Page 31 of Wild for the Knight

“What have you gotten into, Kiddo?” I’ve got four brothers. Elliot, my oldest, runs his own cybersecurity firm. Dex and Collin both work in law enforcement. Bennet is the second oldest, and he’s in finance. The one thing they all have in common? They’d do anything to keep the baby of the family safe.

I try to laugh, but it falls flat; the multitude of unknowns around this entire situation is throwing me for a loop. “I don’t know. But the note I sent you a picture of was left on my car while I was at the gym this morning.” I can practically see him rubbing his temples as I run through the events of the last week. Including the run-in with the three dickheads at the gas station. I just didn’t tell him the whole story. They’d turn up at the bottom of a river somewhere if I did.

The silence that follows is concerning, he’s either running some tracing software or he’s calling in the younger two to act as bodyguards. Neither of which I am a fan of at this point. “El?” He hums in response.

“Sorry, Abs. Give me a second.” He says, the unmistakable sound of fingers flying across the keyboard taking the place of his voice. “Are you somewhere safe and at least semi-private that you can turn your camera on?”

Tatum gets up and does a walk-through of the coffee shop before sitting back down and nodding. “Yeah,” I say as I tap the camera button, turning our phone call into a video one. As soon as his screen pops up, it’s like I’m looking at a military operation. There are screens everywhere, with different things on each one. But the most concerning is the one that has a video feed of Tatum and I sitting inside the coffee shop. “Where is that camera?” I ask in both amazement and fear.

He zooms in, and the big dork next to me smiles and waves. “It’s a traffic cam on one of the streetlights across the street. Is this the guy you and Dex ran into at The Beach House?” My eyes widen as Tatum laughs. It’s one of those chuckles that shakes your shoulders, but no sound comes out.

“That would be me, Tatum Wilder. Nice to meet you, Elliot.” His hand runs through his hair as my brother's face pops into view. His eyes are green like our mom's. They're currently bouncing between the two of us like he’s piecing together a thousand-piece puzzle.

Recognition flares after a few seconds. “Like the soccer player?” Tate nods, and Elliot smiles. It’s not a friendly smile. It’s a dark, devious smile. The one he’d save for the “secret missions” he’d do as a kid. His career choice was a shock to exactly zero people. “Good, I now know who to kill if something happens to my sister.” Well, that’s just great.

Clearing my throat, I get my brother's eyes back to mine. “What do I do?” My voice comes out soft, I hate the way it sounds. I’m not weak, yet right now I feel utterly helpless. This is the very feeling that made my entire personality a defense mechanism. A warm hand comes to rest on my knee, giving it a soft squeeze. When my eyes meet his, I relax slightly.

A door slamming on the other end of the call makes us both jump. Tate’s arms wrap around my shoulders as he shields my body with his. “Where is she?!” a voice calls. The groan that leaves me is so loud that it draws the attention of other patrons. Collin’s dark brown hair flies into view as he steps in front of where Elliot had his phone propped up. He still doesn’t realize we’re on the phone as he stares at the live feed of Tate and I. The one where he’s still holding me to his chest. “Who the hell is that guy?” he yells as he points at the screen.

“Turn around, asshat,” I say, causing his head to snap in the direction of my voice. “Tatum, my other brother, Collin. Collin, Tatum Wilder.” His eyes are just like mine, the same shape and color. It’s comical to watch them widen the same way Dex’s did.

“Th-the soccer player?” He stutters.

I smile, a real smile. All four of my brothers played soccer growing up. It’s how I first knew I wanted to be a physical therapist. I was always insistent on fixing their many injuries. “In the flesh,” I deadpan, hoping to keep his fangirling at bay. That plan fails as he brings his knuckles to his mouth and bites down. “Sweet Lord,” I say under my breath. “Could you be any more embarrassing?”

His arms fly out wide as he screeches. “It’s Tatum Wilder, Abby!” My eyes roll as I look up at Tatum, who is looking at the phone with a soft smile on his lips.

Bringing my face closer to the camera, Tate finally releases his hold on me. “Yeah, I’m very well aware of who he is. Thank you very much.” Collin’s eyes narrow as I sit back against the chair. He’s a homicide detective, super sharp, but the biggest goofball I’ve ever met.

