Page 73 of As Thick As Thieves

“That’s because I didn’t trust her. I do now, and she’s a fast learner. She can go on smaller jobs with us until she finds her footing.”

“And what if she doesn’t want to be a thief and prefers working at Harley’s?”

“Then we burn the bar down, simple,” he said seriously, but he smiled after a moment, giving it away that he was joking. “If she really wants to work there, we’ll talk about it, but I don’t like her out of our sight.”

“Take a page out of Stone’s book and stalk her,” Drake mumbled, sounding like he was about to fall asleep. “I swear he spies through the computer every fucking night.”

He wasn’t wrong. The light had been on most nights to say he was watching us.

I stood, walking towards it and yanking the cord from the wall, turning with a satisfied smile. “Problem solved. Next issue? I’m on a roll now.”

Knox snickered, but his eyes closed, apparently tired from today’s ordeal, too. Drake mumbled a response, but I didn’t hear what it was, his breathing slowing as he fell asleep, and I put my hands on my hips in disbelief as Knox started snoring softly a moment later.

“Unfuckingbelievable,” I huffed with amusement, moving in front of them and getting zero reaction. “Seriously? We were having an important conversation.”

I glanced towards the hallway when I heard a noise, realizing it was Penn when I heard it a second time. It had been a few days since she’d had any nightmares, but after the day’s events, I wasn’t surprised it had brought one out of her.

My feet were silent as I padded along the hallway to her bedroom, peeking inside to find her curled up in a tight ball, panicked whimpers leaving her as she breathed rapidly. I closed the door, not wanting to wake the others up, then I slid into bed beside her, and pulled her back flush with my chest to wrap myself around her.

“Penn, baby? Wake up. You’re having a nightmare.”

Her body tensed tighter, but after a second she relaxed against me, her whispered voice reaching me. “Cruz?”

“I’ve got you,” I murmured, placing a kiss on her neck. “Go back to sleep.”

“Where’s the others?”

“Napping. They fell asleep on the couch. I’ll stay in here with you,” I promised, relieved when she dozed off again without a fuss. She needed the rest.

My eyes drooped after a few minutes of lying in silence, so I wasn’t surprised when I eventually drifted off to sleep, too.

Chapter Sixteen

Penn

“Why the fuck didn’t anyone call me?” Zavier bit out as he stomped into the kitchen the next day, moving towards me with concern and ignoring the guys as he took my face in his hands and started inspecting me. “You’re alright? Beckett just told me someone tried to blow you up yesterday.”

“Calm down, big bro, I’m okay,” I teased, but I was grateful for his worry. He reminded me of Emily sometimes with how protective he was. She’d like him, and she’d be so grateful for everything he’d done for me.

“Beckett said you have no idea who’s after you, but you’re assuming it’s connected to the shooting?” he questioned, sitting in the chair beside me at the dining table. My phone buzzed in my pocket but I ignored it, knowing it was Stone. He’d been texting me like a psycho all morning, not that I really minded. He’d been hunting through hours of footage from Stoneleigh and Kingslake, trying to help find whoever had tried to kill me yesterday.

So far, it was all a dead end.

Cruz scowled at Zavier for sitting beside me, but he gave him a run down on the entire day we’d had and what we already knew, which was fuck all. Drake placed a plate in front of me with a massive omelet that was packed with tomato and other random healthy shit, my mouth watering as I started digging in, and I hadn’t been paying attention to the conversation until I heard Stone’s name mentioned.

“They’re going to kill him, man. He seriously fucked up,” Zavier said, my head snapping up to stare at him.

“What?”

Cruz gave him a dirty look, but Zavier sighed, leaning on the table. “Stone. Psychos voted, and he’s fucked.” Nausea rolled through me at the thought, and I itched to call Stone to warn him. Did he know? Would they surprise him and drag it out? “Penn?” Zavier frowned, but I pushed back from the table and ran to the bathroom, fumbling with the lock before leaning over the toilet and throwing up my breakfast. I vaguely heard knocking on the door, but my ears were ringing, everything sounding so far away.

I couldn’t let him die.

“Baby? Open the door,” Drake said softly, but I ignored him and pulled my phone from my pocket, dropping it twice as I clicked on the messages from Stone. It was all updates on his lack of finding anything, so I quickly typed out a message, needing to know if he was okay or not.

Penn: Are you okay?

Drake knocked on the door and said my name again, but I blocked it out as I waited for Stone to reply, the minutes dragging until my phone buzzed.

---