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She was definitely going to sleep well tonight.
24
Beck walked out into the living room, frowning down at the text on the group chat.
Hux:
I’ll stay with His Lordliness today.
Beck:
Are you sure? I can take over.
Hux:
No point. He’s not coming back to the palace. Going straight to a few meetings. I’m fine.
Beck:
You shouldn’t take Lord F. duty all the time.
Hux:
Neither should you.
Fuck. Had he been that obvious?
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to spend time with Chloe. He just felt awkward around her. Like he didn’t know what to say or do.
She was beautiful, graceful, and sweet. He was a hulking behemoth who was scared to touch her for fear of breaking her.
Yet, he was drawn to her like a moth to a flame.
Fuck. It was confusing as hell.
He stilled as he saw Owen moving around . . . packing up beach stuff? An umbrella, a blanket, towels, several buckets and spades and other toys. Where had those come from?
He’d never seen them before.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Judd came into the room, running a hand over his face. He looked tired.
He probably wasn’t sleeping. That was only going to add to his grumpy mood. He was always grouchy, but he got worse when he was tired. Or hungry.
There was no one as grumpy as a hangry Judd.
“Can you make us some food for lunch?” Owen asked. “And some snacks. She probably won’t eat breakfast, so she’ll need some snacks. High in protein. You know, that healthy crap you’re always spouting on about.”
Judd had a thing about food. Beck thought it had something to do with his childhood. Both Owen and Judd had grown up in poverty. Now, Judd couldn’t relax unless there was plenty of food in the fridge, even though they could go over to the palace at any time and literally eat like kings.
It made Judd feel better to keep the pantry stocked and the fridge filled.
So that’s what they did.
Just like Owen needed to keep his true self hidden from everyone but them. And Hux hid his vulnerability behind jokes and an easygoing persona.
And him? Well . . . he was just as messed up as the rest of them.
He pushed his thoughts aside, watching Owen again.
“Why am I making food?” Judd asked as he walked over to pull out some whole wheat bread.
Beck was all for healthy eating. He was careful about everything he put into his body. He walked over to the kitchen to make a pre-workout smoothie.
“You’re going to have to skip the gym today,” Owen told him. “Although maybe you should make one of those for her. She might have that since she barely eats.”
“Who?” he asked. Was he talking about Chloe?
“Chloe. She barely eats.”
Worry churned inside him. She was tiny. Why wasn’t she eating? Was she ill? Did she have dietary needs they didn’t know about? Or was it something else . . . an eating disorder?
Fuck. Now he knew he’d worry about her until he knew.
“Why isn’t she eating?” he asked.
Owen glanced over at him. “I don’t know . . . I didn’t pick up on it until yesterday. But we can make sure she eats today when we have our picnic at the beach.”
“We’re going to the beach?” Judd asked. “With Chloe?”
“Yep.”
There was something weird about Owen this morning, but Beck couldn’t figure it out. At least not while he was scrambling to catch up.
“She wants to go on a date with us?” Judd asked. “All of us? I didn’t think she wanted to be around us when she got us taken off her security.”
“She was scared of her feelings for us. And she thinks there’s no future for us.”
Judd and Beck shot each other a look.
“So, we’re good enough to spend time with, but not to have a future with?” Judd asked.
“No.” Owen shook his head. “I think she’s scared, but she’ll soon learn that I’m not letting her go anywhere. I’m going to sort everything.”
“You are?” Beck asked. “How?”
“By taking out every obstacle.” He eyed them. “I told her that you all wanted this. That you were fine with living in the moment.”
“What kind of bullshit is that?” Judd asked.
Owen shrugged. “It got her to agree to spend time with us. We’ll show her that she’s ours, then I’ll take out anyone who stops us from having her. Easy.”
Right. Easy.
“We’re going to end up in jail,” Beck said.
“That’ll only happen if I get caught,” Owen said. “And I never get caught.”
Judd sighed. “Fuck.”
“Just don’t scare her off,” Owen warned. “Both of you should get ready.”
Nerves filled him.
Chill, man.
It was just a trip to the beach. Nothing to get worked up about.
But it didn’t help that there was so much shit going on with them all.
Were they really what this girl needed?
Hux was avoiding them and Beck wasn’t sure what to do to get through to him. Judd was frowning, looking like he was going to his execution. While Owen . . . was whistling?
