“I’m sure Tom will spout the same stuff about not knowing they’d come after you.”Drew sighs.“I get that he’s family and eventually you’ll probably forgive him, but could you make him sweat for a while first?”
I chuckle.“I’m definitely not letting him off the hook anytime soon.”
“Good.”Dante squeezes me again.
I breathe in his ocean scent and exhale.Right now.I’m safe.For now, I have my guys.I don’t know if I want to talk about what I’m feeling and thinking in the darkness.It would be good to see their faces when I say I don’t want this to end.Ever.
The darkness might make it easier, but I need to know what they’re thinking.I need to know what Wyatt’s thinking.Would this work without any one of them?Would I always long for the time before the break?Am I ready to let any of them go?
When I snuggle into Dante, if he could pull me any closer, I’m sure he would.He’s solid beneath where my body is pressed alongside his.He’s safe.He’s mine.
“What happened, trouble?”Wyatt’s voice is soft and he doesn’t stop his gentle touches, soothing me.
I drag in a breath.“Peabody wanted a walk.”Fuck.“How is Peabody?”
“They left him in the lobby with a new collar.”Dante’s chest rises and falls.“He’s at Tanya’s.She said she’d keep him as long as we needed.”
Now I feel bad that wasn’t the first question I asked Finn.But a lot was happening at the time.And if something bad had happened, they would have let me know.
“They had Peabody and asked me to get into the car.”
“They?”Wyatt asks.
“Lurch and Peter.”I trail my hand down the valley of Dante’s chest.His muscles twitch beneath my fingertips.
“Lurch?”Drew asks.
“Peter’s bodyguard,” Finn fills in.“Big dude in black.”
“He’s who I saw in the bar and outside the townhouse.”A shiver runs down my spine and Wyatt shifts closer so his warmth shelters me.
“Go on, trouble.”Wyatt presses a kiss to my bare shoulder.
“I got in the car, and they blindfolded me as they drove out to that house.I tried to keep track of the turns, but the farther we went the more hopeless I knew it would be.”
Dante’s fingers curl around my hip, holding me close to him.
“The house was huge and nice.Just like any other rich person’s house in the country.No one touched me inappropriately.He basically told me I was a guest.”I scoff because guests aren’t generally kept in a locked room.
“The room was locked from the outside.”Finn reaches over to touch my arm.“I was able to pick it to get in, but there was no way to pick it to get out.The land is cleared around the house so no one could approach or leave without being seen.”
My breath catches remembering that fact.There wasn’t a way to escape.I had to wait.
“When we had dinner in his dining room, I studied the people.I was hoping to lift someone’s phone, but no one had one.I figured I’d play dumb and wait until there was an opening.Hoping they’d eventually grow lax on securing me.”I shrug.
I don’t want to share the failed light bulb experiment or my thoughts on escape.Caving wasn’t an option.
“No one will get you here, pip.Not without going through all of us first.”
The others give their assent.
“Go to sleep, flower.”Finn yawns.“We’ll work out the rest later.”
I hope so and I hope that includes figuring out how we all stay together.Because I don’t want to be apart from them again.
* * *
Drew
