Page 23 of Haven

“Again,” she grunted.

I gritted my teeth and went at her harder. Cinder knew my weaknesses. I growled in frustration and went in lower, using my knee and aiming for her ribs. She grabbed my leg, twisting my ankle until I fumbled to the floor, landing with a thud before I rolled onto my back.

“You need to practice,” Cinder said sternly as I accepted her outstretched hand.

“Well, for a while I didn’t need it. I guess maybe I should start training again.”

Shit.

Cinder arched her brow. “Why would you need to?” Way to go, Rory. “Is something wrong?”

“Uh, no. I’m just saying, you know, practice will help if the day comes when I need to use it.” I could fight. The six men whose asses I kicked proved it.

“You know I am always here, and so are any of the Vipers.”

“I could just stab them.” I smirked, thinking about the man who met the end of my blade while smoking. “I always keep my knife on me.”

She rolled her eyes. “I need to get you over your fear and buy you a gun.”

I grimaced. I didn’t like guns because of my mom. “Cin, you know why I don’t want one.” It was like my mom was worming her way into my mind. God, I hated that woman.

My little feet tiptoed across the hallway, following the sound of laughter and music. I peeked into the living room to see they were playing cards. They did that a lot. Mama didn’t have clothes on, and the men were shirtless. Mama always had friends over. She made me stay in the room, but sometimes they wandered in there.

My eyes met one of the men's eyes. “Brit, the spawn is out.”

Mama’s eyes flew to mine, and she was angry. She was always angry. “Mama, I’m hungry.”

“I don’t give a shit. You were supposed to stay in the room.”

Her palm collided with my cheek. “Mama, I’m sorry!”

“Sorry?” she scoffed. She turned around looking for something. I wanted to run back to the room, but she grabbed me by my hair. My hair was gross with dirt and tiny bobs. Bobs were my friends that lived in the knots.

Silver caught my eye, and I screamed. Not again. I shouldn’t have come out. “Mama, no please. I sorry!”

“No, you want to be an adult, Aurora. Now you play the big girl games.”

She took all the bullets out of the gun but one. Mama did this game a lot. It scared me, too. When she did this game, the ache in my tummy left. I never should have left the room. I wanted Ellabella.

I squeezed my eyes shut. Fighting would cause more problems. My body jumped when she fired the gun, but nothing happened. When I opened my eyes, she fired again, this time a bullet flew past me and buried itself into the wall. I screamed. It was pointless, but I couldn’t help it.

“I own you, Aurora. Your life is in my hands.”

“Hey, come back.” I jumped, shaking the memory from my mind. God, I hated remembering the shit that woman did to me. “I’m sorry I sent you back there. I just want you to be safe, Rory.”

“I am safe with the Vipers. I don’t need a gun. If my knife and fists aren't enough, then so be it. I’ll yap until my death.”

“You’ll yap until I can save you,” she corrected.

“Sometimes, I can save myself, Cin.” I glanced at the clock. “I got to take a quick shower and head to my shop. I love you. I’ll see you tonight at Rejects.”

Twenty-One

Hades

Iwas done beating around the bush. It’s been three weeks, and I couldn’t get Rory out of my head. I wanted to find her and be a fucking weirdo. Bless my heart. I was insane. Fuck. I must be crazy, but people say when you know, you know.

One of my closest friends hibernated at my dad’s clubhouse. Zade was my father’s unofficial son and the Devil techy. He only worked with my dad and refused to help if it involved anything with Luke Callahan. I loved him because he also helped me take the money Luke got from his illegal business and donate it to women and survivors. One day we would get rid of him and save those women.