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My pulse fluttered. Something about the way he looked, the tone in his voice, stirred something deep inside me. A longing. Raine and I weren’t that different. He was slightly more unhinged but our taste for darker things was the same. The thought of Bailey stretched out between us, naked and trembling, made my cock swell.
I knocked back the rest of my whiskey. “As you said… we’ll see.”
Poe and Saint crept in and poured themselves a drink as well. “You two playing nice now?” Saint grumbled.
Raine and I didn’t break eye contact. I nodded. “For now.”
Poe froze mid-sip. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” Saint looked up as if he were expecting someone to crash through the ceiling.
Raine’s nostrils flared. “I hear them. Someone’s out front.”
Just as he said it, the sound of muffled laughter rang out. “Fuck.” I raced through the house, toward the front entrance with the guys at my heels.
I turned into the foyer just as a loud crash erupted. “What the fuck?” I yelled.
My hair blew back off my face as the cold wind from the broken window rushed in. Glass covered the marble floor.
Saint growled as he mobbed through it, his boots crunching as he stomped over to the window and looked out. “They’re gone.”
Poe ran his hands through his dark hair as he surveyed the mess. “Probably just a stupid prank. Fucking asshole kids.”
I looked over at Raine, the both of us seething. “No.” I shook my head. “This was something else.”
Raine gazed around the room until he spotted what they threw. He reached down and picked up a brick with a note attached to it. He clenched his jaw as he read it aloud. “Freak… This is a message for Bailey.”
I yanked open the front door and barreled out into the front yard, scanning the neighborhood like I was searching for a lost dog. There was no one in sight. I looked at the other houses to find their windows still very much intact.
As I charged back into the house, Poe was already sweeping up the glass. “Raine’s right. Someone is fucking with her.”
Saint sighed as he peered out the window again. “Why hasn’t she said anything to us?”
Raine snickered. “Because she’s afraid you’ll lock her up and throw away the key. Open your fucking eyes. You aren’t paying enough attention.” He raised his voice.
Poe leaned against the broom. “She told you that?”
Raine kicked some of the glass. “Bailey hasn’t told me anything. She didn’t have to. I’ve been watching in the shadows for a long time. Long enough to see the war going on inside her.”
A desperate need to see her face gripped me. “Why would someone target her?”
Raine shot me a glare. “Fucking ask her. Do you know anything about her past? Hmm?”
Saint shot forward. “Oh, and you do?”
“I know more than enough. Too much. I’ve seen her in her darkest moments when she thought no one was there.” He sank down to the bottom of the stairs. “She’s not—”
All four of us flinched as the front door burst open. Bailey’s eyes widened at the sight of the glass, the broken window, and finally us. Her breath hitched as she spotted Raine. “What’s going on? Please tell me you aren’t fighting with each other.”
That need to see her was now replaced by a need to chain her to my bed and never let her out of my sight again. I ripped the brick from Raine’s hands and handed it to her along with the note that was attached. “I think you need to start talking.”
“Freak,” she murmured. She crumpled the note and threw it. “That’s what I am, right? A fucking freak.” Tears burst from her eyes.
Poe shot me a glare as he rushed toward her, wrapping his arms around her tiny frame. “It’s okay, love. Let’s get you something to eat.”
He started to walk her toward the kitchen when Saint stopped him. “Stop coddling her. Everyone in the sitting room. Now.”
The conversation had shifted from worry to anger back to concern for Bailey’s safety. But we were talking about her like she wasn’t in the room. Raine was the only one who kept quiet. Doing what he did best, observing. Maybe he had the right idea after all. You learn more from listening than you do talking. I should know because I wasn’t one for talking much either. Except for me, it was different. The thought of opening up made me physically nauseous. So how could I really judge anyone for doing the same?
