Page 8 of Cruel Devotion

They stood there, panting heavily with their eyes darting back and forth between us.

Chen patted down the collar of his jacket. “This has gone on long enough.”

Despite the rage still simmering within, I stepped back some more.

Duck, too, seemed to regain his senses, his eyes losing their fiery defiance.

I assessed him. A purplish bruise was forming around his left eye, which had swollen nearly shut. A thin trail of blood leaked from a cut on his split lip, dripping down his chin and onto his chest.

His hair was disheveled, and patches of dirt and sweat painted his face in a cruel mosaic of battle scars.

I instinctively brought a hand to my face, feeling the tender spots. My jaw throbbed in rhythm with my heartbeat, and I could taste the metallic tang of blood in my mouth.

A slight cut on my forehead stung as sweat trickled into it.

Although not as battered as Duck, I was sure I appeared badly beaten.

The tension of the fight gradually eased, replaced by the heavy silence of regret and confusion.

Chen remained between us. “We are family.”

I glared at Duck.

Chen got in my view. “What is thisreallyabout?”

I pointed to Duck. “Ask him.”

Chen turned his way. “Go ahead.”

Duck spat out blood onto the ground and then scowled at me. “It’s not right.”

“What’s not right?” Anger flared in me again. But it wasn’t the hot, impulsive anger from before. This was a colder, deeper anger.

An anger that sprang from hurt.

“I think you’re using Monique to run from your pain.” Duck frowned. “To run from the loss of Chanel.”

Once again, his words hit me. This time like a punch to the gut.

I edged back.

The truth of his words stung and I hated him for it but deep down, a part of me knew he could be right.

“And. . .” Duck wiped sweat dripping near his bruised eye. “And any other time, I would not care about what he was doing with a woman but since I stopped Monique from jumping off that roof, I have become protective of her.”

Chen turned to me. “What do you think, Mountain Master?”

I sneered. “Protective of her? That’s it?”

“Yes.”

“That’s why you took her panties from the pile? It was all about protecting her.”

Chen shook his head and scowled at his brother. “Do you have her panties?”

Duck sighed.

Chen’s voice went unsteady. “Give them back to her before she notices.”

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