Page 74 of As Thick As Thieves

Stone: Yes. Why?

Penn: You need to go, Stone. Trust me. Please.

He didn’t reply straight away, my heart sinking when he did.

Stone: They’d better not do it in front of you or I’ll come back and gut them all in their sleep.

Penn: That’s not fucking funny.

Stone: It wasn’t supposed to be.

“Move, I’m kicking it in,” Knox growled from outside the door, and I quickly put my phone in my pocket and flushed before swinging the door open. I walked past them without a word, finding Zavier in the kitchen sporting a freshly split lip.

“I’m sorry,” he cringed, and I dodged Cruz as he reached for me.

“Who hit him?” I bit out, motioning to Zavier. “You claim you don’t keep shit from me, so why can’t Zavier be honest with me? I have a right to know.”

Cruz eyed me silently for a moment before replying. “You don’t need to know that shit.”

“Like fuck.”

“Penn, he dug his own hole, now he—”

“He’s sorry!” I snapped, jabbing a finger against his chest. “Why isn’t that enough?”

“Knox,” Cruz warned, two seconds before I was yanked back from Cruz, and my back was shoved against the wall. Knox looked furious, putting his face in mine.

“Sorry doesn’t fucking fix it, Whitlock. This has nothing to do with you, and everything to do with the fact he fucked over two of the crews. It’s because he sent you in there that he’s getting his ass handed to him, not because he put you at risk. I don’t care how many times he says sorry, it won’t change anything.”

“Get off me!” I shouted, but he held firm, his expression softening the smallest amount.

“You really think things will just go back to how they used to be? Babe, he’s only feeling guilty now because he lost us, not because he’s actually feeling bad about what happened to you. Stone doesn’t let people in, he didn’t even let us in one-hundred-percent, but we were his family. That’s why he’s sorry.”

“Get off me, Knox!” I repeated a little more hysterically, shoving at his chest when he didn’t move.

“Jesus Christ, move, asshole,” Drake huffed, grabbing Knox’s wrist and tugging him back a step. “Let her fucking breathe.” I slid down the wall and tried to catch my breath, jerking when a hand touched my arm, and I found Drake kneeling in front of me. “Hey, breathe, baby. You want them to go away?”

I nodded, thankful when everyone seemed to leave the room, and I relaxed a little once I didn’t have everyone’s eyes on me. My head was a mess, I shouldn’t care about Stone’s fate, but he needed someone on his side.

Drake stayed in front of me, but he didn’t try to touch me, waiting me out until I reached for him.

“Did Stone bother you yesterday when you went into the compound? Knox said Stone snuck off for a while, and he didn’t think anything of it because he thought you were with me,” he asked gently, and I shook my head.

“He didn’t bother me.” Not exactly a lie, but I still hoped that Stone had wiped any footage of our interaction.

“Okay, just wanted to check.”

He got comfortable beside me, dropping an arm around my shoulders to keep me close, and we sat in silence for ages until Cruz joined us. He squatted in front of us, giving me a small smile. “Hey, will you be okay with Drake for a few hours? Hunter’s called me to help with a faulty camera, and with everyone getting shot at lately, we want to go out in pairs at the minimum so no one’s alone. Lopez is having a shower then heading out to see if he can find any information about the explosion.”

I nodded, grabbing his wrist when he tried to stand and leave, not wanting him to think I was mad at any of them. They could be distracted then and get hurt. “I love you.”

“I love you too, baby. We’ll be fine,” he said, knowing my concern as he dropped a kiss to my head, turning to Drake. “Stay in the house. If someone’s hanging around, call us. Don’t deal with it alone.”

“Sure thing,” he replied, bumping knuckles with him before watching him leave, nudging my shoulder gently. “You want to watch a movie with me?”

“Okay,” I nodded, letting him help me to my feet before leading me into the living room to find it empty. Drake picked a movie, but I wasn’t really paying attention to it.

“Hey,” Zavier murmured as he walked in half an hour later, giving me a look of apology. “You okay? I’m not very sensitive with my words. I’m used to girls like Beckett and Riley around me, and Raven doesn’t really give a shit about anyone outside of our circle, so I didn’t even think—”

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