Too Sweet (Hayes Brothers #3)(89)

She’ll be okay.

She can’t see it, but Cody was right last year. She is a tough one. Regardless how much hurt is thrown her way, she’s still smiling. Still trying to find happiness.

“Use your words, Mia. Tell me you’re mine.”

“Always yours.”

“Good girl. Never doubt me. Never lie to me, and never hide things from me again. Promise.”

She lifts her hand to caress my face: a move I’ve grown fucking addicted to. The cautious tenderness she radiates drugs my entire structure.

“I promise.”

We both damn near jump out of our skin when someone knocks on the door at the bottom of the staircase.

Shouting come in would be useless since the space is soundproof, so I peck Mia’s nose and get up, jogging down to check who wants in.

Logan’s there, arms crossed over his chest, eyes betraying he’s on edge. “Shawn’s here.”

And I’m suddenly on edge, too. Mia hasn’t told me what Jake did, but while I cleaned and dressed her, I had time to think it through ten times over. There’s really only one explanation. One I desperately don’t want Shawn to confirm.

“Yeah, okay. Tell him we’ll be down in a minute. Are the triplets back?”

“Nah, not yet. We tried calling, but their phones are off. How’s Mia doing?”

“Better than you’d expect.” I step down the last step, closing the door behind me, so she won’t hear me. “I’ll need you and Theo tonight.”

He bobs his head, the unspoken promise of a fight jolting him with restless energy I know too well. “Anything. You know we’ve got you, but the guy’s detained, Nico. We can’t fuck him up.”

“It’s not Jake we’ll be visiting. There’s a twenty-five grand prize for Mia at college. First guy to fuck her wins.”

A look of menacing bewilderment crosses his face, two vertical lines creasing his forehead. “Shit, what the hell is wrong with people? You know who set the prize?”

“Brandon Price. I need you to come with me and keep me from killing the kid.”

“Yeah, okay, I’ll tell Theo.” He grips my arm, keeping me in place as I turn to get Mia. “There’s something you should know...” He steps from one foot to the other, squeezing the bridge of his nose. “That fucker recorded everything he did in that restroom. Shawn has the video, but from what he said, I don’t think you should watch it.”

I definitely shouldn’t.

The mouthful of flesh on the floor and Jake’s purple, bleeding cock paint the picture, but I don’t have a choice.

If I can, I have to see it.

Mia’s more concerned about us than what went down tonight, but the trauma’s there. It’ll hit her when she least expects it. If I have any hope of helping her, I need to know exactly what happened.

“I’ll get Mia,” I tell Logan, leaving him as I jog up the stairs.

But when I look at the bed, she’s asleep, curled into a ball on the California-King bed, wrapped tightly in my hoodie.

No way I’ll wake her up. Adrenaline must’ve worn off, and her system came crashing if she fell asleep so fast without my arms around her. I was only gone three minutes. She needs to rest, recharge, and then start processing this nightmare.

Shawn has the clip. He knows what happened, and if he still needs Mia’s statement, he’ll have to wait. For just one short minute, I think about asking him to come back tomorrow, so I can crawl beside Mia, but I need to know what went down.

Putting it off won’t do me any good.

I kiss Mia’s head, pull the comforter up to her chin, and switch on the galaxy projector I bought after the first night she spent here.

THIRTY-THREE
Nico

I PEER UP FROM SHAWN’S PHONE when the clip ends. My hands shake, and my mind is alive, in constant, jittery motion like a nest of snakes. I’m practically fucking glowing with all-consuming wrath.

If I had Jake here, I’d tear the fucker apart.

Mia’s cries resonate inside my head on repeat, adding a brand-new layer of evil to my messed-up mind, but everything comes to a screeching halt when I spot the triplets in the doorway, faces pale.

I’ve not heard them come in.

Once Mia bit a chunk of Jake’s dick off, he dropped his cell, and nothing more than the ceiling was visible, but her face and blond hair flashed up on the screen a few times as she rammed the toilet cover across Jessie’s head. There’s a second where you see him fall, and then it’s just the sound of Mia puking, Johnny on the phone with me, and my brothers bursting in, their voices raised before they tend to Mia.

They look worse now than two hours ago as they stare at me, waiting for my move. Cody wasn’t bleeding in Q, but he is now, his lip split, knuckles bruised.

It’s nothing compared to what Brandon Price looks like, standing between Colt and Conor, face swollen, nose broken. Large blood-mixed tears slide down his cheeks, creating a Halloween-worthy mess.

He’s not looking at me, his gaze glued to the floor, both arms held by my brothers, though I doubt he’d run.

He wouldn’t get far.

Anger barges into my battered mind like a Soviet icebreaker, diminishing the composure I’ve assembled thus far. It’s overwhelming without Mia by my side. Without her magical ability to pacify the worst kind of fury.