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“You’ll adjust,” he shrugged again, then he picked me up bridal style and I hurried to wrap my arms around his neck to hold on.
“You’re crazy. You know that, right?” I told him teasingly.
“Yup. Don’t worry. You’ll adjust to that too,” he laughed, then he was kissing me again and just for those few moments everything seemed a little less terrifying.
***
Twenty minutes later I was dressed and looking less like I’d been ravaged the night before. My hands were still shaking, and the guys refused to allow me out of their sight. They’d checked and double checked the security, and sweeps had been done several times outside, but everything was as it should be. I was safe, for now.
My brothers had arrived and hugged me until I thought my bones would be crushed just moments earlier, all of them terrified once again that it had been my badly beaten and strangled body in their back yard.
Now we all sat around the dining table. Aleks had access to their security system and was working to discover who had hacked it and how. Kailan was making coffee, and Harris was off whispering in a corner with Kyle.
Nick had claimed me the instant Cole - the last of my brothers to hug me upon entering – had let me go, and now I found myself in his lap, his arms tight around me like he was worried I’d be snatched instantly if he loosened his grip.
“You’re sure Livy is okay? And mom? What about the kids?” I asked again as I looked between Kade, Cole, and Matt.
“We’re sure. Please just take a breath and stop freaking out, little sis. Everyone is good,” Cole assured me again.
“Except for that poor girl in the yard,” I whispered as more tears filled my eyes.
“That’s not on you, baby. It’s on Soloman. He’s a monster and he will be stopped. What he did tonight was sloppy. He’ll have made a mistake that’ll lead the cops right to him,” Nick told me firmly.
“What are they whispering about?” I asked as I nodded to Harris and Kyle in the corner, needing to change the subject.
“Kyle’s worried you’re not safe here anymore. If our system was breached, yours could be too,” Xander explained.
“Unlikely. Our system was designed by the genius, over there. Anyone comes within ten feet of this house and we’ll know,” Kailan explained as he brought over cups of fresh coffee.
I reached for a cup, internally groaning at the walk I would have to take to the refrigerator for my caramel creamer, but Kailan put his hand over mine, stopping me.
“I made you some tea. You need to try and relax a little,” he told me gently.
“Thank you,” I whispered. He was so sweet, and he was right. A sweet cup of tea was exactly what I needed when I already felt so jittery and on edge. He was just handing me the steaming mug when Harris came storming over and angrily took a seat beside Nick. Instinctively I reached out and put my hand on his shoulder, hating to see him looking so annoyed.
“What’s wrong?” I asked when he looked at me and placed his hand over mine.
“Kyle wants us to strongarm you into going home with them. I think you’re safer here, but I also told him it’s entirely up to you what you do, and, as usual, he didn’t like that answer.”
I turned on Nick’s lap until I saw Kyle walking menacingly towards the table.
“Since when have any of you been able to make me do anything I didn’t want to do?” I asked him bluntly; not happy he’d go behind my back to my guys like that.
“This isn’t a game, Evie. It’s time you saw sense and came home where we can protect you,” Kyle snapped, and I instantly saw red. I slammed my cup on the table, ignoring the splashes on my hand as I jumped to my feet and glared hard at Kyle.
“A game? You think I see this as a fucking game?” I raged. “This psycho kidnaps and tortures me and you think I’m what, having fun? I thought I was going to die, Kyle! I should have died! Yeah, for some reason he let me go, but that wasn’t the fucking end of it! I have been so scared for so damned long! I still am! I’m t-terrified all of the time for me, for you, for everyone I love. D-don’t you ever s-say that to me again!” I was yelling in the beginning, but by the end I could barely get the words out through my tight throat. Tears were flooding down my face once again as Nick stood and pulled me into his arms, turning me away from all of them and burying my face against his soft t-shirt.
“Back the fuck off. Evie’s not going anywhere or doing anything she doesn’t want to do!” Aleks barked angrily, and I was surprised to hear so much rage in his usually gentle voice.
“He’s right. You try to force her and you’ll see what we’re actually capable of,” Kailan backed him up.
Nick must have noticed the tremble in my legs, because he sat back down and settled me in his lap, my legs draped over his thighs as I refused to lift my head from his chest.
It was all too much. Soloman grabbing me again, my fight to get away, then him going after my family and killing another innocent woman. It was too much for me to deal with and I was so sick of trying to hold it all together. I just wanted to break down and hide from the world. Would that be so bad? Had I not earned the right to do that after everything that had happened?
“Evie…” Xander spoke up eventually. “We’re just worried, half pint. We just want you safe until this lunatic is caught. We can’t lose you.”
I took a few moments to try and gather myself. I wasn’t very successful, tears still filling my eyes and my hands shaking badly as I turned to face the table.
