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That I wanted to keep this feeling forever.
Possess it.
“Guess so?” Otto asked with a tilt of his head. “She’s staying at your place. Pretty sure that warrants a whole lot more than aguess so.”
A ripple of unease rolled around the table.
Theo chuckled a low sound like the fucker he was, and Cash rocked back in his chair, frustration billowing off him in waves.
Kane sipped at his whiskey as he studied me for the longest time before he said, “Going solo is one of our number one rules. She sticks around long enough, she’s bound to know there’s something up with you.”
My nod was affirming. I wasn’t going to deny what was plain obvious. “Yeah, reason I made that rule in the first place.”
“And what do you think she’ll do if she finds out?” Theo asked, head cocked as he scratched at the side of his cheek.
Air huffed from my nose. “Don’t know. Hasn’t gotten that far.”
“Are you going to let it?” Kane’s brow rose.
Agitation shook my head, and I slanted a hand through the short pieces of my hair. “Don’t know that, either. Only thing I do know is I can’t let her walk away. Not like this. Especially when I think she might be in trouble.”
I looked at Cash then, hoping he had news for me after I’d called him two days ago. It seemed like so much had happened between then and now. Charleigh going from this woman who’d captured my attention, twisted me up and made me chase after a girl for the first time in my life, to someone I wasn’t sure I could live without.
“What kind of trouble?” Kane asked.
“She’s been hurt in the past, by her ex. That’s about as much as she’ll give me, other than knowing she’s been running from him for years and is afraid someday he’ll catch up to her.”
“So what? We take her under the protection of Sovereign Sanctum?” That was from Theo.
“No.” It shot out of me like a bullet. That would mean her starting a new life. Not here, and sure as hell not with me. We never left a trace.
Couldn’t fucking stomach the idea.
Aggravation rolled out of Otto as he scrubbed a giant, tattooed hand over his face. When he dropped it, his gaze ping-ponged around all of us. “Think we all know what this is, yeah? And I think we all should have been smart enough to know it eventually would come to this.”
“To what?” Theo asked.
“To a change. How long are we supposed to go on living this way? In fuckin’ secret?”
“Only way we can do it,” Kane said. “The more people we trust, the more people we put in danger. Including ourselves. We can’t take that risk.”
“But what about Raven? She knows,” Theo tossed out, tracking what Otto was saying.
“She’s the exception. She was already with us before we started,” Kane argued.
“And maybe that’s what Charleigh’s going to be, too, an exception.” It erupted from me without permission.
Kane blinked my way. “Are you insane, brother? You really want to bring her all the way in like that?”
“Don’t know how I’m going to keep her if I don’t.”
Problem was, I wasn’t sure how I was going to keep her at all. Either way I went, I was fucked. She’d be terrified of me if she knew.
A smirk lit on Kane’s face, and he cracked up as he smacked a hand on the table. “You sappy motherfucker…you went and fell in love on us.”
I screwed up my face like I could refute it.
“Guess that changes things,” Kane added as he looked around the table. “Say we put it to a vote.”
