Page 79 of As Thick As Thieves

“Go home!”

“Let me the fuck in Stone, I mean it!” I shouted, reaching for the gate but he let out a growl.

“Stop, you’ll hurt yourself. Hang on.” The gate beeped and opened for me, and I forgot all about Stone on the phone as I started running towards the compound, the front door opening before I reached it. Stone looked pissed as I tore inside, grabbing his arm tightly.

“We need to get you out of here. Shit, someone needs to check the cameras to see if they’re on the way yet. They—”

“Stop,” he ordered calmly, taking my face in his hands when I kept babbling. “Penelope, I said stop.”

Tears streamed down my face, and he wiped them away with his thumb gently, my voice cracking as I spoke. “Why couldn’t they just beat you up or something? People don’t need to play God and kill others who wronged them. I was the one in their house, not you. Why aren’t they coming after me?”

“You didn’t know, that’s why. Stop blaming yourself for the sins of others,” he said quietly, locking the door before steering me towards the office, shutting us inside. I hadn’t seen anyone else around, so a lot had either left, or were in their own rooms.

“That doesn’t matter. It should be me getting punished,” I argued, but I stumbled as he scruffed the front of my hoodie, dragging me into him with a growl.

“I don’t want you here. It won’t change anything, the only difference is that you’ll leave here fucking traumatized. I’ll still be leaving in a body bag. I deserve it after what I did to you, so stop trying to save me. You can’t.”

“You don’t deserve it!”

“Yes, I fucking do!” he snarled, getting in my face. “I wanted nothing more than your forgiveness, but this is bullshit. I haven’t earned it, and I had so much more planned before getting anywhere close to deserving it! Don’t be a pushover, Penelope!”

An alarm sounded to let us know there was an intruder on the property, and concern filled his eyes as he released his hold on me. “Go out to them. They won’t hurt you, but you can’t be in here when they do it.”

“No. If they want to kill you, then they can do it in front of me. I’m not fucking leaving you to die scared and alone,” I threw back, fear flickering inside me as a loud bang echoed through the compound. They were definitely inside now.

I tried to force my tears away as I backed up towards Stone, the door flying open to reveal Hunter who instantly cursed at the sight of me. “Jesus Christ. What are you doing here?”

“You can’t kill him,” I bit out, refusing to look away as they started filtering into the room. Inside, I was terrified, but I wasn’t about to run and leave Stone on his own. This entire thing had gotten out of hand all over a stupid break-in, and it needed to stop.

Stone tried to move around me but I moved with him, making him snap. “Get her out of here. She doesn’t need to see this. Don’t do it in front of her, please. I’ve given her enough fucking trauma.”

Skeeter rolled his eyes and lifted his gun, aiming it at Stone without hesitation, but I tried to make myself as big and tall as possible, covering every inch of Stone that I possibly could.

“I can shoot through you if you wish, Whitlock,” Skeeter warned, but Rory stepped beside him and scolded him to put it down. He ignored her though, walking towards me with a blank look on his face, placing the barrel of his gun against my forehead. “Move, or I shoot.”

This was ten times more scary than when Maddox had done it, but I tried hard to remember what he and Beckett had told me, keeping my breathing even and forcing my body not to shake from the fear. I held his gaze, knowing I was doing well to contain my terror when a small flicker of surprise flashed across his face.

“Don’t fucking touch him,” I said firmly, feeling Stone’s hand rest on my waist.

“Penelope, I swear to God,” he murmured, but there was no anger in his tone. I tensed when more people joined us, not surprised to find Beckett and Maddox present, but it was a surprise when Cruz, Knox, and Drake stepped into the room looking ready for a fight. I thought they were here about me, but they all seemed confused to see me.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Knox bit out, glaring at Drake. “You said you didn’t tell her!”

“I didn’t!” Drake insisted, appearing hurt when he looked at me. “How did you even get here? You—”

“Someone had to come and help Stone. It should've been you,” I hissed, Cruz stepping closer with his eyes on Skeeter.

“You’d better lower that from my girl’s head.”

“Or what, Lennox? You going to shoot me?” Skeeter sneered, but he was already lowering his hand. “Control your fucking girl, and this shit wouldn’t happen.”

“Says the one dating a psychopath,” Cruz deadpanned, walking towards me. I jerked back into Stone further, but confusion took over when he stood beside me and crossed his arms, staring down the roomful of gang members. “We’re not here for Penn, we thought she was safely at home. We’re here to stop you from killing Stone.”

“This is ridiculous,” Skeeter spat, but Rory made her way towards us, holding my gaze.

“You’d seriously die over this asshole? Do you remember what he did to you?”

“I did that to myself,” I answered sharply, and she raised an eyebrow for me to continue. “It’s not a secret that I lack the ability to know when someone’s bullshitting me in some situations. I should’ve known to question Stone the day I broke into your house, but I blindly trusted him because I thought he’d accepted me. If someone tried to kill one of your guys, wouldn’t you die for them too? Even if they were the one in the wrong?”

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