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I snick under my breath. He doesn’t trust me. He shouldn’t. He certainly doesn’t know me well enough to care.
“You would be surprised. These boys…” She shakes her head like an exasperated mother hen.
“That fucker has an alibi,” Riot snarls, grabbing everyone’s attention as he stalks across the room to the wet bar where Rogue is already pouring him a drink. “Can you believe this shit? He’s not even in the city. Hasn’t been for a couple of days. There are photos online of him in New York.”
“So it’s not him?” Ro’s voice rises as her hand flutters to her chest. Relief and fear war across her delicate features. “If it’s not him…”
“It’s him.” Riot tosses back the contents of the glass Rogue hands him. “It has to be fucking him.”
“He paid someone,” I say. He must have. It’s the only explanation. He sent me that text, asking me if I enjoyed his surprise. He was talking about Ro’s apartment, even though he wouldn’t admit it when I pressed him. It had to be him, right?
“That.” Rogue points at me, like I’ve solved the $64,000 question. “That has to be the answer.”
“There’s no suspect at this point.” Riot sets his glass down hard. “No fingerprints. Hair. Fibers. Nothing.”
Ro gasps in a broken kind of way. “Nothing?”
My brother is doing this to her. Putting her through hell because of some perceived slight that I’m none the wiser about than I was when he told me Rebel started the war between them. I wish I could fix this.
Riot gravitates to her. He drops onto the couch beside her and pulls her in close to his body. “The detective said he’d get back to me if anything changes, but it doesn’t sound good.”
“Shit.” Rogue starts pouring another round for everyone in the room.
Rebel turns his back on the lot of us and clamps his hands to the back of his head as he roars. “Fuck.”
“I need to…” Summer leaves me beside the tree to go to him. He engulfs her the moment she touches him. Buries his face in her hair. His shoulders heave and his jaw moves, but his words are lost. Quiet, private things meant only for her. He is a storm and she is the buffer between him and the world.
There is so much emotional strength in her tiny five-foot-three frame. More than I will ever possess. Maybe I should stop fooling myself that I have any chance of pulling a confession from my brother. Perhaps T-Swift is wrong and Rogue won’t really go after Alec. If I come clean to Rogue now he might understand why I didn’t tell him straight away. I turn my back on the hopes and dreams that the Christmas tree represents. God, but what about Adira? I need to warn him too.
“Hey, pretty girl.” Riot tips Ro’s chin up to get her to focus on him. “You have got to remember that he’s doing this because you’re fighting back. You’re scaring him and he’s going to retaliate. You just have to stay the course.”
I take his words to heart like he meant them for me. Telling me to keep going. Keep my mouth shut and my guard up.
“We should hire a bodyguard.” Rogue strides to my side. He wraps an arm around my shoulder and pulls my back to his chest. “Someone to watch your six, twenty-four seven.”
“It has to be someone we know,” Rebel adds as Summer leaves the room. “Not just an agency dude, but someone we can trust. Security is vetted, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be bought. And we have to assume that Alec is using his deep pockets to do this.”
“Yeah.” Riot climbs to his feet and grabs his phone from where he tossed it on the bar. He squeezes the back of his neck as he taps on the screen. “I might know a guy. We played a couple of gigs with Saylor Monroe and Arrow Stockwell. She’s added a couple of people to her security detail since she has kids now. And she’s taking some time off from touring. I’ll get Kelsey to find her number.”
My phone vibrates in my pocket. I turned it to silent when it went off in the driveway.
Summer returns to the living room with Bianca. Ethan and Linc bring up the rear.
“Okay, now that everyone is here.” Summer claps her hands to catch our attention. “We should move to the dining room. The food is ready.”
Someone’s stomach gurgles as though to punctuate that statement.
Everyone laughs.
“Dude.” Linc nudges Ethan in the gut. “That did not sound healthy.”
Ethan pats his flat stomach. “New diet. I’m prepping for a role in a superhero movie. Have to get shredded. Protein. Protein. Fasting. And more protein.”
“Is Kelsey not coming to dinner?” Rebel asks Riot.
Riot darts a quick look at Ro that I would swear has guilt written all over it. I have no idea who this Kelsey is but she must be important to spark that expression. He grabs the back of his neck and shrugs. “Uh, no. She couldn’t make it.”
“Wow. Really?” Rebel’s brows arch devilishly. “It’s going to be a weird Thanksgiving without her.”
