“You’re one of us now.” He paused, as if thinking it over for a second before shrugging. “Can you wait five minutes?”
“I guess, but why—” I started, but he was already yelling out at the others.
“Hey! Princess still has to work today, guys!”
“What?” Mason protested, sliding into the room on socked feet and boxers. My mouth went dry as I took him in. He smirked as my eyes raked over him and then snapped back up, realizing what I was doing.
“It’s okay. You can look,” he promised, flexing a little for my benefit. “I’m all yours, Lana.”
Kieran, Lennon, Wilder, and Conrad all walked in together. Conrad gave me a look before crossing his arms and glaring at the others. He was not over things, that much was obvious. Fuck, another thing I’d have to fix.
“You guys realize that I have practice too, right?”
“But you’re not as cute as she is,” Mason countered. He kept his words light but there was a warning under them. I hated the wedge I put between them.
Conrad scoffed. “How many times do I have to tell you to back the fuck off my sister?”
“You can say it all you want,” Cade shrugged. “It changes nothing.”
Mason raised an eyebrow. “She likes it. Don’t you, princess?” he asked, giving me a flirty smile that might just get him killed this morning.
Conrad didn’t bother to look my way. “She’s dealt with enough bullshit.”
Mason only seemed to get more annoyed, losing any hints of teasing. “She has, so why are you making it worse?”
“I’m not.” Conrad was finally looking at me for help, but he wasn’t going to find it from me. Mason was right. I could make my own decisions. The sooner my brother accepted that, the better.
“I appreciate your concern. I do,” I said carefully.
He huffed again. I didn’t want him to feel like I wasn’t taking him seriously but he wasn’t listening.
“Mason is right. I don’t mind some harmless flirting.” I tipped my head.
He let out a warning growl. “Maybe it’s a good thing you have to work this week. I think being around them is clouding your brain.”
I stumbled back as if he’d struck me. His words were like a slap to the face. He wasn’t just dismissing this, he was stating quite obviously that I was being careless and clueless.
“At some point, you’re going to have to accept that I’ve grown up,” I bit out, trying to hide the tears threatening to fall.
Conrad ran a hand over his face. “I know that. You’re right. I do,” he said roughly. “It’s just that my past decisions have caused you enough trouble?—”
“You need to stop beating yourself up over the actions of assholes who lied to us both. They don’t get to hold that kind of power over us anymore.”
“I’m trying,” he sighed.
“Not to be dismissive, but we need to move onto the issue for today,” Cade said, clapping his hands loud enough to geteveryone’s attention. “She has to work and is going to be late if we don’t move it. We’re banned from practice, not the arena.”
“Nothing says we can’t go spend the day in the kitchen with her,” Kieran agreed, catching on.
“Why the hell would you guys want to spend the day in the kitchen with me?” I said, throwing up my hands. I didn’t mind it, but I didn’t want them hovering and bored. “I’ll be able to spend time with you guys when I’m done.”
“Not if they take you for the away game,” Mason pointed out, glancing at the others to see if they were as uncomfortable as he was with the idea.
That seemed to sober everyone up, including Conrad. Hell, even I felt uneasy about it. They’d quickly become my safety net against the world, and the idea of being without them terrified me. I’d been avoiding thinking too hard about it.
“One person isn’t enough to watch over her with everything going on,” Conrad said. I guess the tension of courting and mates was forgotten to focus on this issue.
“It’s against the Renegades,” I said, trying to reassure us all. “They’re rivals, but not the guys we need to worry about.”
