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“I think Stone knows what he plans to do next,” Shaw said, his voice terse in a way that set me on edge too. “He’s just not sharing. You know how he is.”
“Question for you,” Karissa said to me quietly. “What really happened to you, Amelia?”
I froze, just like Dylan had earlier. I didn’t want to try to explain anything that happened to me in Nathan’s house.
“It’s okay,” she said finally. “You don’t owe me anything.” But there was tension written across her face, as if she thought it would be better if I talked.
Then she said, “Let me tell you about my brothers, since you’re guests in our home now.” She raised her eyebrows at Shaw. “And what’s the rule about guests, Shaw?”
He rolled his eyes as he stacked plates in the dishwasher. “I’m not playing your little games, Karissa.”
“We don’t sleep with our guests, Shaw.”
“You’re insufferable,” he told her, straightening from the dishwasher.
Cole checked his cell phone, then looked to Shaw. “I got a text from Stone. He wants to see us.”
The nameStonemade my blood run cold.
Shaw looked over his shoulder at me, then he and Karissa exchanged a look.
“I’ll see you later, Dylan,” Cole said, and didn’t seem to mind when Dylan didn’t answer. Dylan was intensely fixated on his Lego tower. Cole unfolded himself from the plush carpet and rose to his full height, where he towered over me.
I liked him better when he was on the ground with Dylan. Then he seemed harmless. His tall, big body reminded me of how dangerous these men really were.
“You go ahead,” Shaw told Cole. “I’m going to live up to my slacker reputation and make sure Karissa doesn’t slander us all too badly in our absence.”
Karissa scoffed. “I’ll slander you to your face—you know that.”
Shaw had his arms crossed again, but he made an impatient gesture, telling her to go ahead.
“I’m going to make hot tea,” she said instead. “Amelia, you’ll keep me company, won’t you?”
I glanced at Dylan, playing contentedly. It wasn’t as if I would’ve rejected her offer anyway. “I’d love to.”
“Stone may seem terrifying,” Karissa said a few minutes later, settling herself on the sectional adjacent to the eat-in kitchen. She cupped her hands around her teacup. “But he’s a kitten if you know him.”
Shaw rolled his eyes as he leaned over the back of the couch, his broad forearms braced on its top. “I wouldn’t oversell it, Kar.”
“Okay, maybe he’s more like a tiger, all toothy and dangerous, but he’ll purr if you—”
He gave her a disbelieving look. “Tigers don’t purr.”
“You are killing me,” she mouthed at him.
The warmth and teasing between them put me at ease a little, and so did the sight of Dylan working intently to set up his Lego city. While we talked, he slowly became lost in his creation.
“It’s a scientific fact,” Shaw said. “Tigers are dangerous, and so is Stone. But he’d never hurt anyone just for the fun of it. He’s not like Dad.”
Karissa tucked her hair behind her ears and said, “I wish Liam hadn’t said that to him.”
Shaw scoffed. “He wasn’t wrong. Stone looks scary all the time. The man needs to get in touch with his softer side.”
“Just because Liam wasn’t wrong doesn’t mean he was right, either.”
I had a feeling they’d forgotten me. Then Shaw shrugged. “Well, there’s no controlling Liam. Where is he, anyway?”
“He’s been out there, running as a wolf nonstop, since he got back. He has a lot of feelings after watching all those men die on your stupid revenge mission. And after…” She glanced at me and fell silent.
