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“We both know you did,” I say.
“Who are you?” Logan demands again.
“No one you can call friend.”
Pri tugs my arm, trying to garner my attention. “We need to go. Now.”
I don’t look at her, my gaze remaining on Logan. “You heard the lady,” I say, my lips twitching. “We need to go.”
I turn away from him and help Pri into the backseat, while Logan calls out, “Pri, damn it. We need to talk. Think about your parents. Think about keeping them safe.”
Attention-hungry bastard. Now he has mine. I turn back to him. “Play this game cautiously, Logan. It’s a dangerous one.” With that, I follow Pri into the vehicle, and pull the door shut.
Adam is behind the wheel and I motion him forward. We’re already moving when I rotate to face Pri to find her angled in my direction, waiting on me. “What are you thinking?” she demands. “What was that? What are you doing?”
I scowl, bristling at her attack. “Are you protecting him?”
Her brows dip. “Who? Waters? I’m protecting Waters? What are you talking about?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You,” she says. “Who else? I’m talking about you putting yourself out there for bait. Why? Why is that necessary? You don’t get to come into my life and make me care about you and then just die.” She pokes my chest. “You don’t get to do it, Adrian.”
She’s talking about me, not Logan. She’s protecting me. My temper burns out in about two seconds, and in that moment, I recognize how alone she’s been since Logan burned her. And yet, she let me in.
“Did you go along with this, Adam?” she demands, tapping his seat from behind.
Adam eyes her in the rear-view mirror. “I plead the fifth.”
“That’s a yes,” she says. “He’s your friend.”
I slide closer to her and catch her waist, my hand settling on her lower back, molding her close. “I’m going to be fine. And I’m not going anywhere. I’m here.”
“Until this is over or you’re dead. You made yourself bait.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I repeat. “And I have resources and a team, friends like Adam to protect me. And you and your family. Blake had the foresight to send a few men from our Dallas office to Austin at dawn. They just got here and they’re already in place.”
“How many?”
“Four men, good men. We now have full-time attention on your parents in doubles, without them knowing. They’re protected. You’re protected. I’m protected.”
“But Deleon—”
“Will come for me and not anyone else,” I say. “I have a plan, but we need to talk through pieces of that puzzle. Overall, you’ll feel better about all of this when you meet our team. Which is why,” I add, “now that we have more men and coverage, and I’m out in the open, you can meet them. Unless you object, we’re on our way to meet Jacob, Savage, and Lucifer for lunch.”
Her eyes go wide. “In public?”
“Yes, Pri,” I laugh. “In public.” I motion to Adam. “Though Adam and I can tell you, taking Savage out in public is not always a good idea. You’ll figure out why over lunch.”
“He’s not kidding,” Adam calls out. “Savage is Godzilla smashing through every place he enters.”
“And he’s guarding Ed?”
My lips curve. “Seemed a good match.”
“Really?” she says. “Is it?”
“Savage is a killer and a protector,” I say. “You want to be his friend, not his enemy.”
“Truth,” Adam chimes in.
“You okay with lunch?” I ask.
“Aside from now being intimidated by the idea of Savage, yes, but surely you’re being watched. And as much as I hate you making yourself bait, won’t all your men scare off Deleon?”
“Not a chance,” I say. “I know him. I’m setting him up. He’ll bring in his team to fight my team. And his team has nothing on Walker Security. It also means all of his men will be here where we can end them once and for all.”
“That sounds dangerous,” she argues. “And you’re the target.”
And her, I think, more so because of me. It’s not a topic I welcome, but if I want to deserve her trust, I have to talk to her—alone. For now, I say, “I’m not going to die, Pri, and neither are you, but you need to know that I may kill a few people before this is over. You’re going to have to live with that.”
She presses her hand to my face. “Just stay alive, then maybe you’ll figure out that I’m not a fair-weather friend.”
I capture her hand. “Friend?”
“We are friends,” she says. “Isn’t that a good thing?”
“Yes, Pri,” I say, surprised at how much I mean those words and how much closer to her I feel, as those words pull us together. “It is a good thing.” And then, with none of the relationship hesitation of years and women past, I lean in and press my cheek to hers and whisper, “But we are so much more and I’m not letting you go.”
