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I try to play it off like it’s nothing. “Just picking Ro and Riot up on our way over.”
“Want to try that again?” he asks. “Because I’m not over here scratching like I have hives and unable to sit still becausenothingis going on.”
I scratch at my jaw. We share twin telepathy hives, for fuck’s sake. Worst part of being a twin ever. “How long did you wait to make this call?”
“Long enough to work out your dumb ass wasn’t going to call me first. Is Riot—”
“With me? Yes. Everyone is fine. Just a little B and E drama.”
“At Ro’s?”
He doesn’t ask the question on the tip of his tongue. He doesn’t have to. “Had to be Alec. He left a dead mouse on her pillow.”
“That fucker,” he bellows.
In the background I hear Summer asking, “What’s going on?”
I imagine tiny Summer, holding back my enraged brother with one palm to his chest while she steals his phone before she speaks again. “Rogue, what happened?”
“Hawthorne broke into Ro’s.”
“Is she okay?”
“About as expected.” I rest my weight on the curve of the counter and crack my neck. Now that the cops have the situation under control I’m wrecked. But Rebel is fresh and still has Alec’s threat over Summer ringing in his ears. “He’s getting ready to find Hawthorne, isn’t he?”
Ivy appears in the doorway, hovering like she wants to launch herself at me. I get it. She’s worried. About me. About Ro. And this mess with Alec that I would do anything to keep her from being caught up in. Except let her go.
Tonight is stirring up memories of her own brother too. She hates that I want to look after her, but it’s a part of who I am. I can’t shut it off. Won’t.
I open my arm and she rushes to my side. With my arm around her neck I kiss the top of her head. She grips my elbow like she wants to keep the contact forever.
“It seems so.” Summer sighs. “But trust that I won’t let him out of this house. I’ll smack him in the head with a shovel if I have to.”
“He can’t go after him,” I agree. “And he shouldn’t come here. There are cops everywhere. Get him to stay put. I don’t want them thinking they need to keep an eye on him in case he goes off half-cocked. I’ll owe you forever.”
“You already owe me.” She laughs softly. “But I’d do it anyway. Alec is going down. The right way. Where none of my boys end up behind bars. Understand?”
“Got it, Summer Heart,” I drawl, like I have as much confidence in her plan as she does. “We’ll be over as soon as the cops are finished with their questioning. Ro’s gonna stay at the house overnight.”
“Of course. We have plenty of room,” Summer says. “You and Ivy too if you want. I think we could all do with feeling a little safer tonight.”
“We’ll see you soon,” I tell her and hang up before I bury my face in Ivy’s hair and breathe her in. She smells like blackberries and sugar cookies and it slays me every damn time. I groan. “Why do you always smell so fucking delicious?”
“Your brother will stay home, won’t he?” Ivy asks. “I’d hate for anything to happen.”
“I hope so.” I pick her up and rest her ass on the counter, just so I can get as close to her as two people can when they’re fully clothed and surrounded by an apartment full of cops. My fingers brush the skin of her thigh just beneath the hem of her dress. “But I’m not counting chickens. Only on Summer’s ability to wrangle cows on her family’s ranch. She might be a city slicker now, but she has stories for days about growing up with the Heart army. When she says she can take my brother out with a shovel, she really can.”
“Oh, I believe it.” She rests her elbows on my shoulders and smiles.
“As soon as the detective is finished with Ro, we’ll go,” I tell her. “Thinking about staying the night at the house. Keeping an eye on my older and more compulsive brother. Do you want to stay with? Or should I take you home first?”
“I’m staying with you,” she says quietly.
Her phone hiccups its newest notification. I narrow my gaze at the damn thing where it sits beside her thigh, but it’s facing screen down almost as if to taunt me.
I swear to God, if T-Swift messages her one more time…I play it off like it’s a joke. “You sure you don’t need to go deal with whoever keeps messaging you?”
She rolls her gaze at me. “It’s probably my brother. Or my mom. Whoever it is they can wait. You’re more important.”
