Page 31 of Riding the Pine

“I found her crying in the bathroom.”

I start the car. Crying? Athena? Have I ever seen her cry?

Closest I came was probably yesterday when she got glassy eyed on the couch texting me about her piece of shit, asshole father.

He goes quiet for a long moment, and I pick the phone up from the passenger seat to make sure the call is still connected. “Raf?”

“I’m here.” He heaves out a sigh like the weight of the world is on his shoulders. “Sorry. I… I think she has a bruise on her face, man. She locked herself in the bathroom so I can’t talk toher or check on her.” He sounds terrified, of me or her brothers, I’m not sure. “I wasn’t sure who to call.”

“You did the right thing, I’m almost there.” I cruise through an almost amber, okay so mostly red light and hope no blue lights appear behind me. Even if they did, I wouldn’t give a flying fuck.

For Athena, my bright eyes, I wouldn’t stop for red lights. Or blue lights. It would take an act of God to stop me from getting to her.

I abandon my car and haul ass into the hockey house, tossing my keys at the first warm body I see. “Can you fix my parking?”

They don’t ask questions or talk smack; my face must have that ‘don’t fuck with me’ look I’m told I get on the ice. Raffi stands guard at the downstairs bathroom door. He gives me a solemn nod as I approach.

“Still in there?”

He nods, holding up his palms to face me. “I didn’t do it. I swear.”

I grip his shoulder and give a reassuring squeeze. “I know, you don’t need to panic, I know it wasn’t you.” Are we really that terrifying?

Actually, I don’t need the answer to that question. I know we are, but not to our own. Raffi is family, he’d never, not in a bazillion years, hurt the guys’ sister. Never. It didn’t even enter my brain that he could have hurt her. Maybe he needs to hear that.

I pause before I reach to knock on the bathroom door, but Raffi’s already turning to head back into the kitchen.

“Raffi?”

He turns back to me.

“You did good, thank you. And it never even entered my mind that you might have hurt her. We’re family, man. Ride or die.”

His shoulders relax as he nods at me. “Thanks… I just… I dunno.” He rubs the back of his neck.

“Keep this between us for a bit, yeah?”

He nods.

There’s a reason she hasn’t called her brothers or gone to their apartments. There’s a reason she came here, and a tiny voice in my chest is screaming that she sought me out, but I smack it on the head because this isn’t about her and me, this isn’t about the love bubbling inside my body, this is about Athena.

Someone hurt her, and they’re going to die.

“Bright Eyes?” I knock gently on the door. “It’s me, Scott.”

She sniffs on the other side of the door and almost instantly, the lock clicks open. I let myself in, closing and locking the door behind me, not sure what I’m walking in to.

She’s wearing a hoodie, hood pulled up over her head, hair hanging down around her face, shoulders curled, body trembling.

My immediate urge is to pull her against my chest and hold her until we both feel better but not here, not now.

“What do you need? Do you want to stay here?”

Without looking up at me she shakes her head in silence. I doubt she wants to go back to her place, Savannah is there, probably with Justin. Too many ears. If she’d wanted to go there, she would have. And I’d bet every penny of the meager amount in my bank account that she doesn’t want to go to her brothers.

There’s only one place that comes to mind in this moment, quiet, private, and not likely to be walked in on by anyone we know.

“Can you make it out to the car, okay?”

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