Page 125 of Scream Little Sister

“I have to help them clean up,” I whisper. I cup her cheeks and peck her nose. “Will you be okay by yourself? I’ll be right outside, I promise.”

She nods. Her swollen lips tempt me to kiss her again to make it more noticeable. “Promise you won’t leave?”

“I swear on my life,” I say.

Madison crawls off my lap, and I already miss the weight of her on me, the feel of her warmth seeping through my soaked clothes, and her mouth moving over mine. I have to force myself to walk away before I sweep her into my arms and carry her to our bedroom.

I step outside, glad the rain stopped while I was busy comforting Madison.

Hawk stands by Justin’s corpse, his head tilting this way and that as he surveys the damage. He turns to me and frowns when I approach him. “What the hell happened, man? It’s a fucking bloodbath.”

“He fucked around,” I say.

A flash of humor crosses Hawk’s face. “And he found out. Got it.”

Another motorcycle approaches us and parks. Aiden takes off his helmet and wanders over with a low whistle as he looks at Justin’s body. “Goddamn. The hell did you do to bash his head in like that?” He looks at me. “A bat? No, wait. Did you run him over with your bike?”

“I curb-stomped him,” I say.

Hawk’s gaze whips to me, his eyebrows hiking up his forehead. “Youwhat?”

Jaxon pulls up in his car and grabs tarps from the backseat.

“Did you just say you curb-stomped him?” Aiden yells, then hoots out a laugh. “The fuck did he do to deserve a death like that? You must’ve been pissed. I can’t believe I missed it!”

“Dude, you never get pissed off,” Hawk says in disbelief. “I mean, I’ve seen you annoyed but never—” He runs his hands through his hair and holds the back of his neck. With wide eyes, he stares at me like I grew two heads.

Jaxon drops the tarps beside the corpse and unrolls them. “We’ll need to get rid of your boots.”

I look at my feet and frown. “These are my favorite ones.”

Jaxon peeks at me from over his shoulder. “We’ll get you new ones, then.”

Aiden crosses the space and approaches me with a more serious expression. “Seriously, what did he do to get you to that state? Also, who the hell is he?”

“He was Madison’s fiancé, and he hurt her.” I look my friends dead in their eyes as I say that.

No more hiding. No more being a dirty little secret.

Hawk is the first to piece it together, his pinched eyebrows slackening as it clicks. Jaxon’s expression doesn’t change. It’s always flat or a scowl, but his eyes are always a dead giveaway. Maybe he’s known this whole time, and he finally got the confirmation and isn’t surprised.

“Holy shit,” Aiden breathes. “You really are fucking your sister.”

“She’s in there, isn’t she?” Hawk jerks his chin toward the house.

I nod. “There’s also another body in there.”

Aiden stabs his fingers through his hair and stares at me. No jokes. No laughing. No teasing. I expected all of that from him, and I’m surprised when he only gazes at me with a slackened jaw.

“Whose body?” Hawk says, breaking the tense silence.

“Jerry’s.” I glance at the front door. “We’ll need to remove it right now so Madison doesn’t have to look at him anymore.”

Jaxon stands from his crouched position and moves behind Justin’s mangled head. He turns and catches my attention. “Then let’s get this shit done so I can go back home to Dahlia.”

That snaps us out of the weird moment.

For once in my life, I’m able to drag in a full breath and not feel like I’m choking. The secrets, longing for my little sister, Jerry’s threats and abuse—those things no longer hang over my head like a dark cloud.