Page 101 of Stoker's Serenity

He tightened his hold around my body and I was weak, I admit. I cuddled back into him and took the comfort and shelter he provided.

“Nobody got hurt because of you, baby. You can’t take that on…” he murmured.

“Kyle never would ha –”

“Hush, now. Kyle never would have what? Shot up those kids if it hadn’t been for the way those kids treated both you and him. You aren’t to blame for any of that, that was on him. All on him. And yeah, ‘kids will be kids’ or whatever, but a lot of it is on the ones who were being little assholes to begin with. Karma has a funny way of workin’, and this is no different. The Kraken’s been an instrument of Karma’s hand a few times now, and we been on the receiving end plenty, too.”

“I don’t want you guys to do anything,” I said, my voice cracking. A bottomless well of emotion had opened up beneath me and was trying to swallow me whole.

“It’s out of your hands, baby. Out of mine, too. That dude trespassed against us.”

“Aren’t we meant to forgive those who trespass against us, though?”

“Our world doesn’t work that way, babe. Our world is much more stripped-down. Much simpler than that. In our world, it’s blood for blood, an eye for an eye. He hurt you, I won’t let that slide.”

“But –”

“No buts,” he said, and I pulled away from him.

“I don’t want this,” I said desperately.

He sighed and we faced each other; he searched my face and I searched his.

“A bargain,” he said, “and you can never let the rest of the club even know we talked about this.”

“I’m listening,” I said, hopeful.

“No harm comes his way – at least not physically. Property damage is another story.”

“His truck is already destroyed. Isn’t that enough?”

“No.” His tone brooked no argument.

We stared each other down and I shook my head finally. “I don’t know if I can go through with this… moving in… how am I not making a horrible mistake?” I asked.

He sighed out and stared at the ceiling for several seconds, finally saying without looking at me, “I love you. Try looking at this from my side of things for just a second.” He dropped his eyes to mine, meeting my gaze unflinching. “That dude, whatever his malfunction is, hurt you. Could have easily killed you, and if that hasn’t earned some sort of retribution, I don’t know what has.”

“Only because I got in his way,” I murmured.

He nodded. “To protect me, I know… now it’s my turn to protect you back. People need to stop fucking with you. People need to know that you’re off fucking limits and you need to get out of your own way and stand up for yourself.” He came to me, his voice harsh and passionate, but not yelling. He cupped my face between his hands and, his eyes inches from mine, said, “You need to let me do this. Not just for you, but for me, and if you’d like, for anyone else he might think he could get away with doing something similar, or worse, to, because if you don’t let me do anything, that’s how this is gonna go. He’s going to get the impression he’s untouchable and if that happens? What happens to the next guy?”

“That’s what the police are for…” I breathed but I was losing this disagreement. He was right.

“What did the authorities do for you?” he asked. “What did your teachers, the principal, the school resource officer – what did any of them do for you?” he asked.

Fuck. He had me there… Because he knew, they hadn’t done anything, which is what had prompted Kyle to do what he did. The frustration, the anger, all of it misplaced into a driving need for retribution, and here I was all over again.

I felt my eyes well up, the sight of him, beautiful and earnest, blurring with the tears.

“I feel like such a curse right now,” I told him, my voice breaking.

“You’re no curse, baby. You’re the greatest blessing ever bestowed on the likes of me. Now will you let me take care of you?”

I sniffed, unhappy, but deciding that I loved him, and this too would pass, and it would pass in a way that I honestly would never know.

“I mean, I want to be mad at him, too, but I don’t know why he did what he did. How do we know he wasn’t just having a bad day, or that he wasn’t hurting too for a different reason?”

He sighed pulling me against his chest and holding me firmly against him saying, “You’re pure goodness, woman.”

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