Tore Up (Mississippi Smoke Series Book 1)
Tore Up: Chapter 36

Fucking Bane.

I climbed the stairs to the third floor as Halo’s cries got louder. This was the second night in a row he’d been gone. I didn’t mind sleeping on the floor, but I didn’t know how to make her stop crying out completely. She’d never really settled last night. I’d stopped her screaming, but the cries and restlessness had continued.

Where the hell he had run off to after refusing to go on the job with us because he couldn’t leave her, I didn’t know. But something was up. He wasn’t answering text or calls, and no one knew where he was. I had a feeling Linc knew, or he’d be more worked up about Bane’s absence.

Opening her door, I stepped inside, then went to quiet her down. Tears wet her cheeks, and she let out another scream while sitting up fisting the covers in her hands.

Dammit! Crosby would have hated this. Seeing her like this.

I sat on the edge of the bed and placed my hands on her shoulders. “Easy,” I said gently. “It’s okay, little momma.”

She trembled, and her bottom lip quivered pitifully.

I ran my hand over her hair. “You’re okay. Everything is fine,” I assured her. “Just lie down.”

Easing her back on the bed, I tried real hard not to look at her tits through that thin, silky thing she was wearing, but it was hard. They were pressing against the fabric, and her nipples were outlined, even in the darkened room. They were the biggest natural tits I’d ever seen. She let out another panicked sound, and I snapped my eyes off her tits to look at her face.

Crosby’s baby momma. She has big tits because she is pregnant with your dead best friend’s kid. Stop being a fucking creep, I scolded myself.

I brushed her hair back off her face. “Shh, you’re fine. You’re safe,” I said softly.

The girl was stunning. Every feature perfect. Damn near angelic. Her name fit her.

I thought of the look on Crosby’s face, the panic in his eyes, the pain when he’d said her name.

I rubbed my hand over the ache in my chest.

“We found her, man. She’s okay,” I whispered. “But, fuck, I wish you were here. She needs you. Saylor never did, but this one does.”

Moving off the bed, I walked over to the wall and sank onto the floor, watching her. Thankfully, she was still. Maybe she’d get some rest tonight. Satisfied that she was sleeping, I closed my eyes.

“Bane!”

My eyes flew back open. What the fuck had she just said? Bane?

She was tossing her head back and forth. “Bane!” she moaned this time.

What the hell?

A sob came from her, and I sat there, unable to move.

What was going on? Why was she calling out the wrong brother’s name?

She buried her face into the pillow as she became still again.

I stared up at the ceiling. Where was the fucker? Did he know she cried out his name? Why would she cry his name?

“You’d better get your ass back here, you motherfucker,” I muttered into the darkness.