Chapter 13

Hadina

Dusk had settled across the sky by the time Hadina pulled her car into the driveway. It had been a long day and exhaustion was picking at her bones. Still, she’d made time on her way home to pick up a couple of greasy burgers and fries for her and Peyton to eat in bed—she needed the comfort of unhealthy food in the safety net of the woman she loved. There was no-one else she would ever let see her pig out on fast food.

She tried to ignore how frustrated she felt as she quietly entered her family home, locking the door and punching in the security code behind her to reset the alarms. To say she was pissed at their inability to find Demi would be an understatement, and Hadina couldn’t help but feel like she was letting Peyton down. Again . She had promised to find her, to help her love find vengeance for everything that had been done to her, and yet Hadina was returning home empty handed again.

Harris and Piper opted to stay another few hours at the office, saying they’d try to come up with some more people to speak to or hide-outs to check for that puta . Hadina knew that they were being honest, in part, but she wasn’t oblivious to the connection sparking between them either. Piper had always loved Adrian and while she and Zellie had always viewed him as the annoying, but ever loyal, brother to them, there was another type of devotion that shone in Piper’s eyes when she looked at him. But Piper was so very cautious about ever getting close to anyone and Hadina just hoped Adrian wouldn’t betray her vulnerability by toying with her emotions—it would really fucking suck if she had to kill him for being a dumbass and thinking with his dick.

Hadina paused outside her bedroom door, taking a deep breath to calm herself. While she was always collected and kept her composure at the best of times, anxiety had begun to creep its way into her heart when Peyton was taken and even though she was home again, Hadina couldn’t seem to shake the feeling of dread that would wash over her. She ached to drown it in the bottom of a liquor bottle, but she’d promised to try and do better and she hated breaking promises. Instead, she was downing a cocktail of vitamins every morning to try and rejuvenate her liver to lessen the blow of the damage she’d already done. Besides, there was nobody to look after her if she allowed herself to drink away her emotions, no matter how badly she wanted to.

“Is that you, Hadi?” Peyton’s groggy voice called to her as she opened the door.

“Yeah, it’s me, baby.” Hadina kicked the door closed behind her and smiled at the sight of Peyton sprawled out on top of her bed, her entire body on show besides the tiny lace panties covering her pussy. Hadina’s mouth watered and she knew it wasn’t for the burgers in her hand.

Peyton hummed sleepily, yawning as she stretched and woke herself up. “I’m glad you’re home. I missed you.”

Kicking off her shoes, Hadina climbed onto the bed beside Peyton, depositing the bag of food on her bedside table. She leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her love’s lips, relishing in the taste. Peyton let out a soft hiss and Hadina pulled back. “ Tentadora , what’s wrong?”

Flicking the switch to turn her lamp on, Hadina gasped as she looked at Peyton. Where her previous bruises were healing and fading, new ones blossomed across her skin. Her lip was burst in two places, a fresh bead of blood forming at each cut.

“What the fuck happened and why didn’t you call me immediately?” Hadina raged, gripping Peyton’s chin in her hand so she could maneuver her face and see the full extent of her injuries.

Peyton batted her hand away, shifting so she was sitting up at eye level with Hadina. “You should see the other person.” Seeing that Hadina didn’t find her little joke funny, Peyton rolled her eyes. “I dealt with some of my shit.”

She could barely contain her anger as she stared at Peyton, her hands trembling with an ache to hurt whoever had done this to her. “I’m not laughing. Tell me what happened.”

“I–I ran into Zellie. Seeing her just unleashed my anger and I–”

“ Me la voy a chingar! ” Hadina interrupted, ready to go and kill her sister for betraying her again, for hurting the one person she loved.

Peyton grabbed her arm, pulling her back to a seated position, shaking her head. “Calm down, Hadi. I’m okay. This… You can’t blame Zellie for what happened.”

Hadina scoffed. “Like fucking hell I can’t! She put her hands on you, baby. AGAIN! ”

“I put my hands on her first.”

That caused Hadina to still. She tilted her head as she looked at Peyton in confusion. “You what ? I need you to tell me exactly what happened because right now I’m extremely confused and I’m ready to set my sister on fire if she even looks at you again.”

Hadina sat silently as Peyton told her what happened while she was at work. The second she mentioned Zellie hitting her back, Hadina had to clutch her hands together in her lap to stop herself from throwing something at the wall. She was furious that her sister had hurt her tentadora but she was even angrier at herself for not being there with her.

Still, it did give her a little buzz of pride as Peyton detailed just how many blows she’d managed to get in.

“I’m so angry at you,” Hadina said softly, without any true depth to her voice. “You should never have hit her—not because you’re not capable of fighting, or that she doesn’t deserve it, but because she’s had years of training on you and could easily have hurt you. You’re lucky she didn’t kill you just for attempting it.”

“I’m sorry,” Peyton said, clutching Hadina’s hands. “I know it was foolish but I saw red. I needed a release and hitting her did the trick. Besides, I found her weakness.”

Hadina raised a brow, smirking slightly. “I didn’t think my sister cared enough about anything to have a weakness. Do tell.”

Peyton returned her smirk and raised brow, amusement glistening in her eyes. “ You. She loves her family—she loves you . She won’t hurt me, not intentionally, because it would hurt you.”

It took Hadina off guard, whatever words she had on her tongue dying silently. Her relationship with her sister had long been broken, but she had to admit to herself that she did love Zellie, in a fucked up way. But it still came as a surprise to her that her sister would admit returning that sibling love to anyone else, especially Peyton, knowing she would tell Hadina. Maybe that was exactly why she had chosen to say it to Peyton.

Hadina’s head hurt thinking about it.

“So…” Peyton said, leaning back to rest against her pillows. “What do you think about me getting some training with Zellie?”

Hadina shifted, straddling Peyton’s waist with her legs, her hands placed on her hips as she circled Peyton’s soft, exposed skin. “I think I’d murder my own sister if she made you any more bruised and bloodied than you are right now.”

Peyton chuckled softly, cupping Hadina’s cheek tenderly and running her thumb across her cheekbone. “Surely it’s better for me to be bruised and bloody learning how to defend myself more than it is for me to get the shit beaten out of me again and I’m unable to stop it?”

Her heart almost stopped in her chest as Hadina imagined Peyton going through anything more than what she’d already suffered. She knew her tentadora was right, even if it hurt her to think about it.

“Are you trying to say my training was subpar?” Hadina questioned, leaning forward to press a kiss against the column of Peyton’s throat. She heard the woman’s short intake of breath and Hadina smiled smugly to herself at the effect she knew she had on Peyton.

“I would never suggest such a thing,” Peyton said quietly, her voice breathy as Hadina’s tongue licked over her jaw. “But I do know that you’d go somewhat easier on me because you don’t want to see me hurt. Zellie wouldn’t care.”

“Hm,” Hadina hummed, her mouth trailing small kisses and licks all across Peyton’s exposed chest. Reaching her collarbone, Hadina kissed softly before biting down on the skin, eliciting a sharp gasp from Peyton. She sat back, a devious smile etched onto her face as she looked at Peyton’s hungry eyes. “You’re wrong—sometimes I really like seeing you a little hurt. But only on my terms.”