Her Best Men

Her voice cracked as she spoke, and I saw her standing there, shaking uncontrollably, with tears welling in her eyes. She backed up against the wall and seemed to collapse against it, sliding down until she sat down on the landing.

“Please, just leave,” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. “Please, leave me alone.”

As she slid to the ground, her shirt rode up on her body, showing on her stomach. A large bruise on her right side caught my eye, and I had to wonder – was this douchebag responsible for it? While maybe the bruise on her wrist could have been explained away, this one couldn't. It was roughly the size and shape of a fist.

Leo ignored us and walked toward Hailey, pure menace in his eyes. Seeing that bruise on her body, and feeling the pain radiating in my cheek from his cheap shot, made the anger within me boil over. There was no way in hell I was letting him get close to her.

I rushed toward the man, knocking him to the ground before he could get to her. Mrs. Roberts was standing with her back to the wall, her hand clamped over her mouth, a look of absolute terror in her eyes. As I moved on Leo, Quinn fell in beside me, helping me take the asshole down. I jumped on him and threw a few quick punches to the face, smacking him right in the side of his head.

“How does that feel, asshole?” I screamed. “Huh? Like that?”

Quinn was right there, holding his arms down as I took shot after shot on the guy. Blood poured from his mouth and nose and was smeared all over his face. Through it all though, he looked at me with eyes that were angry, defiant, and promising retribution.

The sound of sirens approaching filled the air, growing louder until they stopped right outside the door. Still, I wasn't about to let the asshole up from the floor. As cops rushed through the front door, I struggled against him, but Quinn managed to pull me off of Leo. Only when he was in cuffs did I stop fighting to knock the shit out of him.

Wiping the blood from my face he'd drawn when he sucker punched me, I glanced at the stairway. Hailey was gone. In the madness, she'd run away, and I was glad for that. She didn't need to see that. Because as he was being taken away, Leo screamed, his voice echoing through the house.

“I'll come back for you, Hailey,” he raved. “I swear to God, I'm coming back.”

Mrs. Roberts gave

us both a look that said she was thankful that we'd been there to protect them. Turning, she followed the cops outside to give her statement, leaving us standing in the foyer of their home.

“God, I hope she didn't hear that,” Quinn said.

“Don't see how she couldn't have,” I said. “Where'd she go?”

He shrugged. “Probably upstairs.”

I looked over at my brother and we both shared a smile, but now that the madness was fading and the adrenaline wasn't flowing quite as much, I had to ask the question that still nagged at me.

“So Quinn, what were you doing upstairs in her room, huh?” I playfully smacked him in the arm and grinned. “It was my night, remember?”

“Yeah, well, when did the McCormick boys ever play fair?” he said. “Come on, let's find Hailey.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN - QUINN

I'd only been over at the Roberts’ house for a few minutes when Bennett arrived. I had no intention of staying – I'd just stopped by to check on her, to make sure my brothers weren't bothering her too much. I really didn't want any of us bothering her. But, one thing led to another, and yes, I ended up in her bedroom, but not for sex.

When she'd opened the front door and saw me standing there, she sighed and shook her head, a momentary flash of irritation in her eyes.

“What do you want, Quinn?”

“I just want to make sure my brothers aren't driving you crazy,” I said. “I can only imagine how overwhelming this has to be for you.”

“Yeah, tell me about it,” she said and laughed, the irritation in her eyes fading.

She invited me in and we started talking about books and writing. She'd asked me upstairs to read something she wrote. That was it.

In Ben's mind, however, there was only one reason I'd be in a girl's room, because there was only one reason he'd be in a girl's room.

After the fight with Leo, I was ahead of Ben as we ran back up the stairs to Hailey's room. Taking two steps at a time, I reached the top first and ran straight for her room. The door was closed, so I knocked softly. Ben, however, didn't wait for an answer and opened the door right up, barging his way inside.

Hailey was on her bed, curled up in a fetal position with her pillow. Her eyes were red and puffy and there was a look of absolute fear mixed with shame etched upon her face. My heart ached when I saw her, and she jumped when we came in the door.

“Is he gone?” she whimpered.

“He's gone,” I said, walking toward her with Ben following closely behind. “The cops took him away.”