“And how long have you loved her?”
“Since she was twenty-four.”He closed his eyes at the memories that assailed him.
Jesus, that had been a fucked up time.
Hell, when hadn’t El’s life been one long round of fucked up though?
In so many ways, he felt for her.She didn’t deserve the shit that rained on her every goddamn day.But that was her lot in life.
Before he’d come to work for her family, he’d figured, just like everyone else, that the one percent lived a life of ease and comfort.That their money cushioned them from the harsh realities of the real world.
And though, in many ways, that was true, it also wasn’t.
Sure, they got to wear fancy designer gear and had houses in exclusive areas, but not one part of their day was their own.
They were monitored and watched, protected and guarded.They were driven places in bullet-proofed cars, and couldn’t even walk down the street without having security surround them.Their lives were not their own.
It sucked.He knew that now.El, though she was unlike her family, suffered more than most because she didn’t particularly want the money.
Sure, he knew everyone could say that when they had it, but it wasn’t like that.
The sheer quantities El had at her fingertips was beyond obscene.
Her wealth was the same as a small, developing nation’s GDP, for fuck’s sake.No one person should have that kind of money.And El’s family agreed with that.
She didn’t even have them at her back.
Everyone wanted a piece of her.Everyone.
Trip broke into his memories with a soft, “What happened when she was twenty-four?”
He sank into the driver’s seat, but he looped his hands on the wheel, gripping tightly onto the hard rubber.“You’ve both slept with her now.”And how those words hurt.Had they both fucked her?Marc had slept with her often enough for that to be a possibility.Trip had spent the past few nights with her too… If he had their senses, he’d have been able to scent her on them, or vice versa.He wasn’t sure whether to be grateful over the fact his nose was just a regular goddamn nose.He cleared his throat and stated, “You know she doesn’t like to sleep alone, right?”
Marc blinked, but nodded.Trip just frowned.“I didn’t know that.”
Marc shot Trip a look.“She told me that first night.Said she slept in a single back at her place?”
Shawn nodded when Trip scoffed and stated, “No way.Who sleeps in a single when they’re older than twelve?She said the bed was too big… not that she sleeps in a single.Jesus.”
“She does,” he confirmed.“She sleeps badly most nights anyway.Back then, I used to have a day off every ten days.I don’t anymore.El doesn’t like it, so she makes sure we chill out and do something together that she knows I enjoy.”His lips twitched.“She hates baseball but we have season tickets because of her.In fact, we have a box at the Rangers, and standing front row seats at the Lakers, again because of her.”He laughed.“There’s me, roaring my lungs out while she does Sudoku or listens to an audiobook.She hates that I don’t have free time, but I’m not leaving her.Never again.”
His strident tone had Marc blinking.“Explain.”
“That night… I’m watching a game, it’s my day off, and someone breaks into the perimeter, gets through all our security, and makes it into her bedroom.She’s fast asleep, and they wake her up and knock her out with chloroform.They abduct her.Take her to a secure location, make their demands.She’s asleep through all of it.Her father paid the ransom as soon as the bastards sent over notice of their demands, didn’t involve the cops, and we were given her location and told we could collect her.”His jaw worked.
“The minute I heard she’d been abducted, I rushed back to base.I was there for it all, and the waiting, the fucking waiting, that was the hardest part.I was scared shitless something would happen to her.That the bastards wouldn’t let her go, that they’d kill her.Or, that one ransom demand wouldn’t be enough.They’d demand more, and more.Milk a cow that could afford to keep on giving.”He sucked in a shuddery breath.“I have no idea why they didn’t, but like I said, they gave us her location and I was the one who found her.”He gritted his teeth at the memory.
“She was on this dirty fucking mattress in the dark.Unconscious.Limp.I thought she was dead at first, but then she moaned.The chloroform was starting to wear off, and I moved as quickly as I could because the last thing I wanted was her waking up in that shithole.As I moved, she just… El was wearing one of her nightgowns.They’re like something from the Victorian era.They cover her up from neck to toe, and they’re white linen.She looked like a ghost at that moment.It scared me.Shit, worse.It terrified the fuck out of me, and I kept my eyes trained on her mouth, making sure she was breathing.
“I couldn’t seem to process that she was still alive.It wasn’t sinking in.As I took her out of that Godforsaken building, she was so goddamn still in my arms, it scared the life out of me.Then, when I got her into the SUV, she started to wake up again.It was like, before, when she’d started to stir, she’d known I was there.Known it deep in her bones, and had managed to relax because she knew she was safe.”He sucked in a juddery breath.“When she awoke properly, I was there with her.We were in the hospital by that point, and her eyes, when they opened, connected with mine.Before anyone else.Like I was the only one who mattered.It felt like that,” he whispered.
“Maybe that’s how it was.She’s obviously not close to her family,” Marc said softly.
Shawn nodded, the memories still flooding him, still having the power to hurt him.“I knew at that moment that I loved her.That I’d do anything to keep her safe, to protect her.Even if it meant dedicating every single one of my fucking days to making sure that what happened that night never happened again.And until Saturday night, it hasn’t.”
Trip’s hand landed on Shawn’s shoulder, jolting him a little.The other man squeezed, then tightened his hold to the point of pain.“The Mother works in mysterious ways, Shawn.Maybe she knew it was time for you to chill out.It can’t have been good for you; always being on guard.Now, you don’t have to.We’re going to take good care of her, but more than that, we’re going to go to the root source.We’re going to find out what the fuck is going on with El’s past.Because something has to be.Rich people are targets, sure.But as badly as El?I don’t think so.”
Though he could feel relief at sharing the burden of El’s safety with three men who were not only older, undoubtedly wiser, and could turn into a fucking Lion at will, he knew it would take many years before he dared lower his guard.
