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Aiden looked down at his plate without speaking again. Oliver shot me a look, but he clamped his mouth shut, keeping his anger in for the moment.
“We need to get rid of Missy. Make sure she’s not coming around. Then we need to tell Brooklyn the truth about who she is. She deserves to know, especially with the tabloid rumors flying around,”I said.
Aiden didn’t acknowledge what I had said, but Oliver and Gideon both inclined their heads to me, agreeing. The problem was, how would we tell Brooklyn anything, if she wouldn’t answer our calls? If we gave our girl the space she wanted, would a chasm open that could never be closed again?
Chapter
Sixteen
Brooklyn
Before Frankeven knocked on the apartment door, I knew the guys had found my note. My phone suddenly got quiet, the constant calls and text messages that I had been avoiding all day, stopping completely. When I let Frank into the apartment, his face was sullen and I felt some small amount of guilt for making him be in the middle of me and Gideon.
“Gideon called,”he said.
“I figured,”I replied, just as Ash entered the room with a bottle of wine and two stemless wine glasses.
“He doesn’t want to overwhelm you or overstep, his words. But he has assigned a man to be outside during the night. I’ll be back, normal time, to take you to work in the morning,”he explained.
I sighed, thinking about how Gideon must have sounded on the phone. It was the emotions I was sure he conveyed that prevented me from answering any phone call. I hadn’t listened to any voicemails either. I knew I was too weak when it came to them, and it would kill me to hear that they were hurting.
“Ok, Frank. Thank you. I appreciate you staying on, even though this wasn’t the original assignment,”I said.
He looked indecisive, and we stood in silence for a moment. I could hear Ash fidgeting with things behind me, clearly reading the room. Finally, Frank moved to go back to the door, but stopped just as his hand touched the doorknob.
“We all just want you to be safe, that’s all The Knights have wanted. I hope you realize that,”he said.
“I know,”I replied quietly.
I did know. My safety was a top priority to them. They all just went about it the wrong way, treating me as if I had no say in my own preservation. I tried really hard to understand where they were coming from. But I had spent way too much money in therapy to learn how to be my own person, without three overbearing men showing up, forcing me to go backward.
Frank nodded to me before leaving and closing the door behind him. I quickly locked it. Though I wanted to find a way to hold on to my independence, I didn’t feel completely safe. I had grown complacent living behind the walls around The Knights’home. I didn’t want to be controlled, but I would miss feeling as safe as I did.
Turning, I found Ash looking at me. Without saying anything, she came to stand next to me and showed me again how to use the new security system Gideon had installed for her after I had left. It was similar to what the house had, so I didn’t need to learn much, just remember my code. Seeing the system only made me think of my big man, and I had to step away as my eyes filled with tears.
Ash followed me to the couch, where I collapsed and laid my head back on the cushions. I heard her twisting the top off our favorite cheap bottle of wine and pour two generous servings. Without opening my eyes, I held out my hand until the cool glass slid into my palm. I sat up so I could sip the white wine and Ash met my eye.
“So. We going to talk about it?”She asked.
“Not sure what else there is to say,”I replied.
“You love them?”
I thought about that. I still wasn’t sure. What did love feel like? Or the loss of it? Was it the pain in my chest that felt like I was hollow? When I was with them, was it the elation I felt whenever they were near? I didn’t know the answers to those questions and jumping to love was too scary for me.
“I don’t know,”I finally responded.
Ash didn’t say anything, just nodded and sipped her wine.
“Even if I do, all of this is too much,”I added.
“All of what? Men who care, protecting you the best they know how?”She asked.
“You agree with them?”I asked, my eyebrows shooting up as I stared at my best friend.
“Not at all. The controlling your movements and always knowing where you are, that’s just weird and over the top. But I guess a part of me can understand why they went that far.”
“Explain,”I said, needing to understand more.
