I’ll confront her about this in the morning. It’s time for all her secrets to come out in the open.
When I step into my room, the bed is empty. I spin around and storm to the bedroom where Oly is sleeping. Marnie is lying on the bed with her.
I don’t know if it’s fear from what happened, but I’m not letting her sleep away from me anymore. I was serious. She’s myold lady. I’m not giving her up, no matter how hard she pushes against me.
Lifting Marnie from the bed, I carry her back to my room and lie down with her fully clothed. I slip off my shoes, not willing to let her go yet. The fear of almost losing her is too close.
Marnie
Feeling Rylan’s warmth against my back calms me, and I settle in deeper until a scream rents the air, and we both jump up. Rylan is first through Oly’s door. She jumps up from the bed and straight into his arms. We stand there, all three of us, hugging and him soothing us as she cries.
He doesn’t think twice. He carries her back to his room and climbs into bed with her in the middle between us. Oly falls back to sleep, and I start to settle down as Rylan’s hand brushes my hair away from my face.
“I love you, Marnie. I will protect you.”
“But who will protect you?” I choke on a sob. “I can’t lose you.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
He reaches across Oly’s body and caresses his hand down the side of my face. I lean into it, needing the connection.
The next morning, I wake up feeling better and rested. I decide I need to tell him the whole truth.
After getting cleaned up and slipping on one of his flannels over my pajamas, I walk out into the great room. Oly is sitting at the counter with a stack of pancakes in front of her. She’s a sticky mess. I chuckle and shake my head at the scene.
Looking out the windows to the deck, I see the yard only has a fine dusting of snow. The temperature has changed, and the snow has stopped. The weather is one of the most unpredictable parts of living in Alaska. The news can call for a cloudy day with no snow, then your car is covered in six inches of snow. In the Valley, the wind is usually a constant. But right now it’s calm. It’s as if it’s the calm before the storm.
I turn back to look at Rylan.
“Come here,” Rylan orders me, and I walk over to him.
He pulls me into his arms and kisses me long and deep. By the time he pulls away, I’m breathless and squeezing my legs together in order to stop the ache.
“I’ll take care of you later,” he whispers against my ear before kissing my neck.
A beeping sounds, then the front door opens. Aftershock and Harley walk in.
“What are you two doing here?” I ask. “I thought you went on your honeymoon.”
Quinn walks in next, with Gunny right behind her.
“Of course, I’m going to come here first and check on you. How are you? Did he hurt you?” Harley says.
Rylan keeps me at his side as both Quinn and Harley fire off a million questions. I can’t answer all of them. I didn’t see the other apartment, but from what I understand, Jim was fully invested in stalking me.
“I don’t know. I did use some of the moves you taught me to lay him out,” I tell Harley.
“You hit him?” Her eyes nearly bug out of her head.
I told her once I didn’t know if I could hit someone. After last night, I know I can. And it’s something I could use against Silas and my father.
“She didn’t just hit him. She sent his nuts into his chest cavity. I got a message earlier from Wing. Apparently, the guy’s complaining that one of his balls is as big as a grapefruit.”
“Oh my God. He needs a hospital,” I say.
“He’ll get taken care of. Don’t worry about it,” Rylan says, and I notice the nod he gives Aftershock.
Rylan isn’t telling me something, and I’m not sure how I feel about that. I’m scared Jim will come after me again.
