Page 20 of As Thick As Thieves

“Can you calm down? You’ve got your wires crossed, bro.”

“Tell me where Lopez is or I’m going to turn this house upside down to find him myself,” I warned, my blood boiling as the man in question finally joined us. He looked way too calm for a dead man.

“You’ve got it wrong, Cruz.”

I didn’t let him say more before throwing a fist at him, the pair of us stumbling back to the ground. Zavier got some good hits in, and I didn’t understand why he was so pissed at me. I wasn’t the one fucking the girl he loved behind his back.

“Break it up!” Reid barked as he and Logan pulled us apart, Reid’s arm hooking around my neck to yank me back. “Enough!”

“He’s fucking Penn and didn’t have the balls to tell me!” I growled, some of the anger leaving me as Reid snorted.

“No, he’s not. He’s just helping her.”

“But—”

Zavier shoved Logan away and glared at me, looking ready for round two.

“I haven’t touched her, dumbass. I can’t believe you guys didn’t track her down. She waited for you, you know? She was beaten, tortured, starved, and you didn’t do shit to save her.”

“I did look for her!” I snapped, jerking against Reid’s hold on me. “I checked footage and even broke into her fucking house, but she wasn’t there! Stone had been shot and made it awfully convincing that she’d wanted to go, so what was I supposed to do? Why didn’t you tell me she was okay?”

“She doesn’t want you to know anything, and she’s not okay. Apart from dropping twenty pounds, her back and stomach are a mess. Louis whipped her to the point of broken skin which turned infected.”

I noticed that Raven and Logan were looking at him like he’d grown two heads, and I realized they’d been kept in the dark about the entire thing.

“How did she end up with you? Beckett said she was sold,” I asked as Reid finally let me go now that my anger had subsided, and Zavier eyed me silently for a moment before answering.

“She just did, and it’s not your business. Stay away from her, I mean it. You and your boys are the last people she wants to see.”

“Can’t do that,” I murmured. “I know she’s staying with you in your secret house on the other side of the Heights.”

Reid moved around me, giving me a look. “That’s one of Lavaro’s houses.”

“Ander fucking Lavaro got caught up in this?” I hissed, and as much as I liked the guy, he was trouble. “Are you kidding me?”

“He’s done more for her than you’ll ever know,” Zavier said cooly. “Next time you want to talk, call me. If you come into this house like a bull in a china shop again, I’ll shoot you.”

“Jesus Christ,” Raven huffed before walking off, sick of our pissing contest, and I gave Zavier a nod.

“Penn and my guys are off limits to you. They’re the only reason I’d kick your door down.”

“Then I hope you know you’re getting shot,” he scowled, following Raven up the hallway.

Reid eyed me, annoyance in his tone. “I think it’s best you leave, man.”

“Like you wouldn’t tear my compound apart for Raven,” I threw back before leaving, slamming the door behind me.

Penn

“What the fuck happened to you?” I gasped as Zavier walked through the door later that night, scrambling off the couch when I saw his swollen jaw and nose. He pulled back when I went to touch his face, letting out a sigh.

“Seems Beckett told the guys about our morning. Cruz practically kicked Raven’s door down to get to me this afternoon. He was under the impression I was keeping you as a secret girlfriend and lost his shit.”

“Cruz did that?” I asked as I tried to touch him again, but he put a hand up between us.

“I’m fine. He knows where you are, so if you don’t want to be found, we’ll have to move you.”

Dread filled me, and I glanced towards the door as if he was going to bust it down any second. “Is he mad at me?”

---