Page 44 of Deadly Little Hearts

Lucas lets out a loud exhale before bringing the bottle back to his lips.

Gage stays silent in the front seat as we make our way over the tracks.My shoulders drop just as our back wheels roll over the final track.Home in our own territory.Safe.At least for now.

“I’m not fucking dating you or Gage, unless you want me to stick my dick in your ass?”He pulls down his visor and waggles his eyebrows.

I laugh, then shake my head.Finally, some of the old Lucas coming out to play.

“I’m not having your limp dick anywhere near me, thank you very much.”

Lucas chuckles.“Yeah, you wouldn’t be able to handle the sheer size of it.”

I open my mouth to reply, but Freya stirs in my lap before her eyes fly open.She sits up quickly, smacking me in the nose with her fist.Pain splinters through my head and blood drips down onto my lip.She glances frantically around the car, her gaze snapping to mine.Her eyes are wild with rage.

“What the actual fuck?!”she spits out, balling her fists.

I raise my hands in surrender.“Not my idea,” I say, pointing toward Lucas.

She shuffles forward on the back seat and reaches around the passenger seat to grip Lucas’s throat.A wicked smirk plays on his lips through the visor’s mirror.My cock hardens against my briefs, watching her take control of this situation.Fuck, this girl is my everything.

Though I have no idea how I got so lucky as to claim her heart, I hope I never lose her.I don’t think I’m worthy of her or her heart, but fuck do I need it.Fuck do I needher.She’s not pure.She’s broken, just like me.Like all of us.

“You like to kidnap innocent, vulnerable women while they’re pissing in the woods?”Freya leans between the two front seats, her face right next to Lucas’s.

He doesn’t move, still facing forward.“You aren’t vulnerable or innocent,” he challenges, and Freya releases a heavy sigh.

“When will you forgive me?”Her voice breaks a little, and it takes everything in me not to say something, to yell at Lucas.But this isn’t my battle.This is between them.Only they can sort this shit out.

Lucas bites into his bottom lip.His eyes drop, and Freya releases his throat but doesn’t lean back.She’s stuck between the two seats.Gage eases us into my driveway and pulls the car to a stop.

“We’ve talked about this before, Freya.I love you, but my heart is still broken into a million sharp pieces, and I don’t know when I’ll be ready to let you back in fully.Just give me time, please?”

The silence of the car rings in my ears.

Freya presses a soft kiss against Lucas’s cheek.“I’ll wait for you,” she whispers, and Lucas smiles before reaching for the door handle and exiting, heading toward the front door.

Freya falls back into the seat next to me, and I wrap my arm over her shoulder, pressing a kiss into her hair.“Who hurt you?”I ask, running my thumb over her swollen cheek.

“My mom.”She sighs, and it takes everything in me not to drive back over the tracks and deal with her mother.Freya needs me, but I hope that woman gets what’s coming.I don’t want Freya anywhere near her anymore.

Gage gets out, and we follow him into the cool night.I pull Freya closer to me and she snuggles into my chest.We make our way inside my house, up the stairs, and into her new bedroom.

I switch on the light and Freya slowly steps inside.

“Wow,” she whispers, her gaze scanning the room, from her large bed to the custom-made artwork of the cliff she loves jumping off.

“You did this for me?”

“Of course.I promised that I’d create a space just for you to escape to,” I say.

Freya turns to me, her eyes glassy.“Thank you.”

She wraps her arms around my waist and rests her head on my chest.I hold her, bringing my lips to the top of her head.She deserves so much more than this, but it’s a start.

Gage falls backward onto her neatly made king bed with a heavy sigh, and Lucas shuts the bathroom door behind him with a soft click.

We stop at the end of her bed, and Gage leans back on his elbows, watching Freya with hooded eyes.

“You’re wearing too many clothes,” Gage says.“Don’t you think, brother?”He raises an eyebrow at me, and I nod, brushing my fingers along Freya’s stomach.

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