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Those same stirrings rose in my gut again, and I pushed them down. I couldn’t think about the future until we’d dealt with the danger that was in the present. Until Nathan was gone, the future was blank. Because he’d made it that way.
Lucas returned from the kitchen with a large mug, a tea bag steeping in it. As he handed it to me, a knock came from behind me. I jumped. The front door.
“It’s Harlan,” Lucas said softly. But he still checked through the peephole before unlocking the door.
Harlan stepped in quickly so Lucas could shut and lock the door again. They were a well-oiled machine, these men. But Harlan didn’t have anything with him, and his face was grave. He spoke softly to Lucas, low enough that I couldn’t hear him. But Lucas scrubbed his hands over his face. “Okay. Thanks. Wait here for the others, okay?”
Lucas took the mug from my hands and put it on the coffee table. “Come with me.” He took my hand, and we went up another set of stairs. The whole top floor was a bedroom. Lucas’s, obviously. But it felt strange to be here. Why? “What’s wrong?”
He paused at the top of the stairs, and shook his head, eyes closed. The words came out like they were being yanked out of him. “All your clothes were shredded in the drawers. There was nothing left. The bracelets and ring are gone too. I’m so sorry.”
The emotions hit me in the chest. They were just clothes. I’d lost more to Nathan than this. But after everything—tears flooded my eyes.
“I’ll take care of it in the morning,” Lucas said. A drawer scraped. He pulled a pair of flannel pants and a T-shirt out of his dresser. “You can wear these. I know it’s not the same.”
“Thank you.”
He pulled me close and pressed one kiss to my lips. Just long enough to ground me. Remind me that I was here with him. I could survive the loss of clothes. “I’ll be downstairs.”
It didn’t take me long to change. I was practically swimming in the clothes, but they smelled like Lucas, and that was pure comfort. Gentle pine and clean mountain air.
Like Lucas had pulled it out of my head, he had started a fire and held a blanket for me when I returned to the living room. I burrowed underneath it into the armchair, Aspen resting his head on my knee. And I had the mug of tea again.
I liked the heat from the fire, but I also knew that I couldn’t be any closer to it than I was. Not right now.
“You know how to treat a girl,” I said softly.
Lucas’s eyes were filled with pain. “I know how to care for someone with trauma. Because I’ve been where you are. Nothing helps, but little things matter.”
There was a knock on the door, and he kissed my forehead. “We’ll be over here. If it’s too much, the guest room is directly behind you.”
“Okay.”
But I didn’t want to move. Exhaustion crept up on me. I wanted to hear what they were planning, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Setting the tea on the table beside me, I stroked Aspen’s head, watching as each of Lucas’s friends arrived. When the last one came in and the door was locked again, Lucas called the meeting to order.
Chapter 18
Lucas
My body vibrated with poorly contained energy. I was keeping a hold on it. But barely. The devastation on Evelyn’s face was enough to turn me into an animal. She was curled up on a chair in the corner with Aspen. Looking in our direction but not at us. Into space. Like every last bit of life had been drained from her eyes.
If I ever put my hands on Nathan West, it would be a struggle not to kill him.
Around the table, my six friends looked at me. A couple of them weren’t remotely informed about this. I’d tried to keep Evelyn and her story as private as I could. But now this man had violated our property and her safety. It could not—would not—stand, and I knew they would agree with me.
But as I stood here, I was torn between my desire to fix and to protect and the desire to carry Evelyn upstairs to my bedroom and lock the door behind us.
“What’s going on?” Grant asked.
I swallowed and focused on the group in front of me. “There’s been a breach of the property. We don’t know who, but it was either a dangerous stalker or someone working on his behalf. They got through the gates and broke into the Bitterroot House with the intent to at least terrify Evelyn, if not worse. We’re lucky she was out of the house when they were there.”
Harlan looked at me, understanding just how much of my fury I was holding back. “What can you tell us?”
“I’ll tell you what Evelyn has given me permission to, starting with the fact that this man is Nathan West.”
A low curse came out of Jude. “You’re serious?”
“Yes.”
