Page 118 of As Thick As Thieves

“I know, babe. Get some rest. I love you,” he whispered, my eyes closing as I kissed his shoulder.

“I love you too.”

* * *

Leaving Stone at the hospital was the worst. I was still ordered to rest, but I hated doing it at home without him. The guys had organized a funeral for Estelle, and as much as I didn’t think my father deserved anything, they also organized for him to be buried. All of his estate belonged to me since I was his only living relative, but most of it felt like dirty money, or it was counterfeit anyway, thanks to him never checking it, so I donated what I could to charities that helped people suffering from abuse, the fake money being destroyed.

I wish Dad was alive to hear how much counterfeit cash he had because then he’d know he’d been screwed by multiple people. It was almost a shame that he had no idea that Zavier and Ander had been my saviors, not my villains.

It had been a week now since I’d been back at the compound, and I’d just finished having a shower and gotten dressed when I’d stepped out of the stall to find Jai in front of me. Immediate fear trickled into me, but he darted forward to clamp a hand over my mouth before I could scream, desperation in his eyes. “I’m not here to hurt you, shit. I didn’t know this would get so bad.”

When I stopped fighting, he slowly pulled his hand back, letting me talk. “Why the fuck did you even do it?”

“At first, it was because Stone wanted you gone, so I figured I was helping, but then when Owen started threatening other people, I tried to back out. I never wanted anyone to die,” he choked out, stepping in front of me when I went to move towards the door. “Please, don’t tell them. They’ll kill me.” My hands shook slightly as I tried to contain my panic, but it was hard when he kept getting in my face. “Penn, I’m begging you.”

“How did you know Owen?”

“We grew up on the same street when I was in foster care. I tried to talk him out of hurting anyone, but that made it worse. He told me he was planning to kill your dad, which I figured everyone would be on board with, so I helped him that night. I had no idea the woman—”

“Estelle,” I bit out, anger washing through me. “Her name was Estelle, and she was the nicest woman in the entire world. Apparently, she was also my mom, but you probably know that.” His gaze dropped from mine, making me snort. “You’re not as innocent as you want me to believe. Did you even love Leah? He killed her because of you, not me. Do Will and Sandra know how much of a fucking snake you are?”

His eyes widened and he lunged at me, covering my mouth again in a panic as if to stuff the words back down my throat. “No, they can’t know!”

I lifted my hand and jabbed him in the eye with my finger, and he jerked back from me, giving me a second to escape. I’d just reached the door when Knox appeared, catching me as I barreled into him.

“What the fuck is going on in here?” he demanded as Jai tried to dart past us, but I put my foot out and tripped him, sending him sprawling across the ground. Knox let me go and bent down to grab him, hauling him to his feet by his shirt. “Did you fucking touch my girl?”

Jai’s frantic eyes met mine, and I knew I couldn’t straight up lie to Knox. I’d kept it a secret for as long as possible, but the truth was, Jai was never going to be able to avoid this forever, and neither was I.

His blood wasn’t on my hands, I knew that now. He’d done it to himself. Even if it tore me apart to know how someone else I’d cared about had been nothing but a snake.

“He grew up with Owen,” I said softly, keeping my gaze on Knox to avoid breaking down. “He’s the one who got Leah killed, and how the cameras always got scrambled. He’s been working with him from the start.”

Murder filled Knox’s eyes, but he thought better of it as he realized how much this was hurting me. Another betrayal, another dead body.

“Baby? Go to Cruz, he’s in his room. Me and Drake will hand Jai over to the Psychos.” That surprised me.

“You’re not going to kill him?” I asked, hating to sound relieved.

“Archer Hendricks still wants his pound of flesh for Luna getting shot at the track. Hopefully, this will show him we’re willing to work with the crews. As long as Jai ends up in the ground, I don’t care who does it,” he said in a low voice, motioning for me to walk past him. I quickly walked out, not being able to meet Jai’s eyes on the way out, and I shut the door behind me once I was safely in Cruz’s bedroom, finding him playing his guitar on the bed.

He frowned, putting it aside before holding a hand out for me. “What’s wrong?”

“It was Jai,” I blurted out as I took it and let him pull me onto his lap. He knew exactly what I was talking about without me having to say it.

“Where is he?”

“Knox is taking him to the crews to handle. Like an olive branch for Archer or something,” I mumbled, burying my face in his neck. “I didn’t want someone else to die, Cruz. I wasn’t ready to face that yet.”

“It’s not your fault that the others died, you know that, right?” he said firmly, cradling the back of my head and kissing my neck. “It’s because of Owen, and you were a victim of his psychotic bullshit just like they were.”

“But I’m alive and they’re not,” I whispered, and he leaned back to take my face in both his hands, forcing me to hold his gaze.

“Only because Stone got between you and that gun. Stone’s taller than you, and if he hadn’t been there, you would’ve copped multiple bullets to the lower part of your lungs. He’ll never regret the choice he made because that grumpy piece of shit loves you. You hear me?”

“I want him to come home.”

“Me too, and I think the nurses agree. He’s giving them hell, he’s a terrible patient,” he chuckled, giving me a quick kiss before turning me so that I was straddling him while facing away from him. He grabbed his guitar, placing it over my lap awkwardly. “Here. Copy my fingers.”

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