Page 13 of Stay, Swear.

7

Chapter Seven

Kieran

We’re all congregating in the garage where I’m tuning my 2023 Yamaha R1. My eyes keep flicking over to my phone. She hasn’t texted me back. When I got home from collecting a few debts this morning and didn’t see them on the couch I decided to come out here to mess with my bike for a little bit. It wasn’t long until the other five found me out here and now we’re all sitting around and talking about any and every thing. All of our phones go off twice at the same time. We all look at each other before grabbing them. Pulling up the first notification to come through it’s a group text with the guard station at the top of the property.

G.S Matthews: A 2020 black Chevrolet Traverse just left the property. Vehicle was searched. Nothing of concernwas found. Driver’s name was Brittany Mitchell. Please note she is not expecting to return.

What the fuck? Where is she going? Where is Rhett? Hearing a chorus of curses as we all collectively rush to the other text, it’s Brittany in a group chat with all six of us and her.

Brittany: I have left the property and have no intentions of returning. Feelings have been made clear today, and that’s fine. It’s your house and you guys deserve to be comfortable and fully trust who is in it. That being said, Rhett woke up and his migraine is gone. He’s in bed with Clara. The after effects can take awhile to subside but he should be fine in a few days. Clara, Rhett, and I will continue to meet up and see each other outside of the estate. You can run me off your property but try as you may, you cannot run me out of their lives. Thank you for letting me stay the night. -Brittany

*Brittany has removed herself from chat*

My eyes wheel around to all of them. My entire body tightens as rage fills me. I have to keep a lid on it though. They don’t know anything happened with us. They have no idea that she’s been running through my mind since the moment my eyes met hers.

Trying my hardest to be casual and disinterested, “Who pissed her off?” Rowan and Mac both look everywhere but at me. Forcing a laugh that I don’t feel I press, “Okay so Mac and Rowan. What’d you two do? Clara’s going to lose her shit on you both.”

Rowan huffs out an annoyed breath, “Okay, but she was trying to tell me stuff about Bear. Stuff I didn’t know. Whichpissed me off. She was there when I wasn’t. I should have been there. I should have saved them, not her.”

Declan rolls his eyes, “You’re being a whiny bitch. You need to be thanking her. They’d still be with Preston, or dead if it wasn’t for her. But could you do that? No, you practically pissed on Clara and Rhett to mark your territory like a mongrel dog. And if that wasn’t enough you insinuated she needed to be watched if she was with Rhett alone.”

My brows hit my hairline, “You what? Dude that’s not fucking cool. That’s Clara’s best friend and you’re making your life so much harder by fighting with her instead of embracing her as one of us. Good luck talking to Clara. I’ll make sure there’s nice flowers at your funeral.”

He rolls his eyes, “Fuck off, she just got under my skin. I’ll make it right later.” He looks over to Mac, “What’d you do?”

Mac refuses to look at any of us keeping his eyes on the ground, “I—um— I may have threatened her.”

“WHAT?!”all of us yell at the same time. My fingers itch to grab my knife and shove it into his shoulder. I’ll put him on the fucking butchers hook for this.

Woah, where did that come from?

Mac’s my brother and my best friend. Family over everything. So why is my urge to shoot his fucking kneecaps out so strong right now?

Rowan roars out what I’m thinking, “You did what now? Explain right fucking now, Mac. If Clara finds out about this I’ll skin you alive.”

Mac rolls his eyes and looks at me. Once he realizes I’m also glaring daggers at him he starts talking. “She made a comment about how we act like she’s going to sneak Rhett out of here and flee the country. So I just let her know whatwould happen if she ever did try to take him without our permission.”

“You threatened to kill her?Are you fucking stupid?”

I don’t realize I’m yelling as loud as I am until Clara busts through the door. “Are you talking about Britt? I’m sorry. That’s a stupid question. You guys aren’t talking about my best friend. There’s no way you’re talking about my best friend. Not the woman who cleaned my cuts and took care of my bruises during the time I got beat almost on a daily basis. The woman who has supported me and my son no matter what. I know I didn’t just hear MacQuillian say he threatened to murder the woman who helped me escape the seventh circle of Hell. Who has her own trauma that could rival the worst of a fucking true crime documentary.” She’s shouting so loud my ears ring, my heart beats in my temples, and my hand comes up to massage it. But my brain catches on that last sentence. A bone deep need to know her better, to find out what happened, forms. Clara must catch the move because her voice comes out quieter when she speaks again.

“Sorry Kieran, I didn’t mean to be that loud. I’m just worried about her. She’s left, she wont pick up her phone, and all I got was a text saying her feelings were hurt and something came up. She said she’ll reach out to me when she’s ready. We’ve never needed a break from each other before.” Her voice is unnaturally high like she’s panicking and about to cry. Before her sentence is complete Rowan has her in his arms and all of my brothers are avoiding looking at her, except me.

“She doesn’t need a break from you and Rhett. It’s from us. She loves you. She just needs a minute to process what Rowan and Mac said.”

Her eyes dart to Roe in a menacing glare. Well as menacingas she can muster up, “What did you say to her?”

He just shakes his head, “Well talk about it in a little while Pretty Girl, let’s go see if Bear is up to play.”

Rowan and Clara leave the garage, and I go back to ignoring everyone and focusing on what I’m doing. Once everyone catches my drift and leaves I grab my phone to shoot off a quick text to her.

Kieran: I just heard what happened. I’m sorry my brothers are idiots. Let me know you’re okay. You don’t have to talk to me if you don’t want to, but I need to know you’re okay.

Right as I set my phone down on the cement ground it pings, grabbing it up, a smile takes over my face. She responded.

Brittany: It’s okay. I’m safe at home. Thank you for checking in on me, Mystery Man.

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