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“Fucker.” Jamie slung her arm around my shoulders. “I’d kick his ass for you.”
“Me too,” Lindsey chimed in with a half hug of her own.
“Forget kicking ass.” Oz cracked his knuckles. “Any man who harms a woman needs a boot to the skull.”
“Thank you. All of you. For listening. For not hating me.” The last part came out in a whisper.
“Of course we don’t hate you.” Lindsey rubbed my arm.
“The break-in,” Cooper murmured. “What happened?”
I could tell he didn’t want to ask yet he needed to know. They all did.
They’d given me so much. I owed them the full truth.
I told them quickly what had happened. How I’d been out on a date with a new guy and returned home to find the place in shambles. I’d called Elle and Mal, and they’d come to stay with me while we contacted the police.
“They didn’t catch him and I never heard from him again. Until—”
Cooper’s gaze sharpened. “Until?”
I swallowed hard. The time had come to tell all, consequences be damned. “Until he called me while I was at the club last night.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he demanded.
“I didn’t think it was relevant.”
Cooper slammed his hands down on the table, and I fought off a shiver, even though my own reaction pissed me off. “Jesus, Teagan, he might’ve tried to kill you. Do you understand that? He might have broken into your place and done who knows what to you and when you weren’t there, decided to take his revenge another way. Do you get that?”
“Hey, man, cool it.” Zane touched Cooper’s arm at the same moment Jamie reared to her feet.
“No, he’s right.” I took a slow, deep breath. “I didn’t want to face that he could be involved. I still think it’s unlikely. He didn’t have anything in his past to suggest it.” At Coop’s fiery expression, I held up a hand. “At least that I knew of. Things could change. I might not have the whole picture. I get it, okay? But yelling at me to make me see what you want me to is not a whole hell of a lot different than what I dealt with when I was with Pat.”
“Is that so?” His voice went as cool and expressionless as his face.
Instantly, I regretted my words. “You’re not like him. You’re not. Just don’t shout at me, all right? It sends me back to a bad place.”
He didn’t respond as he slumped into his chair. He also didn’t look at me.
But he was still there. He hadn’t stormed out of the room and left me to face the wolves alone. Not that they were wolves. Far from it. Still, he knew how tough this was for me.
And he was sticking, despite the fact that I’d hurt him. For good reason, because hello, he had no right to yell at me like I was a child. What he did have a right to do—and I loved him for it—was to tell me the truth as he saw it just in case I hadn’t looked at all the angles.
Even if I didn’t like it. At all.
Saying nothing, I reached across the table for his hand, now curled around his unopened soda. He didn’t retreat. Instead, he clasped my fingers tightly in his own.
“That’s better,” Jamie muttered before taking her seat again. “I’m watching you, Dallas.”
“Oh, you scare me, DuCaine.”
Lila cleared her throat. “The last thing we want is anyone to panic. We’re keeping cool heads so we can take the steps we need to in order to ensure everyone’s safety. That means more security.” At the requisite groans, she lifted her brows. “You don’t want to disappoint your many loyal fans, correct? This is the price of admission.”
“And these terms are non-negotiable,” Donovan added, just in case any of us had forgotten his dark, commanding presence looming in the corner.
“We’re open to ideas, but we are also tightening protocols. Having bodyguards will not be optional.” Lila leaned forward. “You aren’t to travel alone any more than necessary for the foreseeable future. Right now, togetherness isn’t just a way to make the band cohesive. It’s a way for you to send a message that you can’t be fucked with. That together, you’re far stronger than you are alone.”
Jamie crossed her legs. “Well, duh.”
