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“Ace.” His sigh came through the phone, and she nearly smiled at the resignation in that single sound. “Are you all right?”
The question caught her off guard. She’d expected a scolding, perhaps even a growled threat as to the state of her ass when they got to his house. “Ummm. Yeah, I’m fine. Your goon squad scared the shit out of me, but I’m not hurt.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she inwardly winced and glanced around to see if they’d heard her. Since Front Seat Guy had a hand clamped over his mouth to smother his laughter and Alley Guy was glaring daggers at her, she assumed they had.
Whoops.
“That wasn’t very nice, Mina. They were just doing their jobs.”
There was the scolding tone she’d been expecting. Since she did feel a little bad already, she moved the phone away from her mouth and sent them all an apologetic smile. “Sorry. You guys aren’t goons.”
Another sigh, this one tinged with amusement. “I’m about five minutes away. Let the goon squad know they have my full and enthusiastic permission to tie you up and gag you if you can’t behave yourself.”
“You’re mean.”
“And you’re a brat. See you soon, Ace.”
The call ended and she shifted again, slumping back against her seat with a scowl. “Asshole,” she muttered under her breath.
“Perhaps,” Alley Guy said, shrugging when she glared at him. “But he obviously cares about you. Our services don’t come cheap, Ms. Ouranos.”
She supposed it should have made her feel cared for, that he would put forward the expense to ensure she stayed safe. And it did, for all of about two seconds.
Until she rememberedwhyhe could afford it. How his family was so stinking rich. Why his brother was in town, asking for favors.
Why Gabby was dead.
All the emotions she’d been stuffing down as deep as she could during the day swam to the surface, and it took every ounce of her remaining willpower to keep from breaking down right there in the middle of the van.
When a knock sounded on the outside of the van, the relief nearly broke her, but she managed to hold on, to keep herself together. Once she was alone, she could have the meltdown she so desperately needed to have. She just needed to hold on a little while longer.
The door slid open, and she all but launched herself across Alley Guy’s lap and into Cyrus’s waiting arms.
“Poor baby,” he murmured, running his hand down her back in a soothing motion that managed to settle some of her riotous emotions. “Daddy’s here. You’re okay.”
From behind her, she heard a baffled, “Don’t look at us. She was fine until you called and then she got all quiet and sad.”
“They didn’t do anything,” she confirmed without lifting her head from where she’d pressed up against his chest. “I just need to go home. Please.”
“All right, baby. I’ve got a car waiting for us.” He shifted her, tucking her up under his arm. “Thank you for looking after her. I’ll make sure Cole includes a bonus for each of you.”
“Appreciate it, but it was no bother,” a gruff voice she recognized as belonging to Alley Guy said. “Just doing our jobs, sir. Go home and take care of your lady.”
“I plan on it. Come on, Ace. Let’s get you home and into a nice bath. I ordered some new bath bombs the other day, from this little boutique in Virginia. I wasn’t sure what scent you might like, so I ordered one of everything for you to try.”
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she recognized the idle prattle for what it was—an attempt to distract her, to keep her mind off the one thing she couldn’t stop thinking about.
It worked, at least enough for her to not break down on the ride home, and if hadn’t already been on her way to loving him, it would have sent her free falling right over that cliff. Perhaps that was the empath in him that gave him that eerie understanding of exactly what she needed in that moment. Whatever it was, she was grateful for the chance to sit in silence as they rode toward his townhome.
Inside the grand old house, he dropped the chatter to a minimum, opting instead for murmured words of encouragement as he guided her up the steps to the bathroom, where he ran the water extra hot at her request and dropped a purple and green ball into the deep, wide garden tub.
Lavender, he explained, because it was calming. With the tub filling with steamy, fragrant water, he stood and helped her strip out of her clothing. There was nothing sexual in the act, and she felt nothing even remotely sexual stirring inside of her. It was simply the act of one human caring for another, and it was enough to have tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.
When she was stripped bare, he helped her into the tub, where she sank down until her chin bobbed just above the water and closed her eyes.
“Do you want me to stay, or do you need to be alone for a bit?”
“Alone.” She barely choked the words out past the tears tightening her throat. “Please. I’m sorry.”
