Page 24 of Ethan's Sky

“Bros before hoes.” Hawk snickers. “Patch before snatch.” I shake my head. “Brothers before Moth…”

“No! Shut up! Now, Hawk.” I cover my ears not wanting to hear anymore. He has no limits in the bedroom. “Mothers are off limits. Especially those of your friends.”

“It was one time. I was sixteen and she was fucking hot! You can’t blame a kid, but you’re right, lesson learned.”

I shiver at the thought. He throws his head back roaring with laughter beside me. I try to hold it back, but the asshole manages to make me smile, making him laugh harder, pumping his fist in the air as we pass through the doors and make our way into church.

“Asshole,” I mumble, dropping my hands from my ears.

“Listen, in all seriousness, I’ll help you get your answers, but you’ve got to be patient and for God’s sake don’t grab Skyler’s arm again! She’s packs one hell of a punch!”

“Fuck off,” I grumble, shaking my head as I push past him, shoving him with my shoulder, before taking my seat inside the sanctuary where all our brothers are waiting. Hawk plops down next to me, his laptop sitting on the table waiting for him.

“Admit it. You love me. Life would be boring without me in it.”

Asshole.

“What the fuck happened to you?” Gabe snaps, putting a stop to all conversation around the room.

“Skyler happened to him,” Hawk says grinning like the fucking cat who got the cream.

“Sky hit you?” Eli asks, his lips turning up at the corners, eyes full of pride. “What’d you do to deserve it? As if we couldn’t guess.”

“I didn’t…”

“He grabbed her arm, wanting to stop her and talk, but she spun on him, and palm struck him in the nose. He’s lucky it didn’t break.” Hawk so graciously tells the room. “He’ll probably have a shiner though from the looks of it.”

“Ah. Yeah. She doesn’t like to be touched without permission,” Xander supplies. “You probably startled her. Be glad you didn’t grab her from behind. The outcome would’ve been much worse.”

His statement makes me wonder who touched her without permission and how the hell doesheknow about it? Was it the asshole who killed Emily? Maybe he beat her first, made her watch?

No. He couldn’t have beaten Skyler.

If she was beaten badly, how could she have run away?

So many unanswered questions.

“How so?” Hawk asks.

“She’d lay his ass out,” Xander, says. “It’s what we taught her to do.” Eli, Cash, and Walker are all smiling with pride.

They did what now?

There are chuckles and gasps around the room.

“You taught her to fight?” I pose the question, but Hawk, still laughing shouts over me.

“If she can take Ethan out…” he starts, but Gabe is quick to shut shit down.Thank fuck.

“Enough!” Gabe shouts, slamming the gavel down. “We’ve got other shit to get handled right now. You can place your bets on Skyler versus Ethan after we’re done here. Got it?”

A collective “Yes sir” rents the air.

“We can all bust Ethan’s balls later for the ass whoopin’ he received from such a sweet little girl.” Gabe’s grinning like a damn fool. The others are all laughing at my expense.

Sweet my ass.

“That’s our girl,” Eli says, beaming with pride.

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