"I didn't order until after I called everyone," Roark explained.
"Ah." His friend probably hadn't wanted the distraction while he eavesdropped on him and Penny earlier. He headed for the bar to grab a bottle of water before returning to take the seat opposite Penny. "Okay, out with the rest."
Her eyes rose to meet his. "You mean the whole defense move thing?"
"Yes."
"I didn't lie, nothing ever happened like that but not for lack of trying. Mom has atypeand let's just say her type isn't above copping a feel or attempting worse on anything in a skirt, no matter age." She shrugged. "There was a guy in the building where we lived. The lady I cleaned for, Mrs. Ellery, knew him and asked him to teach me self-defense."
"Name," Roark growled.
"He's okay. Ex-army or navy or something. He never gave me a bad vibe. Ever. And he used to make sure I was okay."
"He'd check on you?" Jack asked.
"Yeah. Daily."
"And does he know where you are now?"
She glanced around. "Yes. I stuck a note under his door telling him where I was going."
"Max."
Penny's gaze snapped to Roark. "How do you know that?"
Roark tipped his chin at her dismantled phone. "Text."
"Oh."
"I'll let you deal with Max," Jack told Roark before addressing the rest of the room, "All right. Anything going on that I need to know about?"
"Outside of the usual crap the barracuda gets up to, no," Keaton answered.
"I can't wait to see her face when she finds out you got married." Maryn laughed. "She's going to lose her shit."
"Yes, she is, and if it doesn't come out before Penny's permanently with Lys you can tell her."
"Yes!" Maryn fist-pumped the air.
Jack grinned at his half-sister. "I see she's still your favorite person."
"The feeling is mutual."
It was. Mainly because Emmaline had been unable to give Jack's father a child and Maryn was the result of a relationship his father had after leaving Emmaline. The fucked-up thing was his dad hadn't bothered divorcing Emmaline before moving on to Maryn's mother. Jack's family tree was a fucked-up mess. That was why the people in this suite—and Dash—were who he considered family.
He might share a last name with his stepmother, but Emmaline had never been anything but the woman who'd hidden her true nature long enough to get his father to marry her. She'd made her distaste for the child Montgomery Jackson Winchester Townsend the Second had from his dead wife clear on a daily basis from the minute she'd returned from her Townsend-funded honeymoon.
Shaking his head to clear memories he preferred to forget, he asked, "Is that going to be reassembled before Lys wakes up?"
"Yep. I'm doing hers now. The parts Dash has are for—" The suite's doorbell cut into Roark's words. "That'll be Dash or room service."
"I've got it." Keaton was already heading for the door.
Penny leaned across the table and when she crooked her finger, Jack bent forward until their faces were close. "I like your friends," she whispered.
"Good. They're family. That makes them your family. Roark will put everyone's number in your phone. Use them when you need to."
4
