Page 7 of Stone Cold Bad (Stone Brothers #1)

“Do you live here?” I asked.

“Me? God no. Not that my place is any better. I’m the neighbor.

I live with my mom. She’s loco, but she stays out of my way, and I make sure she doesn’t do anything nutty like stick her head in the oven.

” She propped one foot on the chair and picked at the muffin she’d pulled from the bag.

She was bone thin and there were circles under her light brown eyes, but even then, she was extremely pretty.

She reached up to her neck and swiped her fingers across it to remind me of the marks left behind by Ray’s hands. “Are you on the run from an abusive man?”

I nodded and took a bite of muffin.

“Looks like a good decision. Nothing worse than living with a sonavabitch. My mom and I did for ten years and then my dad fell off his fishing boat. I tried not to smile when they came to the door to tell us. But, it was better, you know? These guys had the same problem. We all grew up together figuring out ways to dodge our old men.” She lowered her voice.

“They had it a lot worse. Did you see Colt’s back? ”

I was confused. “No, why?”

“You’ll know when you see it. They’ve all got the same scars. I still remember them showing up to school on an icy winter day without coats and socks. I at least had a coat. I was living like royalty compared to the Stone brothers.”

“Hey, Street—” I could already recognize Colt’s deep, smooth voice, and I realized it fit him perfectly.

“Yeah, what?” she called back as she took a joint from her pocket.

“Shut up, I’m trying to sleep,” Colt replied.

“Yeah, all right.” She leaned forward. “Colt doesn’t like it when I talk about stuff like that.

They’re all assholes, and they hop from girl to girl, but none of them would lift a hand to one.

Even with their shitty childhood, and with the shady crap they’re into, they wouldn’t hurt a woman.

I love that about them. The rest of the town is scared of them, but I think they also kind of admire them, you know?

It’s a small town and a lot of people have lived here forever.

They know how it was for them.” She lit the joint and squinted at me through the smoke before offering me some. I shook my head.

She held the smoke in while she talked through her teeth. “What are you going to do now?” She released the breath, and the strong sage-like aroma of weed filled the kitchen.

I broke off a chunk of muffin. “Not too sure. I left with just a backpack, and I even lost that.”

“That’s right. I was going to get you some clothes. Yours are still on the porch with your boots, but you’re going to need something to wear. I’ll go home and grab a few things.”

“That’s really cool of you, Amy. I’ll get them back to you just as soon as I can.”

“Street—” this was a different deep voice. “I’ve got a problem.”

“We all know that, Hunter.” She rolled her eyes, but I could tell her expression had changed with the sound of Hunter’s deep voice.

“Street Corner, don’t toy with me. You know the problem I’m talking about.”

“You’ve got two hands, don’t ya? And you only need one cause it’s not big enough for two.” She pushed another piece of muffin through her lips.

I smiled. “Are you Hunter’s girlfriend?”

She laughed, but there was a sadness behind it.

“Hell no, the last thing I need is a headache like Hunter Stone.” She said it with confidence, but it was obvious there was more to it.

“Nope, these boys are nothing but trouble when it comes to your heart.” She pointed at me with the joint between her fingers and inclined her head toward the hallway.

“Especially pretty boy in there. Remember that, in case you’re thinking about getting yourself wrapped up with him. ”

This time it was my sad laugh that rolled across the wobbly plastic table. “Don’t worry. Like you said— the last thing I need at the moment.” I leaned back. “What I need is a job. You wouldn’t happen to know of something?”

She sat forward and smacked her hand on the table.

“Do I ever? I work at Lazy Daze Bar, and the other girl who I worked with got married and left. The owner’s a cranky old man, but he’ll hire you if you’re interested.

The pay sucks and you have to work until two in the morning, but the tips make up for it. What do you think?”

“Great. I’m just not sure where to stay. Is there a park or something nearby?” My life on the streets was going to come in handy now.

“You can’t stay in the park. The local police will run you out of there. I know from experience. My mom’s too crazy, otherwise I’d take you in. But these guys will let you stay, I’m sure of it. It’s a mess and they’re all pigs, but it’s a roof.”

“Who are you calling pigs?” Loud footsteps pounded the hallway floor. I looked back. It was Hunter. He was even bigger than Colt. He was wearing only boxer briefs, and an extremely anxious looking erection.

“I’m calling you boys, pigs.” She laughed as he stepped into view. “Holy crap, maybe you do need two hands this morning.”

“Nope, I just need my Street Corner girl. Now hop on.” He turned his back to her, but not before I glimpsed the scars on his skin. Amy held onto the lit joint as she climbed up onto his back. She stuck the joint in between his lips, and he took a hit.

Amy looked tiny on his back. She rested her chin on his shoulder. I could see it right then as she held onto him that she had a big thing for him. “Hey, Jade is going to stay with you guys for awhile. Just until she earns some money. Then we’re going to get an apartment together.” She winked at me.

“Who’s Jade?” Hunter asked. He had the same jet black hair as Colt but his eyes were dark brown.

Amy rolled her eyes. “The girl sitting at your elegant kitchen table.”

“Oh yeah. That’s fine.” He headed out of the kitchen with Amy clinging to his back.

“I’ll bring you some clothes. We can go over to the bar later to meet the owner,” Amy said as she passed by.

“Sounds great.” I looked around at the messy little kitchen. I was safe for now, but I couldn’t leech off these guys for long. Somehow, I was going to have to figure out how to survive without ending up back on the streets.