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As he laughed, I turned from him to Niko, who was smiling bright as the sun. He gathered me up against his slimmer frame and nuzzled the side of my face. “We were awfully worried about you, Angel. All of us.”
I would have assumed he meant all three, but as I pulled away to match his smile with a beaming one of my own, a fourth figure who I hadn’t noticed at the edge of the room took a step toward us.
My gaze jerked toward the unexpected member of the group, and my stance went rigid.
Quentin stopped where he was, still several feet away between the sparse clothing racks, and ran his fingers over his blond hair, which was slicked back as neatly as always. His sharp blue eyes held some of the same wildness I’d seen when he’d called me down from my apartment right before Mom had grabbed me.
When he’d told me how he couldn’t stop thinking about me and then kissed me.
In my shock, my voice came out cold. “What areyoudoing here?”
His mouth slanted at a crooked angle. Before he could speak, Niko jumped in. “Quentin helped us figure out why you’d disappeared. He saw your mother take you away.”
Rafael nodded, his impassive expression giving away nothing of his feelings on the third skater guy he was now shepherding around. “He insisted on coming along, and I figured he’d make more trouble than it was worth if I couldn’t keep an eye on him. Claims he knows the wrong side of the tracks and that he wants to help if he can.”
His voice took on a slightly dry tone with the second sentence. Jasper simply scowled. I couldn’t imagine he’d been happy about his rival coming along for the trip.
I was silent for a moment, taking in what they’d said and studying Quentin. The twist of his mouth had shaped it into a tentative if crooked smile. His gaze burned into me with its usual intensity.
When he’d come by the apartment, I’d figured he’d been looking for more ways to mess with me and Jasper. Or to get his rocks off and then move on. But he’d been willing to trek all the way across the country to try to get me out of this mess?
That didn’t fit with the coolly competitive guy I’d thought he was.
I shifted closer to Jasper automatically, taking his hand to sling his arm around my waist. I was both starving for contact with the men I’d had to leave behind and determined that Jasper didn’t imagine for one second that my interest in him had faded.
“How much does he know?” I had to ask.
Rafael shrugged. “The basics. Enough to realize he’s stepping into a shitload of danger.”
“Wetriedto scare him off,” Jasper muttered, but he held me with a tenderness totally at odds with his tone. It wasn’t me he was annoyed with, that was for sure.
“Well, thank you,” I said to Quentin. “Never thought I’d see the day when you’d actually workwithJasper instead of trying to tear him down.”
It was a purposeful jab—a test of his response.
Quentin simply bobbed his head in acknowledgement. “The least I could do if you’re in trouble.”
Which I was. The prickle that’d jabbed at me earlier spread into a larger ache.
And now my men were in trouble too.
I glanced up at Jasper, unable to resist rising on my toes to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Noneof you really should have come, though.” I reached out to squeeze Niko’s arm and then cast my gaze toward Rafael. “My mom… She might kill you if she finds out you’re here. No hesitation, no questions asked.”
Just saying it left me queasy.
Niko raised his chin. “We’re not leaving you to deal with her on your own. There has to be a way to get you away from her.”
“And we’ll take whatever risks necessary to make it happen,” Jasper added.
Rafael let out a light huff. “You know I’m not walking away from the danger.”
I swallowed thickly and curled my fingers tighter around Jasper’s hand. “But—there’s Nationals too. You’ll miss your chance—”
“Fuck that,” my partner broke in emphatically. “I couldn’t compete without you, and I sure as hell wouldn’t want to anyway. If we get our way, you’ll be right there beside me in time for us to skate together.”
My heart sank. “It’s not going to be easy. I can’t just run away again. She’ll know exactly where I went—and even if we laid low, now that she knows about you and Niko too, it’ll be that much easier for her to track us down. And she’s made it clear that if I go against her orders again, she’s going to punish me by hurting all of you.”
Rafael’s lips formed a grim smile. “Then we have to make her believe that she’s better off letting you leave.”
