I gasped. “What?”
Wrath gave me a sad smile. “Scrappy’s tonguefell out of his mouth the second he saw you, Moonbeam, and I warned him to keep his hands and thoughts off of you. I claimed you the minute you got here.”
“You did not.”
“I did.”
“Then, why’d you keep fuckin’ other women?” I challenged.
“Because you said you didn’t want to commit.” He cocked his head. “It wasn’t until you picked my lock that I realized you wanted more than you were admitting.”
“Did not.”
He raised an eyebrow. “We’ll see.”
“Back to Scrappy,” I ordered, sipping my wine.
“I don’t know. He just kind of attached himself to me and then Jill became like my surrogate mother. My mom wasn’t around much, and I never really knew my dad, so Jill was always around to lend an ear, bake cookies… shit like that.”
I nodded. I never got to meet Wrath’s mom. She’d died about ten years ago or so. Cancer, I think. He never really talked about her, and I never felt like I could ask.
“Needles, Rocky, and Sundance were kind of their surrogate dads, helping them channel their anger and general boy shit. I guess they were for me, too, back in the day. I think Needles has a thing for Jill, but no one ever talks about it. But Scrappy always talked to me about deep stuff. Jesus, he was a pain in the ass.”
I smiled. “You always listened, though, huh?”
“Yeah. Don’t know why, but yeah.”
I pressed a finger to his chest. “Because, despiteyour best efforts to show people otherwise, you have an ooey gooey center.”
“Bullshit.”
I kissed his chest. “No bullshit about it.”
“Keep that shit to yourself Moonbeam, or my street cred’ll be ruined.”
I crossed my heart. “Continue with your story.”
“Not much to tell. Scooby patched in, then Scrappy followed suit. Of course, once Tango met Carina, the tie was unbreakable.”
“But now Jill’s lost two children,” I said sadly. “God, I couldn’t even imagine.”
“Yeah.” Wrath nodded. “She made me promise I’d do everything to protect Scooby.”
“And you will.”
“Except he’s not speaking to me right now.”
“He will, honey.” I squeezed his arm. “All of this will blow over. Healing takes time. I’ll find some crystals for him.”
He dropped his head back to the headboard. “Baby girl, I think his shit’s gonna take a hell of a lot more than crystals.”
“We’ll see.”
“You stayin’ with me tonight?”
I leaned my head against his shoulder. “Do you want me to?”
“You have an open invitation to stay in my bed every night, Sierra.”