Page 95 of As Thick As Thieves

“I bet she would. She’s been sneaking around with you when she should’ve been home with her boyfriends.”

“This is your grief talking. Until now, you didn’t give a fuck about Penn being here,” I hissed, not caring about Knox hearing me. “You’ve happily watched her spend time with me all week just so none of you copped the brunt of my mood while I healed, so don’t throw her under the bus now. If Penn had been there today, she would’ve stepped in front of that bullet if it meant saving Leah.”

“She’s a little bitch, don’t fucking—”

“Do you have any idea why I’m not dead right now?” I snapped, getting in her face. “Because the moment the Psychos made it very clear they were coming to kill me, everyone went into hiding. Not Penn, though, she fucking hitched a ride here with a random stranger, then put herself between me and the barrel of Skeeter Maddox’s gun. She bargained with them to keep me alive.”

“Look what they did to you! She didn’t keep you safe!”

“But I’m alive!” I threw back, backing her up until we reached the wall, and she had nowhere to run. “None of you were here, but she fucking was. You don’t think she’s already blaming herself? Shut your fucking mouth about Penn, or I’ll shut it for you.” I stepped back, glaring at Will who’d been standing awkwardly to the side. “Get your girl the fuck out of here.”

Sandra tried to argue, but he thankfully dragged her out before I lost my shit with her, Jai murmuring about needing some air and walking off too. I scrubbed a hand over my tender face with frustration, trying to calm myself to avoid snapping at everyone else before making my way over to Knox, who was trying to appear busy, but we both knew he’d been focused on me a moment ago.

“You and Penn?” he asked bluntly, but he didn’t seem to be too pissed at me.

“There’s no me and Penn. She’s been dealing with my grumpy ass all week, making sure I looked after this damage.” I motioned to my face before continuing. “We’ve just been hanging out.”

“You haven’t touched her?”

“I kissed her today,” I mumbled, his eyes narrowing. “It was stupid. I was about to take her home when Jai arrived with Leah.”

“Did she want it?” he asked instead of losing his shit, making me cringe.

“Damn, man. I know I’ve been a dick, but I’m not a rapey dick. It almost went further, but I just couldn’t do that to you guys. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have kissed her in the first place.”

He snorted, shaking his head a little as he scrolled through the footage of the place Leah and Jai had been for lunch. “But you don’t see a problem with sneaking around all week with her? If you weren’t already black and blue, I’d kick the shit out of you. Don’t fuck with her. Whatever mind game you’re playing—”

“I’m falling for her. It’s not a game,” I blurted out, his head turning to face me. “She’s been amazing, man. I’m sorry for not telling you guys, but I didn’t want her to stop talking to me, and I knew you’d stop it if you found out.”

“Once we’re done dealing with this shit, we’re continuing that conversation. No more fucking lies, you got that?” he demanded, hope filling me. If he wanted to talk about it, maybe there was a chance they’d let me back in, and I could see Penn more.

My eyes landed on his screen and I frowned, leaning closer as I watched someone with a hood over their head approach Jai’s car. They leaned an arm against the open door for a minute, seeming to talk to Leah with ease, telling me she knew them.

She barely saw it coming as he suddenly pulled a gun out and pressed it against her forehead, pulling the trigger without hesitation before closing the door with his arm and walking away.

“She knew him,” Knox observed, mirroring my thoughts. “I don’t recognize the hoodie, though, and you can’t see his face. If it’s even a guy.”

“Follow their tracks. They have to look up at some point,” I suggested as I pulled my phone out. “I’ll call this in with the cops. We’ll pay them off and give them some information so they start looking too. Leah doesn’t deserve an unmarked grave. We need to do this the right way so she gets a proper funeral.”

Knox nodded, focused on the task at hand as I stood and called my contact from the Rawson Grove Police Force.

Cruz

It was late by the time Knox and Stone were done raking through hours worth of footage. The shooter’s trail ran cold in Pine Valley, thanks to the lack of security there. It was mainly a forest with cabins, and if you trespassed out there you’d just get shot. No security required.

Stone and Knox were finishing up with the cops, giving us a little longer before we’d have to wake Penn and get her home. She’d thankfully fallen asleep after an hour of trying to keep her calm, and Drake curled up in bed with her while I got up and sat at Stone’s desk, finding a couple of drawings there. I lifted one, seeing Penn’s name written neatly in the bottom corner, a small date on the back to say when she’d drawn it. It was from almost a week ago.

I pulled out my phone and logged into the security system here, going through days worth of footage to find Penn had been coming here for more than just today. Today, Stone had let her drive his car around the yard. She’d gone to Stone to teach her?

I frowned, going back a couple more days to find security footage of her coming inside and beaming at Stone as he teased her about something. Most days, they went into his bedroom, which I didn’t have access to. I contemplated whether to confront him about it, but I ended up hacking into it, surprised to find them just hanging out or her helping him with his wounds.

Until today’s date, when they’d been making out like horny teenagers. I should’ve felt hurt, but the more I watched their interactions, the more relaxed I became. There was no way he was luring her into anything, he was acting like he did when he was just around us. He was content and just being himself. Sure, he got grumpy in a few clips, and I could see they were arguing in a couple, too, but the way he’d kissed her? Stone didn’t just kiss girls for fun. It confirmed his feelings were real by the way he looked after her today. He’d tried hard to shield her from Leah’s body when Jai had arrived, and he’d tried hard to soothe her when she’d started freaking out.

The door opened, and I switched out of the footage, finding Stone and Knox in the doorway. Knox moved inside and brushed Penn’s hair from her face, giving her a nudge. “Time to go, Whitlock.”

She stirred, seeming confused for a moment before her eyes wandered to the doorway to find Stone standing there with his arms crossed. Panic flared in her eyes and she shook her head. “Can’t we stay here?”

“I think we need to talk about a few things in private, don’t you?” Knox grunted, Stone’s eyes sliding to me. I didn’t say I’d gone through the footage, but I hadn’t bothered to cover my tracks, so if he went looking, he’d see that I’d snooped. Considering he’d been sneaking around with our girl, I doubted he was going to argue with me.

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