Start a War (Saint View Psychos #1)(10)

Except I couldn’t. Because Bliss was there, and her needs had always come before mine.

“Don’t look,” I murmured into her hair, inhaling the honeysuckle scent of her shampoo. “Fuck, Bliss. Don’t look.”

I was speaking to myself as much as I was to her.

She didn’t respond, but she stopped trying to fight me. Her tears wet my shirt while I stared at an inky-black sky full of stars and cursed whatever fucking god was up there.

Axel was one of the good ones.

Dealt a shit hand in life that he had never deserved, and it had finally caught up with him.

I swallowed hard. I would be next. I was probably lucky to have lasted this long. This fucking shithole of a town and the people in it always won. There was no place for the good guys.

They just got chewed up, spat out, and left dead on their porches like it was any other Sunday.





4





BLISS





I stood protected in Nash’s arms while the police asked questions for hours. He never let me go, not for one moment, and when I shivered uncontrollably, he took his checkered flannel shirt off and draped it over my bare arms.

It was lightweight but warm and soft. His scent engulfed me, and just like when I’d been a little girl, huddled in the middle of two teenage boys more than twice my size, his smell meant safety. Comfort.

I knew I should have stepped away. If Caleb had suddenly arrived on the scene, he would have turned purple over me standing so close to another man, no less wearing his clothes.

But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I was cold all over, from the inside out, and Nash was the only thing keeping me functioning at all.

I couldn’t look toward the porch where my brother’s body was now hidden by a swarm of officers and crime scene tape. Every now and then, there was a flash of light as their camera caught the sickening sight of my brother’s brains blown out on the front wall of his house.

The questions droned on and on.

Did Axel have gang affiliation?

No.

Did he have any enemies?

No.

Any suicidal tendencies?

Nash had steeled the officer with a glare at that suggestion. “You think he shot himself in the head, execution style? Are you a fucking moron?”

“Hey!” the policeman snapped without an ounce of empathy for our situation. “If you want us to find the person who killed your friend, then shut up with your attitude and answer the questions.”

I could see the moment the rage ignited inside Nash’s heart. His eyes frosted over, the blue depths turning icy cold. It was like all his humanity had suddenly up and left the building, and he was considering tossing common sense out of the window and launching a fist at the arrogant cop’s face.

I put my hand on top of his and squeezed.

He looked over at me and dropped his gaze to the ground, a little of the fight going out of him.

Relief rushed in, and I answered for Nash. “No, Officer. Axel didn’t have any suicidal thoughts that we knew of.”

Even without knowing Axel for the past few years, since he’d taken ownership of Psychos, I knew he would never commit suicide. If he’d been inclined to end his life, he would have done it well before now. God knew he’d had more than enough reason to with the way we’d grown up.

But that wasn’t him. I knew it in my heart.

There’d been someone else standing in this yard tonight. While Axel had been warning me of danger, someone had turned a gun on him and pulled the trigger.

I’d heard my brother die.

Another sob built up in my throat, and I tried to swallow it down, but it was a losing battle.

Nash’s gaze turned tortured, and he glared at the police officer. “Are we under arrest or what? Because if we are, you better tell me now so I can call a lawyer. If we aren’t, I’m done answering questions and I’m taking her home.”

The officer grumbled something about them contacting us with further questions, but Nash was already guiding me toward the passenger seat of the BMW.

I stared up at him through watery eyes. “Is this really happening?”

He brushed a stray lock of hair off my face, tucking it behind my ear. “Yeah, Blissy girl. It is. Get in. I’m taking you home.” He reached around me and opened the door.

I didn’t argue like I had earlier that night, outside the club. This time, I let him put me in the car.

We were halfway back to Providence before I even considered the fact he’d left his Jeep at the crime scene. “Wait, Nash. Stop. Go back. I live all the way in Providence. How are you going to get home? You’ll be hard-pressed getting a cab or an Uber at this time of night. Not one that will take you into Saint View anyway.” Nothing good happened in Saint View after dark.

He shook his head, keeping his gaze on the road. “Just tell me where you’re going. You still live with your old man in that fancy-pants house up on the hill?”

I nodded. “Sort of. Technically that’s my address, but I don’t stay there much these days. As big as that house is, it’s a little cramped there with Nichelle, Verity, and Everett.” I glanced over at him. “That’s my stepmom and my younger brother and sister.”

“Shit, you’ve got other siblings? How old are they?”

“Six and eight.”