“You can trust Knight,” Xavier says. “Come with me, and I’ll explain everything on the way.”
“You’re riding with us,” Ares says to Athena.
“Fuck no.” My arm slides around her back, and I pull her into my body again. “She’s not going anywhere with you.”
Ares emits a deep chuckle. “Someone has gotten attached.”
I prickle at his words, but I don’t let her go or contest it.
“Am I still your prisoner?” Athena asks, claiming my attention.
“No, of course not.”
She wrenches out of my hold. “Then I’ll make my own decision. You don’t speak for me.”
Pain rips through my chest as she walks over to Ares. Their heads bend as they lean into one another, talking in hushed tones. My hands ball into fists at my side as I stare at them, visualizing creative ways to kill the motherfucker.
“You’re in deep shit, my friend,” Anderson says, clamping his hand on my shoulder. “She has you by the balls.”
I grind my teeth to my molars, trying to talk myself out of teaching that asshole a lesson when he places his hand on her back and presses his mouth to her ear, smirking as he eyeballs me.
“He’s happily married,” Anderson reminds me. “And purposely winding you up. Don’t give him an inch. You’re Drew motherfucking Manning, and I don’t care who that jerk is; he’s got nothing on you, man.”
His words work like a charm, and a familiar neutral mask shields my true emotions from others.
Athena steps back, nodding before returning to my side. “I’ll come with you.”
“Did your boss give you permission?”
She rams her clenched fist into my solar plexus, momentarily winding me. “I make my own decisions. Don’t make me regret this one.”
Ares chuckles, and I really hate that guy. I don’t care if Xavier vouches for him. He’s a total dick.
Athena and I get into Xavier’s car with him and Hunt while Anderson goes with Charlie. My men split off into different vehicles to head home. The four dicks go in one SUV while their men take my goddamned prisoner in another.
“What did he say to you?” I ask Athena when we’re buckled up side by side in the back of Xavier’s car.
“Not to disclose anything until we’re at the house.”
“What house?”
“Anderson’s,” Xavier confirms as he drives off, following Charlie’s SUV.
“What’s going on?” Hunt asks before I can form the words.
“Ares showed up at our place yesterday and filled me in on a few things.”
“Where are the kids?” Hunt’s strained tone conveys his concern.
“With your parents. I knew we’d need some time to handle all of this, so I called them, and they were more than happy to take the kids for a sleepover.”
Hunt reconciled with his dad a few years ago after his parents made the move from New York to Boston to be closer to their grandkids.
I pop my head between the console. “What about my nieces and nephews?”
“Olivia has them.” He eyeballs me through the mirror as we exit the private airfield onto the main road. “I filled Abby in, Drew. I know you wanted to be the one to tell her, but it couldn’t wait. She’s up to speed and waiting on all of us to arrive.”
I slump back in my seat and scrub my hands down my face. “On a scale of one to ten, how pissed is she with me?”
