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I look to Dom. “It’s not like town is a big place. Think we can find him? We might spot his car, at least.”
“And then what? We gonna step in and get ourselves shot, too?”
Mackenzie’s blue eyes go round. “He’s not going to get shot, is he? I mean, his father wouldn’t ask him to come to a public place if that was what he had in mind. There will be witnesses.”
I bite my lower lip. “I’m not sure a man like Grigoriy Stepanov gives a fuck about witnesses.”
“Maybe the asshole deserves it if his father does shoot him,” Dom snaps. “It’ll serve him right for fucking with us.”
“You don’t mean that,” I say.
Dom glares back. “Don’t I?”
“No. Kill’s got a lot of shit to deal with right now.”
Dom scoffs. “We’ve all got a lot of shit to deal with.”
I bunch my fists. I don’t want to get into this. The guys have no idea how bad my addiction to the Oxy has gotten, and Mackenzie doesn’t even know I take meds. A wave of shame washes over me, heating my face. What would she say if she knew? Would she decide she wants nothing to do with me? I mean, she’s on meds herself, but even I’m not dumb enough to try to convince myself that it’s in any way the same.
“We need to find him.”
Mackenzie gets to her feet. “I’m coming, too.”
At the same time, Dom and I say, “No, you’re not.”
She folds her arms across her chest. “Since when are either of you the boss of me?”
Chapter 24
Mackenzie
These guys think they own me and can control every single part of my life.
The whole mess between them now is down to jealousy, and that means, despite what they might want to believe, feelings are getting involved. Theirs as well as mine. Feelings are dangerous and messy. They say three is a crowd, so what is four? Balanced? Or a disaster unfolding?
I thought I could control this to a degree, and now I’m wondering how.
Dom’s expression is brooding. He’s pissed, as usual, but I can see something else there. He bites his lip, and the flex and unfurling of his hands tells me he’s tense. I think he’s genuinely concerned for my safety.
Good, old-fashioned manipulation is the way to get what I want—their protection. These men are not all that difficult to understand when it comes right down to it. There might be some worrying group dynamics developing, but individually, I should still be able to get them to do what I want to some extent.
Of course, it never occurred to me that it might be one of them who needs protecting.
As individuals, they’re textbook messed up young men. They’re angry, defensive, and have a fuck-ton of issues from terrible parenting. I don’t think they love me. I’m not that stupid, but they do need me. They want me. They desire me. I’ve become their favorite thing.
I might be a toy to them, but I’m a highly valued one, and that gives me leverage. Of course, if they are all going to start fighting over me, that puts me in a vulnerable place. When kids fight over their toys, they often end up breaking them.
I shiver and try to suppress the tendril of fear wrapping itself around me as I contemplate just how precarious my situation is here.
“I’ll be safer with you,” I say softly to Dom. “Here, there are people who hate you and might target me. Those Vipers, for example. They scare me. I trust you both to keep me safe.”
Dom’s expression clears a little, and he nods. Tino isn’t so easy to fool. Deep down, I think he might be the most centered of the three. The one who knows who he is. I don’t know much about his family, but he doesn’t seem to suffer from the same raging daddy issues as Kirill and Dom.
“No,” Tino says. “If shit goes down with Kill and his dad, you most definitely won’t be safer with us.”
“Please,” I whisper. “I want to come. I’ll stay in the car, promise.”
“You promise to stay in the car and not get out no matter what, you can come.” Dom nods once.
