Saving Grace

Chapter Nineteen: Finishing What They Started

"Where should we put him?" Hugh growled, as he and Fallon dragged a bruised and bloody Trent into the house. The guy could barely stand and a putrid stench drifted from his body.

"Tie him up in the shed," Quinn commanded. "No use getting the carpet bloody." Fallon offered his brother a stiff nod before he and Hugh carried out what they hoped would be their final task of the day. When they were gone, the man turned to Gracie's friends with a scowl on his face. "What did you do to him?" he asked, and Gracie habitually interpreted for him.

Layton scowled, flexing his right hand, which had been wrapped in a loose bandage. "What? Were we not allowed to use him as a punching bag?" he asked innocently. Gracie smirked and Pi had to work to keep the smile from sliding onto his face.

Quinn's frown deepened and his eyes glowed intensely. He was looking for the truth. Nothing else. "Why did you do it?" He wanted to know how much the boys knew. Gracie subtly shook her head, but the man ignored her, as she'd been ninety nine percent sure he would.

"He deserved it," Pi answered this time, a hard expression etched into the contours of his face that Quinn had never witnessed before. He'd only ever seen the kid as a timid little geek who followed Gracie around like she was his violent princess, but looking at him now, he knew he'd been wrong... about both of them. "He used to beat the shit out of us when we were younger. He terrorized us. It was... cathartic," he explained, and to Gracie it all made sense. All throughout middle school and the first few years of high school, she'd known they were harassed constantly whenever she wasn't around, but they would never tell her who did it.

Gracie sneaked a glance at Layton and saw him nodding along with everything Pi said, a stoic expression on his face. "We had to get our revenge too," he justified.

Quinn nodded his head thoughtfully. "Of course," he responded easily. "Glad you got it in, now I'm going to kill him." Gracie winced almost imperceptibly as she interpreted, and her friends both shot her a sharp look.

"Why...?" Pi asked slowly. "Is it some kind of gang thing?" Quinn caught Gracie's eyes and they shared a weird moment that put Pi on edge. It seemed like they were having a conversation of their own, and the fact that she had that kind of relationship with anyone else other than him had jealousy flaring up furiously in the pit of his stomach.

Gracie subtly shook her head and Quinn sighed, eyeing Pi warily. "He hurt my little sister," he explained, talking for himself even though he hated doing that. He didn't know what he sounded like, but he hated Gracie having to speak for him all the time even more.

Layton reacted with narrowed eyes and hatred flashing through them. "He deserved to die a long time ago," he spat and Quinn nodded his agreement.

Pi wasn't so convinced by Quinn's story. If the murderous glare in the man's eyes had something to do with Gracie he wanted to find out. She meant the world to him. He might've been short, and geeky, and not very brave, but he would've moved mountains just to be around her. "Gracie, can I talk to you a minute?" he asked, gesturing toward the front door.

Gracie didn't hesitate before nodding her head. "Sure," she answered easily, following him out onto the porch, leaving Quinn and Layton alone. "What's up?" she questioned when they were by themselves in the chilled spring wind.

Pi took a deep breath before narrowing his clear blue eyes. "I want to know what's going on between you and Quinn. Something is up, and you're not telling me what it is." His hands were clenched inside his coat pockets and his intense gaze bored into her, as if he were studying her every movement.

Gracie reeled a little at the words coming out of his mouth. "I'm not with him or anything, if that's what you're worried about. He's like my big brother," she responded, an edge of disgust in her voice at merely the thought.