Page 28 of As Thick As Thieves

“You’re Beckett’s other boyfriend?” Penn asked curiously as we sat down opposite her and Cruz.

“Yep, technically I was the first boyfriend, Maddox is the spare,” he smirked, holding his fist out to bump knuckles with Cruz while talking to Penn. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Bad things I assume,” she said with a wince, her eyes meeting mine. “I missed you.”

“You left me,” I said as if it wasn’t obvious, not hiding the hurt in my voice. “You said you wouldn’t.”

Cruz sighed, motioning to her. “She didn’t want to leave, bro. Stone sold her out.”

“He wouldn’t do that. He got shot so—”

“He was fine when Penn saw him last, I’m pretty sure the psycho shot himself to cover up what he’d done. She wasn’t in a facility either.”

They filled me in on everything, including the fact that Zavier fucking Lopez had bought her from her father. By the end of the conversation, I was ready to snap Stone’s neck.

“And I thought my parents were assholes,” Jett muttered under his breath. “Lopez has a white knight complex, he gets a kick out of saving girls.”

“Doesn’t he ever,” Cruz grumbled, eyeing Penn’s outfit as if it offended him. I thought she looked cute in the dress.

“And Beckett knew? She didn’t mention anything to me when she got home last night,” I mumbled, but Cruz shrugged.

“She only told us because she wanted to get a few hits in with Stone.”

“So he’s in a bad mood this morning?”

“No idea. I was with Penn last night, I didn’t go back to the compound.”

Frustration burned through me and I glared at him. “You mean to tell me you found all this out yesterday and didn’t tell me? What the fuck, Cruz?”

We stopped the conversation as the waitress joined us to take our order, but he answered the moment we were alone again. “For starters, I broke into her house in the middle of the night, and she didn’t want to see any of us. I convinced her to let me stay, and now we’re here. She’s been through a lot,” he said carefully, dropping an arm around her shoulders. “I’m going to start looking for a house. She can’t come back to the compound, and Lopez and Lavaro aren’t happy with the idea of me staying with her in their house.”

“If you’re moving out, then I’m coming too,” I scowled, crossing my arms. “You just want her all to yourself.”

“Knox won’t let you move out,” he answered dryly, discomfort twisting in my stomach. Convincing him to trust her was going to be a fucking nightmare. I didn’t want to lose him again, but I needed her.

“I’ll figure it out. Why the hell aren’t we putting Lopez in a shallow grave? He bought her, Cruz. He owns her. What the fuck is wrong with him?” I wanted to strangle the bastard.

“I’ve already thrown hands with him, and to be honest, he risked his damn life with that dodgy deal. I think we should just say thank you and only kill him if he tries to state ownership in the future to be an asshole,” he said with a wry grin. “He’s got more to lose than anyone if the truth gets out. I don’t think Louis would let it slide if he found out the money was fake.”

My phone rang multiple times throughout breakfast as we made small talk, but I ignored it. I wasn’t ready to speak to Stone or I’d tear him apart, and the one time Knox called, he was probably only going to yell at me. It was likely he was stalking me on the cameras and saw who I was with.

Penn got up to use the bathroom once she’d finished eating, and I took the opportunity to ask Cruz about her. “Is she okay? How bad are the marks he left on her?”

He leaned forward, not wanting the entire room to hear our conversation. “They’re bad. Zavier’s got her on antibiotics and has been cleaning them since he bought her. I cleaned them this morning and they’re healing, but I can’t imagine how bad it could’ve been if she’d been in the basement much longer. She’s self-conscious about them so be gentle when talking about it.”

“What do we do about Stone?” I asked, glaring at the camera facing us as my phone rang again. “And I hope you didn’t want this a secret from Knox, my phone’s going nuts so I assume he’s watching us.”

Cruz gave a little wave at the camera, making Jett laugh. “He’s going to show up and beat you up if you taunt him.”

“Doubtful. He won’t want to deal with Penn. Her leaving hurt him more than he lets on,” I replied as Penn started walking towards us, the conversation switching to the track, giving me a moment to check my phone.

Knox: Answer the fucking phone, dickbag.

Drake: Is it about you currently stalking me?

The phone started ringing again and I rejected the call, scowling at the camera. If he wanted to be mad, I’d let him. As much as he’d be pissed at Stone for this whole thing when I told him the truth, he still wouldn’t let Penn back in out of pride.

He was a dumbass like that.

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