Page 33 of Endure the Pain

Dean eyed me with skepticism before glancing at Asher, who had been quietly listening and watching me.

By the time we pulled up to the house, I was dying for a shower. The blood had dried, making my skin sticky, and the scent of pennies was strong enough to gag on.

Stefan was waiting in the foyer with his arms crossed over his chest. He didn’t look pleased, which told me Rourke had informed him about what we’d been up to. His displeasure was replaced with worry and wide eyes as soon as they landed on me.

I put my hands up. “It’s not my blood. As you probably already know, we hit back at the Aryans today.” I sent an accusing look in Rourke’s direction.

He shook his head. “I didn’t tell him.”

“He didn’t have to. He and Vincent have been practically living here for weeks and then I saw you leave the house earlier this evening, looking like that.” Stefan gestured to all of me with a flippant wave of his hand. I was still in my disguise. The wig I was still wearing had stayed in place, but the ends were crusty from Dustin’s blood. “I’m disappointed you both failed to tell me the plan.” Stefan turned his evil eye on Rourke. “I’m not surprised she didn’t tell me, but I am that you didn’t, Rourke.”

I stepped between them, diverting Stefan’s wrath to me. “He asked me if I told you the plan. I lied and said I did. If you’re going to be mad at someone, be mad at me.”

“You do understand that I’m the head of this family?” he asked as if I’d forgotten.

“Your status in this family means nothing to me. You are my father. Nothing more. I respect and listen to you because I love you. I’ll do what you need me to do to serve this family, but I’ll be doing it my way. If people have an issue with that, send them to me. I’ll happily make sure they understand. Or you can be the big bad boss that I know you are and tell them to kiss your mobster ass before you make them.”

The room was quiet, and I could feel the others’ unease. Stefan didn’t say anything for the longest time as he studied me. Eventually, his body relaxed a little. “You look horrific. Are you hurt?”

I pulled off my wig and shook out my hair. “I slit someone’s throat while he was trying to touch my tonsils with his tongue. Things got messy.”

Stefan arched a questioning brow and waited.

I sighed. “He got a few hits in before he went down. I’ll heal.”

He nodded.

Footsteps pounding on the tile alerted everyone that someone was running through the house. Louie rounded the corner from the hall, and he came rushing into the foyer. He stopped abruptly as his wide eyes bounced allover me. “Fuck, Maura! One of the guys said you just came home, and you were covered in blood,” he said, slightly winded.

I schooled my expression because I wanted to smile. I looked to Stefan. “Can we talk later? I need to shower.”

Stefan waved me off and asked Rourke and Vincent to follow him to his study. They left in that direction with Owen following them. I glanced back at my goons. “Go home, guys. It’s late and all I want to do is strip and shower for the next few hours because I seriously feel it’s going to take that long to get clean.”

Dean walked past me over toward Louie on the other side of the foyer. Dean leaned close to him and whispered something. Louie’s eyes slightly widened at whatever Dean had said and he glanced over at me.

What the fuck?Dean turned and walked back, intending to leave through the front door.

“Best friends aren’t supposed to keep secrets from each other,” I chided as he passed me.

He stopped in his tracks and glared at me. “No, they’re not.” With that said, he and Asher left.

I tossed my wig on the table in the foyer and sighed. “You going to tell me what he said?” I asked over my shoulder.

Louie crossed the foyer and turned me to face him. “He’s just worried about you. I had Josh call Jameson when I came running. He’s probably breaking every traffic law to get here, but I can hang out with you until then,” he offered.

“I’m fine. I don’t want you to think you have to be around me because of whatever Dean told you.”

His hands squeezed my shoulders and his gorgeous dark blue eyes held mine. “I wouldn’t have offered.”

I looked away. “I’m trying to give you space, Louie.”

“What if I don’t want space anymore?” he asked and I met his eyes again, searching for his meaning. A smile slowly formed at his mouth. “You look so different with those contacts in.”

“I didn’t want to touch my eyes with bloody hands to take them out,” I explained.

He tilted his head toward the stairs. “Let’s go get you cleaned up.”

I stayed in the shower way after it had turned freezing. I had a huge bruise on my side and bruises on my breasts. No matter how much I scrubbed, they wouldn’t go away.They made me feel dirty. They brought backbad memories.I did what I had to,I reminded myself. It helped.