My knuckles were split open, bleeding.

Still, he didn’t fight back.

He wasn’t unconscious. I knew my strength. I knew my limit. I wasn’t crossing that.

He was going to be bruised. He’d be sore. He might have trouble walking for a day or two, but I wasn’t doing the damage he was acting that I was giving him.

I screamed at him, “You don’t deserve to get off with just this! STAND UP!”

An arm came around my stomach and I was lifted off him. I was carried back, and I was crying. I hadn’t known I was until I saw Zellman and Cross staring at me, both with haunted eyes.

It was Jordan.

Jordan pulled me off of him, and I started kicking, struggling to get free. “No! He hurt her. She’s my friend, too, Jordan. Let me go.”

His other arm moved around me, and he held me.

We stood there. Him holding me. Him bent over me, and I felt his breath on my shoulder. I couldn’t stop staring at the guy. He was in the dirt, blood caked all over him.

A guttural scream erupted from me. It was primal, and I tried shoving away from Jordan again.

He only tightened his hold. “Stop.”

“He doesn’t get to get off this easy. A beatdown? That’s it.”

“Please, Bren,” Jordan whispered.

I sagged, hearing his plea.

If I didn’t stop, he’d start. I had to stop. I had to stop for him.

“We have to go. It’s done.” That was Cross, but he was the leader speaking now. “Get her in the truck.”

Jordan carried me over. Zellman hopped up and Jordan lifted me to him. I could’ve climbed up myself, but there was something about my crew doing this for me. Handling me. They needed to do this, and a part of me needed to let them.

I glanced back as Jordan was climbing up, coming behind us.

Cross was bent over Harper. He was talking to him. A second later, he pulled his phone out, punching some numbers. Then the phone was back in his pocket, and he was coming for the truck. His eyes held mine for a brief moment before he got behind the wheel.

Cross drove us back as Zellman and Jordan huddled on both sides of me.

My hands were still bleeding, but no one moved to cover them.

That felt fitting, for some reason.

Just let me bleed.

Chapter Fourteen

BREN

I went dark last night.

Correction.

I went dark five hours ago. Same day.

I was lying in bed, not wanting to look at the time, and I could feel her. The old me. The firefly was there, too, on the sidelines, waiting to emerge to keep her company again.