Page 123 of Heartless Heathens
Calming Sonny down when he was this visibly wounded and insecure would be a goddamn miracle.
I wished I had my brother’s blackouts to blame for the way I punched the shit out of him. Almost an out of body experience while I watched with every stone-heavy throw of my own fists against his face without him fighting back. He knew he deserved it and he sought the penance too. He wouldn’t have kicked her out, but she didn’t know that, and now she was out there again.
Upset, scared, and traumatized from all the bullshit Frollo couldn’t stop shoveling her way. I gave up trying to call Reesa after the thousandth time and without any updates from Corvin, I had no idea what was going on.
And then I felt her.
Like a tug on my heart, pulling on my soul, dragging me to the door.
Sonny lifted his head up from his hands and followed me like he felt it too. I opened the chapel doors and there she was, soaking in the rain, all wretched and broken. She was too far to even reach out and knock. It looked like she’d been standing there a while, just frozen in place.
“I-I didn’t know where else to go,” she sobbed out, shaking her head, her makeup dripping down her face like muddled ink.
I pulled her into my arms and lifted her into the chapel, feeling her chest vibrate through her cries. I’d barely put her on the ground and Sonny had already pried her from my hold, examining her with a scowl carved too deeply onto his face.
That’s when I really noticed her.
Bruised and battered, her dress torn and her face cut up and reddening. Her hand was dripping blood steadily onto the floor. Sonny wrapped his fingers around her jaw, forcing a gasp from her when he brought her closer to him.
“Who did this to you, Pet?” His jaw muscles bulged. I could hear his teeth grinding against each other.
For a guy who only wavered between apathy and anger, it was surprising how many levels of rage he could actually feel.
She mumbled incoherently between her sobs while trembling in his hands like she hadn’t forgotten that he was the reason she’d been out there anyway.
“Who put their hands on you?” he asked again, pulling out his phone.
“The guy with reddish hair, the one from class.” She shivered and he took his jacket off and draped it over her.
She looked at him with big round eyes before she slipped her arms inside, pulling it shut in the middle to cover herself. I tore the bottom of my shirt and wrapped it around her palm like a bandage and tying it. Sonny walked over to the fireplace and started a fire. I wanted to pull her into the warmth of my embrace, wrap my arms around her and make her forget the last few hours. I wanted to tell her it was all going to be okay and that anyone who hurt her would bleed in retribution.
She hurt us, but we’d hurt her too.
“Sit by the fire,” Sonny told her but she didn’t move.
He let out a heavy sigh and picked her up, moving directly in front of the open flames and sitting her on his lap.
“A-are you still angry with me?” she asked, tears visibly falling down her face.
“Yes,” he told her, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear and not bothering to wipe her sorrow away.
He combed his fingers through it delicately, and though he was the sickest bastard I’d ever known, she somehow melted at his touch. I crouched down in front of her, lifting her chin up, examining her bruised cheek and her bleeding lip. The blood at her nose had crusted up, but her palm was still bleeding steadily. Her dress was torn in multiple places and I frowned, closing the jacket in the middle.
“What happened?”
“I was with Reesa. I needed air, and he was there. He was nice at first but then he tried to touch me…I didn’t want him to. He said he wanted me to taste God.” She shook her head and started to cry, “I’m sorry. I didn’t want him to touch me. And I’m sorry I went to Frollo.” She covered her face with her hands and my eyes met Sonny’s.
“He tried to touch you?” I asked.
Sonny’s hands dropped to cup her shoulders, his grip firm but somehow soothing her.
“He wouldn’t stop, so I kicked him and then he got angry and hit me. I had my knife so I used it on him and ran away.” Her eyes went wide, “My knife—It’s gone.” She sobbed harder.
“It’s okay, Pet. It did what it was supposed to do. We can get you another knife,” Sonny told her.
Sonny dialed Corvin on repeat until we finally got an answer.
“I can’t find Frollo but I think I found something else,” he yelled out angrily.
