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“Cat, I can’t believe you tried to sneak away from your guards,” Maeve scolded.
Cat pouted. “Don’t you start with me, Maeve. You’re meant to be on my side. Littles unite!”
“Maeve is far too sensible to be on your side. She wouldn’t do something so reckless. Would you, Maeve?” Alejandro turned his dark gaze on her friend.
“Well, that’s a guilty look if ever I saw one. Just what have you done, Maeve?” Alejandro asked.
“Alejandro,” Cat said warningly. She knew that he only wanted to keep Maeve safe. He considered her family, and he protected the people who were his family.
Even when they didn’t want that protection.
But Cat couldn’t let him bully her friend, even if he had good intentions.
“Papi, don’t you have a meeting or something?” Cat asked.
“It’s okay,” Maeve said. “I went out dancing.”
“You did?” Cat squealed. “Oh, Maeve. That’s great. You love dancing and you haven’t been in ages.”
“What happened?” Alejandro asked suspiciously.
“Nothing that bad.”
“Maeve, spill,” Cat demanded.
“Fine. This guy might have grabbed me. But I took care of it.”
“How?” Alejandro asked. “And what was he doing grabbing you? Did you have your knife on you?”
“Ahh . . .”
“What about your stun gun?”
“Umm . . .”
“Pepper spray?” Alejandro’s face was growing more and more thunderous.
“I can’t carry all of that stuff everywhere.”
“Don’t give me that,” Alejandro scolded. “You could have taken just one.”
“How did you take care of it?” Cat asked.
“My awesome ninja skills, of course.”
Both of them just stared at her.
“I could have those,” Maeve said. “I could be taking MMA classes, you know.”
“You know being a ninja and MMA are two different things, right?” Cat asked.
“Pfft, don’t you go being all logical with me. And of course I do, I binge-watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with you, didn’t I?”
“I love Donatello.”
She ignored Alejandro’s sharp look.
Silly Papi. Being jealous of a turtle.
“Don’t think I don’t know what the two of you are doing,” he grumbled. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared straight at Maeve. “You need to be here.”
“Alejandro, I can’t move in with you guys.”
“And why not? You would be protected. Taken care of. You should be with us.”
“You know I love you guys, and I appreciate what you did for me. I owe you—”
“You don’t owe us anything, does she, Alejandro?” Cat asked quickly.
Alejandro had helped Maeve when those cops had tried to blame her for her mother’s death. But she didn’t owe them a thing.
You did for family.
Alejandro looked like he wanted to argue. Cat glared at him. She knew that what he really wanted was to pressure Maeve into moving in with them so he could protect her. But that wasn’t what Maeve needed.
Alejandro nodded finally. “You do not owe us. You are our family.”
“We take care of our own,” Cat said. That was their motto.
“You know I love you both. But I’m fine. I’m happy doing my own thing.”
“Including being accosted by strange men,” Alejandro said disapprovingly.
“I wasn’t accosted. I was grabbed. And then this guy came to help me.”
“What guy? Who is it?” Cat asked.
“No one interesting.”
“Maeve . . . you know you’re hopeless at lying,” Cat told her.
“I’m getting better. I’ve been practicing in the mirror.”
Alejandro muttered something under his breath, shaking his head. “Do you know who attacked you? Do you have a description?”
“Ahh, no, it was pretty dark.”
“What about this other guy?” Cat asked. “The one that helped you? Does he have a name? Do you have his number?”
“No, I don’t have his number. I’m sure I’ll never see him again.”
Hmm. She looked quite sad about that.
“If you do see him again, you will text me his details and I will look into him,” Alejandro told Maeve.
“Sure thing.” She saluted him.
“I will leave you for your girl talk. Maeve, call if you need me.”
“Will do. Thanks.”
He kissed Cat lightly. “I need to go downstairs and talk to Aaron, then I’m going back to The Circus of the Dark. I’ll let Rafael know.”
Great. He’d probably follow her around like the shadow of death.
She needed to get somewhere private.
She walked out of the living room, spotting Rafael heading her way.
“I went shopping the other day and I found these really cute shoes and I thought, what have I got to wear with them? And then I saw this dress that I—” Cat stopped mid-sentence as she closed the bathroom door. “The door’s closed and we’re on our own. Spill.”
“On our own? What do you mean?”
Cat huffed a sigh. “Alejandro gave me a new bodyguard after my last, um, incident. And he’s always around. The man never gives me any space. I swear, I wasn’t exaggerating when I said that I can’t even pee on my own. I need to find him someone to turn some of that attention on.”
Especially since she wasn’t allowed to make him some no-bake poison bars. She still thought that was a better option.
