust me, no one is coming back to your lovely town.”

“I don’t know if that’s good enough,” Gap-Tooth grumbles, scratching his bristly jaw with filthy nails. “Now that we’ve seen you. I think we can make a better exchange.”

“If you touch—”

“Mira!”

I spin to find Christian at the other end of the aisle, a beautiful angel of fury illuminated by the harsh light of sun from the windows behind him. His dark eyes spear through the trio over my shoulder with the heat and hatred of a wolf guarding its den.

“Come here. Now!” he snarls through his teeth.

I do not hesitate. I run to him. His fingers close with barely restrained rage into my upper arm, and I am shoved behind him.

“You stay the fuck away from her,” he warns low in his throat.

“She came to us, Chrissy boy,” Gap-Tooth taunts. “Guess she decided she wanted some real dick to fill her cunt.”

I feel the storm surge off Christian in a wave that burns my skin. It ripples around us with the potency of heat coming off asphalt in a heatwave. I think he’s about to charge at the trio, get himself killed...

“Stay away from her,” he says at long last. All he says.

He turns and captures my hand, and I’m dragged after him away from the assholes.

He doesn’t stop until we find Daniel still in the locks and bolts section. His head comes up when we charge into the aisle. His gaze drifts from me to Christian’s and sharpens at the hard edge tightening his brother’s features.

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