Gage locks his arm around her waist and leads her to the door. “Thanks, guys,” he calls over his shoulder. “We owe you one.”
“No, you don’t,” Evander says with a nod. “This is what allies do.”Gage acknowledges that with his own nod.
“Bye, fellas!” Alessa yells, waving over her head. They call out their goodbyes, and I push the main door open so they can step through. Gage bundles her into the front seat while I climb into the back.
“We will come to get your car tomorrow,” he tells her, and she nods. He closes the door, and she’s passes out against it before he even gets in.
He looks at her for a second with so much softness that it makes my heart clench. I had my suspicions that this was more than justsex for Gage, but I didn’t see it until now. What does that mean for the future? I shake my head and tell myself one thing at a time.
I sit up between the seats when he pulls from the lot, heading home. “I’m going out on a limb here and guessing this isn’t normal.”
Gage glances at her, then back to the road, shaking his head. “She drinks, but never to this extent, and sure as fuck never alone.”
I would assume going out alone drinking with her status is dangerous as hell, and that scares the shit out of me. Anything can happen to her while she’s out. I’m glad Les came to Skyline; maybe she did it on purpose. Les knows she shouldn’t be out alone, and if anyone is going to protect her, it will be Evander and Mateo to prove she can trust them, and that’s just who they are. They are nothing like the Frankie I’ve heard about.
“We need to find out what the hell happened from last night to when she left,”I say.
Gage’s hand tightens on the steering wheel. “I have a pretty good fucking idea.”
He seems to have come to the same conclusion as me. Ryder. I keep running through my head what Evander said about seeing it from Ryder’s point of view. What the hell does he even mean by that? Not that anyone talks in front of me, but I can piece together enough on my own that when I came barreling into Alessa’s life, I shook the foundation of everything they knew. It also made buried feelings rise to the surface. Gage was honest about what he wanted, and I didn’t even question him for a second. But Ryder? Why the hell would he wait until she felt betrayed to show his feelings?
Gage glides into the garage. “You get her, and I’ll handle Ryder.”
I jump out and carefully open her door, so she doesn’t fall out. I slide one arm around her back and the other under her knees; she doesn’t even stir when I lift her out. She just snuggles into my chest with a content sigh. I use my hip to shut the door and carry her into the house through the door Gage is holding open.
“What the fuck happened to her?” Ryder explodes as soon as he sees her.
Gage steps in front of him, blocking him from grabbing her fromme. “Back off.” He looks over his shoulder. “Take her upstairs. Last door on the left.”
I nod and carry her up the stairs, following Gage’s direction. As soon as I open the door, her sweet vanilla scent hits me square in the face. I love that smell; I probably could have found the room by smell alone. I lay her gently on the bed, pulling her shoes off and wiggling her ass out of her tight jeans. I plug her phone in beside the bed and flip the sheet over her. She snuggles into the pillow, her breathing evening out again, completely passing out. As much as I want to climb into bed with her, I’m not going to leave Gage to deal with Ryder alone. I know he can, but I didn’t want to.
I follow the voices and find them in a faceoff in the kitchen when I round the corner. Ryder’s fists are clenched at his sides, and Gage looks seconds away from throwing a punch. Dex is sitting on a stool at the kitchen island, hopefully, ready to intervene, and I even see Holden standing to the side. All of them worried about Alessa.
“You can’t tell me that motherfucker,” Ryder points at me, “didn’t play a part in all this.”
Gage looks over his shoulder at me, and his emotions are hidden from his face for the first time. Does he think I have a part in this?
Gage looks back at Ryder. “He probably did,” he answers, and my heart sinks, thinking I lost my only ally in the house. “But so did you. We all fucking did.”
“How come this didn’t start until he came along?” Ryder comments, and I want to yell, I’m right here, but I keep my mouth closed and lean against the doorframe leading into the kitchen.
“You aren’t this stupid, Ryder,” Gage says harshly, causing Ryder’s eyes to narrow. “This has been going on for a while, and we just ignored it. Let her do whatever she needed to do to deal.” Deal with what? “True. What he did probably set everything off, but it’s been a long time coming.” He looks back over his shoulder. “Sorry,” he says, apologizing for agreeing with Ryder, but I wasn’t going to argue. He was probably right.
“All good,” I answer.
Ryder turns those dark eyes on me. “You can fucking go.” He points his finger, indicating myroom.
“No. He stays,” Gage argues. “Whatever happened between you two today needs to be fucking fixed.Hisbrother is the one that tipped us off to where she was.”
Ryder barks a laugh, but it’s humorless. “You mean the shit Perez brothers that came up with this asinine plan?”
That’s enough.“Talk shit about me all you want, Ryder, but leave them out of it,” I say and stand up from the wall. I don’t have a chance in hell against Ryder, but I’ll fucking die trying. He already pisses me off with how he talks to Alessa, and now he’s talking about my brothers? Not happening.
“They kept her safe while she was there, which they didn’t have to fucking do. Quit throwing blame everywhere and own up to your shit!” Gage yells the last word, making Holden flinch from his position in the corner.
Ryder steps into Gage’s space, and Gage stands his ground. There isn’t much height difference, but Ryder has a good thirty pounds on Gage. Something tells me Gage can hold his own, though.
“All right, that’s enough,” Dex says, sliding his massive bulk off the stool and walking over, separating them with hands on their chests before dropping his hands just as quickly. “This isn’t fixing anything.” He looks at Ryder. “Gage is right. We’ve let it go for too long, and we’ve all added to it.”
