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“It’s fine. It’s the face that sold.” It was kind of funny that Grace shrugged rather gracelessly. “I guess you’re not performing anymore?”
“Taking a break.” Wasn’t sure if I would tour again, really. Though the guys had said we could make it work. With everything else right now? Touring was the last thing I should be doing. “I’m guessing you’re not modeling?”
“No, at least not right now. I might go home—eventually. Nonetheless, I want to find my sister, and these brutes are certain someone is looking for me.”
Lunchbox sighed, though Alphabet said nothing.
“I’m sorry.” We all had problems, but I was sorry to hear about hers. “Where is your sister?”
"I think she was taken by the same type of people who took—”
“Little Bit,” Mickey said, the interruption stopping both of us. I spun, not having expected him but then caught Alphabet sliding a phone away. Eyes narrowed, I flicked a look from him to Mickey. “Can we talk?”
Well, the question was an improvement. I glanced at Grace, who was staring at Lunchbox and Alphabet with a quiet kind of fury. Neither of them looked remotely chastised by her anger.
“You okay if I step away?” Because, yeah, I didn’t know her, but I wanted to know if she was in trouble and if Mickey’s friends were the source.
“I’ll be fine,” she said. “It was nice to meet you again. Maybenexttime, some people can mind their own business and let us walk.”
“You are our business, Sweet Cheeks,” Lunchbox said. “And so is the little dancer. Now stop proving how difficult you can be, and let these two go talk.”
As Grace rolled her eyes, there was almost a hint of a smile. She might be irritated about whatever was going on between them but was also having fun.
“I’d like that—being a little dancer and all—I need my little walks.”
Grace actually grinned as Lunchbox huffed out a sigh. I just turned to join Mickey, and when he offered me an arm, I tucked my arm through his. He didn’t waste any time heading back toward the clubhouse.
I stole a look back to where Grace faced off with Alphabet, while Lunchbox split his attention between them and where Mickey and I were walking. He probably wouldn’t relax until we were back inside.
Mickey said nothing until we were in the kitchen. The debris from the fresh hole that now looked out on the living room had been cleared away. The guys had also taken the first steps toward framing it. It still served as a reminder of Milo losing his shit after I told him about my uncle.
Once we were in the kitchen however, Mickey hesitated and I studied him. We hadn’t talked much since the funeral. He’d been trying to take care of things at the clinic, his sister’s house, and a whole host of other tasks that were pulling him away.
With a sigh, he finally turned to face me. It wasn’t quite resignation that crossed his features. If anything, it was more like he braced for a fight.
“If you’re about to tell me I would be better off somewhere else, just don’t.” Folding my arms, I leaned back against the counter. “Please. I don’t want to have that fight with you, but I will.”
Surprise flickered over his expression. The tautness of his jaw seemed to go to granite. “Little Bit…”
I raised my eyebrows, waiting. Because if he really intended to try and persuade me to run away and hide, we would have a problem.
While I agreed with the rules and the precautions, I refused to run away from them. I refused to run away from any of them. Not again.
Rather than continue his sentence, he raked a hand through his hair and stalked across the room to me. Cupping my face in his hands, he dipped his head and then his lips were on mine. Hunger and heat swept through me at the sweet possession in his kiss. Even as I pushed up on my toes, he gripped my hips and lifted me to sit on the counter so we were more eye to eye.
The kiss demanded everything and gave more. We were both panting when he rested his forehead to mine. “You make me crazy, Little Bit.”
“Hmm, I think you were crazy long before I got here,” I said, keeping the teasing light. “You just can’t hide it from me.”
His snort pulled a real grin to my lips. “I want you safe, you know that, right? It’s not about making you leave? Or sending you away? The last thing I want to do is put you so far away I can’t see you…”
“And at the same time, it’s exactly what you want.” I locked my gaze onto his eyes. The light brown color held almost too much darkness, or maybe that was my imagination.
“I just lost Steph,” he said, breaking my heart all over again. “If something happened to you…” He shook his head, cupping my face. “That’s why I called my team. It’s why they’re watching you.”
I was aware of that, intimately, in fact. I couldn’t go anywhere without one or, most of the time, two of them trailing me and whichever of the guys I was with.
“And I accept that you guys need to know I’m safe. It’s why the others aren’t fighting you on this, either.” Not that they hadn’t been giving his guys some severe stink eye. Liam didn’t like them. He didn’tsayanything specific, but his level of vigilance rose when they were around.
