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“I didn’t stand guard all night. And it’s not paranoia. Just mark my words. They’re up to something.”
“For God’s sake! What do you think she’s going to do? Build a bomb from her make-up supplies? And what the heck happened out there for you to just storm off like that on her? You hurt her feelings!”
“And I’m supposed to care about that? Protecting her feelings isn’t my job!”
“And God forbid you do anything that isn’t your job, right? Do you remember how to have fun anymore? How to do anything that isn’t work and obligation? Are you ever going to get over Ester, Judd? Or are you going to let her ruin the rest of our lives?”
They were both heaving for breath by now.
“Our lives? What the fuck do you mean by that? It seems her betrayal didn’t affect you at all!” Judd snapped.
“Because she wasn’t the one for us, Judd. And some of us already knew it even before she fucked us over.”
The front door opened and Beck walked in, frowning. It was surprising enough to pull Hux out of his stare off.
Was that . . . did he have a black eye? Owen walked in behind him, looking nearly cheerful.
Now, that was just damn freaky.
“Well, if you knew it then why didn’t you say so!” Judd roared.
“Because in case you haven’t noticed, you’re fucking hard to talk to! Once you get something in your head, you don’t let it go. And now you seem to think every woman is out to betray us. Chloe isn’t Ester.”
“Well, of course she isn’t. She’s nothing more than a job.”
Hux ground his teeth together. “If she’s just a job, then how come you’re treating her so badly?”
“What do you mean, he’s treating her badly?” Owen said in a low voice.
Shit. Hux glanced over at Owen, finding the other man had gone blank. But his eyes were narrowed in on Judd.
Fuck.
Beck shot him a quelling look. Yep, he knew he needed to help diffuse this.
“What did you do to my baby girl?” Owen asked, stepping forward. “She better be all right.”
Now they were all gaping at the other man.
“Did you just say your baby girl?” Judd asked.
“Yes. Mine. What did you do?”
Hux opened his mouth and closed it. He didn’t know where to go with this.
“Wait. Is that why you fucking punched me?” Beck said in a rare display of temper. “Because I got you pulled off Ms. Reed’s guard duty?”
Owen just gave him a cool look. “We were sparring. You were too slow.”
“Owen hit you!” Judd took in Beck, then turned to Owen. “What is going on with you?”
Owen moved forward until he was close to Judd.
Uh-oh.
Hux and Beck shared a look before they stepped forward, ready to intervene.
“What did you do to my girl?” Owen asked.
“Guys, let’s just chill and talk about this reasonably,” Beck said.
“I didn’t do anything to Ms. Reed,” Judd said stiffly. “And she’s not your girl. She is a guest of the princes. And under our security detail. Nothing more or less.”
“You don’t treat her like that’s all she is,” Hux said, before he could stop himself.
Beck shook his head at him.
Right. He was meant to be diffusing the situation. Usually, they were all pretty tight. Owen was actually the least likely to get into an argument. Mostly because he rarely cared about anything enough.
And he always backed Judd.
Except over Chloe, it seemed.
“What do you mean?” Judd snapped.
“It’s just . . . you got upset with her over something and stormed off. Why would you do that if she was just a client?”
Judd’s jaw tightened.
“What did you do?” Owen asked. “Did you hurt her?”
“I didn’t hurt her! She fell over!” Judd said.
“She fell over?” Beck asked, sounding concerned. “Is she all right?”
Had she gotten to Beck too?
“I cleaned up her hands,” Judd said. But he seemed uncomfortable.
“I think she might have hurt her leg,” Hux said.
“What?” Judd barked. “She never said anything.”
“She wouldn’t,” Beck said. “She’s more closed off than Owen.”
“Why do you think that?” Judd asked him. “She seemed fine.”
“I don’t know. I thought I saw her limp slightly.”
“Did you check her legs?” Owen asked Judd.
“No.” Judd frowned. “She didn’t seem to want me to touch her.”
“Why did she fall?” Owen asked. “What did you do?”
“Why do you think I did anything?” Judd snapped back.
Because it was Judd.
“Did you cause her to fall over?” Owen drawled darkly.
Shit. Shit.
“I didn’t push her,” Judd said. He ran a hand over his face. “I might have said something to send her running and she slipped and fell.”
Owen moved so quickly that they couldn’t stop him. He had Judd pinned to the wall, his arm against his neck. Judd grabbed at his arm but didn’t try to move it.
“Don’t hurt my baby girl, Judd. With your words or actions. Or we’re going to have trouble. Got it?”
