Page 41 of Deranged (American Street Kings 3)

A few seconds of silence passed before Granite finally said, “You can do this. I know you can. You’ll be a good president.”

“Thanks, brother, but just know that if your woman and your goddamn word weren’t so important to you, I never would have agreed to this.”

“I know.”

“I’ll see you in the morning.”

I was so taken by their conversation, the information overload causing me to freeze. Footsteps came closer, and as I managed to gather control, trying to turn in the other direction, Onyx came walking out. “Wraith?”

Fuck.

I turned to face him.

He frowned. “How long have you been standing there?”

“Oh, I just got here.” I let my arms hang down my sides. “When all of you rushed over here, I stood back. You know, not actually belonging here and all. But you were gone a while, so I came to look for you.”

He paused for a second, blue eyes scrutinizing me before he looked down the hall in the direction where they took Neon. “She’s really fucked up.”

“What…” I swallowed. “What happened to her?”

He wiped his hand across his mouth, preoccupied by his own thoughts. “I can’t—”

“Tell me, Onyx. Please.” I had to know whether what I suspected was true. “What happened to her?”

His gaze cut to mine, and I could see remorse swirling in the shades of blues—remorse for what had happened to the woman they had just carried out of that room.

“She got kidnapped by a rival crew.”

“The Pythons?”

An eyebrow slanted inward. “You know them?”

“Just like the Kings, everyone knows the Pythons. What did they do to her?”

He took a deep breath before letting it out with a sigh. “They tortured her.” His eyes bored into mine with caution. “Raped her.”

I sucked in a breath, my palm closing around my lips.

“They fucked her up so bad, Wraith. The things they did to her, it’s too horrible to describe. Those sadistic fucks left her for dead, and we didn’t think she’d make it.”

“The Pythons,” I muttered.

“Sadistic motherfuckers. But that woman is one of the strongest people I know, and she exceeded all our expectations. But sometimes,” his voice cut off, “sometimes it just gets too much for her, you know?”

“Oh, my God.” I stumbled back, my heart refusing to listen to what my ears were hearing. “You’re sure it was the Pythons?”

“Yeah, I’m fucking sure.” He said it like it was obvious, like there was no chance in hell it could have been anyone else. “Our rivalry with the Pythons goes way back. Fuckers killed my dad. They are ruthless motherfuckers, Wraith. You see them riding your way, you head the other direction.”

I held up a hand, my stomach turned inside out. “I can’t—” I stepped back. “Fuck, I need to go.”

“What?” He reached for me, but I pulled away. “Why? Wraith, no. Stay. I want you to stay.”

With a heart that was busy smothering with heavy truth, I looked at him.

“Please stay with me.”

It was there, in his eyes, how much he wanted—no,neededme to stay with him. After overhearing the conversation between him and Granite, the way Onyx sounded like a man who carried the lives of others on his shoulders, it was enough to crack through the brick walls I had to build around myself in order to survive the world I had no choice but to live in. The feeling I had in my belly whenever I was around him, the butterflies, I could feel something stronger than pain, stronger than years of torment starting to grow with every flap of their wings. It was scary, and I wasn’t sure how I would get my mind to wrap around it. All I knew was he needed someone to be with him tonight. He needed someone to make him forget the responsibilities he had been saddled with—seemingly against his own will. And, by God, I wanted to be that someone. I wanted to be the woman in whose arms he sought some form of solace. The despondent look on his face, the heaviness he carried that shined through in his eyes, I wanted to make it better. Be the one who gave him the same escape he had managed to give me earlier. Even though I didn’t know how to sort through my thoughts after what I had just heard, the horrors one of his own had gone through because of the…the Pythons. Jesus. I couldn’t even—

---