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“Staying here, being together, ruining our lives.” Hawk made air quotes around the last part. “Cannon’s grandma is the only one who isn’t telling him he’s just going through a rebellious phase. She’s convinced she knew all along.”
“I knew that boy liked boys. But no one listens to me,” Cannon quipped. “And ain’t nothing wrong with that, you hear?”
“She’s the best,” Hawk said.
“I’d like to meet her.” Dev hated that they had problems with their families. She liked to think they had close, Hallmark-like clans, who missed them when they weren’t around. But she knew Hawk had been abandoned. Apparently, Cannon’s family was as screwed up as hers. Well, maybe, not as much as hers. It was hard to match Walter’s illegal predilections.
“Maybe at Christmas or in the spring,” Hawk hedged. Reading into his words wasn’t difficult. He didn’t want Cannon’s grandparent anywhere near her mess.
“You know, I’m sure I could stay at Briar’s for a few days if you guys wanted to fly back to Boston,” she offered. “To see Cannon’s grandma for the holidays, I mean. You’re not really my bodyguards or—”
“Not happening, babe,” Hawk interrupted.
“You’re our family,” Cannon added. “We want to spend the holiday with you.”
“But… I… Um… We…haven’t even…” God, was she really going there? What was wrong with her runaway mouth today?
“Do you think that changes how important you are to us?” Cannon asked.
“I…”
“Let’s go inside,” Hawk snapped. His body practically vibrated with unspoken agitation at her offer. He yanked off his seatbelt then unfastened hers and carried her out of the truck with him. He didn’t put her onto her aching feet, and no one said a word, until they were inside the house. He settled her before him in the foyer while Cannon reset the alarms.
She didn’t care that Hawk had carried her. She craved the closeness and didn’t get it often enough. Which was completely her fault. She knew that. Cannon and Hawk would give her anything she wanted, whenever she requested it. Now, it took all her strength not to lean back into Hawk and ask for more.
Geez, she had to get her head together. Make a decision. Did she move on with her life—with them—or did she stay in stasis for the next hundred years?
If only, she wasn’t danger personified. She’d give in to them, to everything, so fast. She give them all of herself. Her body and her love. Her soul, probably.
Before she gave into the magnetic draw that pulled her toward the men, she stepped back. “I need to take a shower.”
“I think we all do,” Cannon said with a grimace. “Considering how much I like to eat greasy food, I hate the smell of it on me.”
Dev mirrored his expression. Sometimes, she felt as if she’d never get the restaurant smell off her, though it wasn’t normally as bad as on Wednesday nights.
“You know you don’t have to—”
“Don’t say it,” Hawk interrupted. “You already know what’s going to happen. If you’re there, we’re there.”
She nodded. As much as she felt bad about pulling them into shadowing her, it comforted her to know they were at her back. Comforted and aroused her. For the past year or so, it seemed as if she stayed in a constant state of need.
“I’ll just head up—”
She cut off with a gasp as alarms on both the guys’ phones blared and the floodlights behind the house burst to life. The three alarm boxes, placed throughout the house, trilled. While she froze with terror, the men whipped out their cells.
“Something triggered the sensors by the main stable,” Hawk reported, his tone taking on a deadly timbre she rarely heard. He glanced at Cannon. “This is twice in one day. Go get our weapons. Dev, baby, go upstairs and lock yourself in. Don’t come out until we come get you.”
Eyes wide, she nodded. He didn’t have to say where she should go. When they’d remodeled the house, he’d insisted on a panic room at the back of her closet.
Before she could turn away, he pulled her quickly into a hug and kissed the top of her head. “It’ll be alright, baby girl.”
She heard Cannon on the phone with the police while Hawk’s arms tightened around her.
“Don’t get hurt,” she begged. “Please, Hawk. I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to either of you.”
“We’ll be okay. I promise. We’ll come get you soon. Now, go. Please.”
She raced away on rubbery legs, shaking with terror. Running up the steps faster than a child with an imaginary monster at their heels, she dashed toward her hiding place. Up the stairs, down the hallway, into her bedroom, then into the small space at the back of her closet.