He picks up the phone and walks us over to where our brother is sitting, “What’s going on?” He asks, voice turning suddenly serious as he takes in Elliot’s creased eyebrows. I give him the cliff-notes version and watch as his face turns murderous. “When are you coming home?” He grinds out.

Most of the time, I’d push back on the overprotective brother skit, but if I’m being honest... The note shook me to my core. It means someone has been watching me, following me. Regardless of what the intention is, I can confidently say it’s not to sell me Girl Scout cookies. “In three days.” Both of my brothers' heads snap up as they level Tate with their big brotherly glare.

“If anything happens to her before she gets back...” Collin trails off as Tatum raises his hands.

He scoops my phone up from where it was leaning against my water bottle as he wraps his arm around me, pulling me into his side. My head falls to his shoulder, and he lets his rest on top of mine, giving the softest of smiles. “I swear on my life, I’ll protect her.” Elliot’s eyebrows shoot up as he takes in our position. “Not just here either, I’ll protect her at home, too.” Hearing those words should not have the effect on me that they do. I should be rolling my eyes, I should be thinking, “Yeah right. This guy?”

Instead, my thoughts sound a lot like I’m falling for this man. Maybe it’s the lack of structure I’ve had here, and I’ll magically be cured of my stupidity when we get home. Yeah, we’ll go with that.

Chapter 15 - Tatum

To be fair, I only have one brother. Usually, when I promise him something, he nods and lets it go. These guys? Not a chance. Not only did the other two show up, but I’m getting grilled like I’m the prime suspect in the world's most high-profile heist.

Abby, however, has her head buried inside the sweatshirt she stole from me on the way here. I don’t know what it says about me that I like, no, love how small she looks in it. If I’m being honest, I wouldn’t be mad if she never wore anything other than my clothes for the rest of her life. She looks good. She looks like mine.

She runs her thumb over my injured knuckles, soft and tentative, before she gets up and quietly makes her way to the bathroom. I watch her as she goes, partly to make sure she’s okay, partly because I can’t keep my damn eyes off of her. I notice her shoulders are a little less rigid than they were when we got here; that’s a good sign.

As soon as she’s out of earshot, I lean into the phone and drop my voice a notch or two so they know how serious I am. “I’ll protect her, but I need you to figure out if these guys are a real threat.” They nod, and I continue. “In the two years I’ve known your sister, I’ve never seen her like this.” They wear matching looks, somber and concerned. “I need to be able to tell her everything is going to be okay and mean it.”

Dex steps toward the phone, his face hardening by the second. His jaw clenches and unclenches in the same way I’ve seen Abby do dozens of times. “Consider it done.” He thinks for a second before his eyes lock on mine, “She trusts you, you wouldn’t be the one she called if she didn’t.” His smile falls as he continues, “We’ll look into everything they have. But don’t hurt her, her trust doesn’t come easily.” If that ain’t the damn truth.

A soft hand lands on my shoulder as she smiles down at me, and I wonder how I never realized how angelic she is. Her blonde hair is no longer in double braids, but down and wavy. Her eyes shine a little brighter than they did when I found her a few hours ago. But it’s the way she carries herself that pulls me in deeper.

She’s been hurt, and even in the midst of that, she spends her days taking care of other people. Helping them heal from their injuries, or helping prevent one. Even here, she’s cooked three meals a day for nine people, except for last night. We stopped for coffee for us after our runs, yet she couldn’t leave Hannah or Greyson out.

She’s a freaking angel. One sent to free me from the bullshit Nikki and River put me through. One, I’ll protect with everything I’ve got. “Do you have what you need?” She asks her brothers as she returns her attention to the phone. “I’d like to get on with my day now.” They mumble something about being safe, watching your surroundings, and not going anywhere alone before she finally hangs up on them while they’re still talking.

Setting the phone down, she turns to me and squats down in front of me like I did with her earlier. She stares at the floor for a minute before she brings her eyes up to meet mine. They slowly fill with tears, and my jacked-up heart can’t handle it. Cupping her cheeks, I swipe under her eyes to brush them away. “Thank you for coming,” she whispers as she closes her eyes, leaning further into my palm. Her words are my undoing. She could’ve called anyone, there are seven other people in that house. But she chose me.