Styx (Walk Of Shame 2nd Generation #2)(49)

The punches only seem to get harder and louder with each swing, until Jase finally throws his hands up in surrender.

Breathing hard, Styx shoves Jase’s head into the floor, one last time, before jumping to his feet and rushing over to me.

His bloodied hands reach for my face, but I back away, before he can touch me.

“Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

I close my eyes and run my hands over my face, still shocked as hell that this all just happened.

“I just need him out of here. I can’t look at him. I can’t.” I open my eyes and look at Styx to see his reaction.

Nodding his head, he yanks Jase to his feet and begins pushing him toward the door. “Don’t ever fucking come here again,” he growls. “You’re lucky I didn’t kill you for putting your hands on her.”

Turning away from Styx, I powerwalk to the bathroom and shut the door behind me, pacing back and forth.

My heart is racing so fast and hard right now that I can hardly catch my breath.

I don’t know what to think. I’m so fucking confused. This is all too overwhelming for me.

This all has me wanting to scream. So I do.

Rushing from the bathroom, I grab Styx by the back of his jacket and turn him around, crushing my lips against his, before taking a step back and yelling. “What the fuck!” I look over his shoulder to see Jase opening the door to his car and speeding off.

“You’re so much bigger than him. You could’ve killed him, Styx. You need to know when to stop throwing the punches. Sometimes it doesn’t take twenty swings to get the message across.”

Styx’s eyes soften once he sees how worked up I am. “I wanted to kill him when I walked in that door to see him hurting you. He’s lucky he didn’t get fifty swings.”

God. I love him for this, but feel like I should be mad at the same damn time.

“I understand that you were just protecting me, but I can’t handle this right now. Do you understand that in less than twenty-four hours, I stood back and watched you beat the shit out of two grown men? My heart aches seeing you this way.”

Pushing his hair out of his face, he walks toward me, not stopping until his body is pressed against mine. “I’m sorry I’ve made you watch, but I’m not sorry for hurting him. I will do everything to protect you. That’s just who I am. Can you handle that?”

Closing my eyes, I nod my head and kiss him back, when I feel his lips on mine.

Being in his arms feels so damn good. Too good, but I think I need to be alone right now.

“I want to be with you tonight, Styx. I do with everything in me, but I need some alone time right now. Is that okay?”

“You want me to leave?” His body stiffens and I hate that a part of him is worried that I might now want him anymore.

“Just for tonight. I just need to draw a hot bath and relax and then go to sleep and wake up to a better day. I think we both need to sleep today off. I know it’s been a rough day for you and it’s been extremely rough for me too.”

He presses his face into my neck, before he gently kisses it and takes a step away from me. “I need to stop by the club to talk to Cale tomorrow. So I guess I need tonight to think about what I want to say to him.”

“Is everything okay?” I question.

He nods and zips up his jacket. “Yeah, it will be. Goodnight.”

Standing next to the couch, I watch as he walks away and closes the door behind him.

The first thing I do is fall to my knees and cry, letting out all of my frustration and pain.

I feel so damn alone right now, but I need to be.

After spending the whole day at the hospital looking after hurt patients, the last thing that I could take tonight was seeing another person bleeding in front of me, right on my living room floor. I’ve seen too much blood in the last twenty-four hours. I can’t see anymore right now.

Not to mention that I’ve been thinking about my mother, father and aunt since last night.

But especially my aunt since she raised me for as long as I can remember.

Spending the night with Lily reminded me what it was like to have that warm, fuzzy feeling of a parent being around to talk to.

Sometimes when I’m in moods like this, being alone is the best thing I can do. I hate letting anyone see just how broken I truly am.

I just hope that Styx will understand tomorrow . . .





Styx

I HAVEN’T SPOKEN TO MEADOW since last night when she asked me to leave.

I’ve spent the first part of my day at the gym and the second part of it at my mother’s house, making sure that her locks are all properly changed now that Frank has been asked to leave.

The police escorted him out the other night and I made it clear to him that he wasn’t to step foot into this house again.