Page 48 of Dirty Secrets
“That’s easy for you to say, you basically own this entire town.”
“From the age of eight to seventeen, I was a Heights kid. I had to fight like hell to get here. The things I went through I pray you never do. Keep fighting, Raven. An empire isn’t built overnight. Be the monster your monsters will fear,” she murmured, walking off just as I was almost bowled over by Reid, who grabbed my face to look at my lip.
“That piece of shit hit you?” he snarled, making me wince as his fingers pressed against the side of my head.
“Leave it, Rory dealt with it. We’re free to go, no charges,” Zavier said firmly, gently running a hand over my hair. “Let’s go home, we can talk there.”
Reid released me and Logan pulled me under his arm, letting Zavier and Reid walk ahead as he quickly pressed a kiss to my head. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I have cheese in my pants and butter in my pocket that’s probably melted though,” I said with a chuckle, earning a smile.
“I got the meat home in the freezer.”
“Did you leave some out to trade?”
“Yeah. I’ll switch the steaks for some stuff. Don’t worry, I’ve got it handled. Do you know how hard it is to not kiss you right now?” he asked quietly, and I grinned, ignoring the burn in my lip.
“I imagine it’s a little how I’m feeling about having to keep my lips off you.”
We reached the car and Reid silently stared at Logan, making Logan grumble as he climbed into the back with Zavier to let me sit up front. Zavier and I filled them both in on what had gone down, and thankfully, the drive home wasn’t long so I could get everything out of my pants.
Apparently, I’d lost the conditioner at some point too, leaving me with just the cheese and butter.
I carried the items out to the kitchen, Reid taking them from me and patting the counter. “Sit there. Let me look at you.”
“I’m—”
“Raven, sit,” he repeated firmly, putting the items in the fridge before turning to face me.
Doing as I was told, I lifted myself to sit on the counter, letting him move to stand between my legs as he gently took my chin in his hand, his fingers carefully pulling my lip back to inspect the cut my teeth had made. “Do you have a headache or anything? Dizziness?”
He released my lip, moving his fingers to my temple and feeling for bumps on my head.
“No. I’m fine, really,” I answered, but I let him make sure so he didn’t worry.
“Are you sure there’s no concussion?”
“Promise.”
“Are you going to tell me what was wrong this morning?” he asked instead, meeting my gaze as his arms dropped to his sides. “You can talk to me about anything.”
I couldn’t exactly just tell him I let Logan rail me twice and I’d been stuck in my head about it, so I shrugged. “Just girl stuff. I was feeling emotional and thought maybe some alone time would do me some good. We’ve all been up in each other’s shit lately.”
He eyed me for a second before nodding, taking a step back so I could climb off the counter.
“As long as you’re okay. C’mon, I’ll crash with you tonight.”
“Oh, you don’t?—”
“I want to keep an eye on you in case those knocks to the head were more serious than you’re telling me,” he said dryly, hooking an arm around my shoulders to guide me towards my bedroom.
Logan appeared, halting when he saw us. “You guys going to bed?”
“Yeah, it’s getting late,” Reid replied, and I cringed as Logan eyed us. I couldn’t exactly tell Reid I wanted to sleep alone then sneak Logan in later. He’d get suspicious.
“I can crash with her,” Logan offered, but Reid shook his head.
“I’ve got her. Night.”