Page 94 of As Thick As Thieves

“I don’t think Leah’s back yet, so let me take you,” he insisted as he pulled a shirt over his head, and he wasn’t wrong. I couldn’t wait much longer for Leah to return from lunch with Jai.

“Fine, but just this once,” I warned, letting him lead me out into the living room where chaos erupted.

The front door slammed open, and Jai ran in, Leah’s bloodied body in his arms. “He killed her, he fucking killed her,” he kept repeating, Stone instantly pulling my face into his chest to block my view. I tried to fight him off, but he only held me tighter.

“Who? What the fuck happened?” he demanded.

“I don’t know! I had to use the bathroom after lunch, so Leah said she’d meet me in the car. When I got out, she was dead in the passenger seat. There’s no smashed glass or anything, so she wasn’t trying to fight them off. They must have snuck up on her. Fuck, I don’t—”

“Get her into the office. I’ll be in once I’ve gotten hold of Cruz,” Stone ordered, tears blurring my vision as I pulled back just in time to see Leah’s lifeless body being carried away, a bullet hole right between her eyes.

“Don’t look, Princess,” Stone growled, stepping in front of me more to force my eyes up to his as he pulled his phone from his pocket.

“I can’t be here when Cruz gets here,” I managed to choke out, reality hitting me suddenly. “I’m not supposed to—”

“I’m calling him to come and get you. I don’t give a fuck if he’s mad at me. You're an adult, and I didn’t drag you here. Let him be mad, but right now, he’ll push it aside to be there for you.” He kept talking, but I wasn’t really listening, my ears ringing as I stumbled slightly. “Penn! Snap out of it!” he bit out, clicking his fingers in my face. “You’re going into shock, but I need you to focus.”

“This is my fault. If it’s the same guy who’s after me—”

“Jesus Christ, it’s not your fault. Baby, look at me. Shit, no, not you, Cruz. I need you at the compound.” He tucked me against him and kissed the top of my head, but I barely felt it.

Leah was dead because of me.

“I don’t have time to fucking argue with you, man. Leah’s fucking dead, and Penn’s going into shock. Get your ass here so I can deal with this without worrying about your girl. Bring Drake and Knox if you can, Jai thinks it was the person who’s been stalking Penn,” Stone continued, hanging up before wrapping his other arm around me. I was suddenly lifted off the ground as he carried me to his room, tucking me into bed and murmuring that he’d be back in a second.

My phone was ringing in my pocket, but I ignored it as tears fell. The shooter must have seen her driving me around all week and recognized her. I squeezed my eyes shut as the sound of Sandra screaming somewhere in the compound hit me all of a sudden, hard sobs threatening to choke me as I tried to catch my breath. Arms wrapped around me and pulled me into a chest, Stone’s cologne surrounding me. He must have shut the door because the sounds were a lot more quiet now once I focused on them.

“Breathe,” he murmured, and no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t get close enough to him. He cursed before sitting up and pulling me onto his lap, making it possible for me to wrap my legs and arms around him tightly as he stroked my back. I was probably really hurting him, but all I could think about was needing to be closer, to somehow use him to anchor me from the overwhelming grief that was drowning me.

I didn’t know we had company until Cruz’s face popped into my vision as he crawled onto the bed, reaching out to wipe my tears. “Hey, baby. Come here so Stone can deal with Jai.”

I clung to Stone even tighter, not wanting him to leave. Now that the guys knew I was obviously sneaking around with him, they’d never let me out of their sight again. They couldn’t take him away from me now.

Stone’s hand slipped up the back of my shirt and he buried his face in my neck, not giving a shit that Cruz was here. “Princess, I need you to let go so I can handle this.” I shook my head, making him sigh. “Look, I’ll convince Cruz to let you call me later to check in, okay?”

“She’s dead because of me,” I whimpered, Cruz giving me a sad look as he shook his head.

“No, she’s dead because some piece of shit killed her. That has nothing to do with you, and we’ll figure out who did it. We can stay here a little longer if you let Stone go. He could probably do with our help anyway.” I released my grip on Stone a little, knowing from the way he breathed out with relief that I’d definitely been hurting him, and Cruz opened his arms for me. “Come on, sit with me while Stone helps Jai.”

I reluctantly climbed off Stone’s lap and crawled to Cruz who took me in his arms tightly, kissing the side of my head and motioning to Stone that it was fine to leave. Drake hovered in the doorway, but Knox was nowhere in sight. Stone said something to Drake before shooing him into the room and closing the door, leaving us alone.

Neither of the guys spoke, they just sat with me while I cried it out, not mentioning why I was even here to begin with.

Stone

Knox was already barking orders at people in the office to go over the footage and see if they could track where the shooter had come from, leaving me to handle Jai who was falling apart right in front of me. I wasn’t the type to comfort anyone, but I knew I had to try. Jai and Leah had been part of my organization for a long fucking time, so I had to make sure I did everything I could to help him through this. They might have only just started dating, but he’d loved her for a long fucking time now.

“We’ll find them and make them pay,” I said sternly as I pulled him in for a hug, clapping him on the back. I didn’t expect him to hug me back, but I gritted my teeth through the pain as he clung to me, my body screaming in protest.

“Is this because of Penn? It has to be, right?” he choked out, catching Knox’s attention from across the room.

“This isn’t on Penn.”

I thought Jai was going to argue, but he shook his head as he stepped back from me. “I’m not blaming her, but is it because that person is after her?”

Sandra, on the other hand, lost her fucking shit. “No, this is Penn’s fault! If she wasn’t so hungry for Stone’s dick, she wouldn’t have had Leah sneaking her over here all week! Was her pussy fucking worth it, Stone? Your little affair got Leah killed!” She shoved me, and I winced as my aching body throbbed in response. Knox was eyeing me silently, obviously waiting for my answer.

“I haven’t fucked Penn,” I said calmly, keeping my attention on Sandra. “I do recall that Leah was the one to bring her here last week to tend to me because all of you were sick of my shit. None of this is Penn’s fault, she’d do anything for anyone, and you know it.”

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