“I don’t want to scare our neighbors.”
“Who cares about them,” Eli said. “I’ll explain it if they have a problem. Yell. Tell us what you’re upset about.”
“I came here to be safe! This was meant to be my safe place and now it’s been wrecked! Now it’s not safe! And I’m so fucking mad!”
“That’s it, baby,” Eli told her. “Let it all go.”
“It’s been taken from me and it’s not fair! Everyone always takes from me. My father, my so-called friends, that asshole at school. Nobody ever takes care of me, except for Pop-Pop. My father took my freedom, that asshole in high school took my trust in men, even Cole took my ticket to freedom. I thought coming here would make everything better and then some fucking asshole breaks into my house and destroys everything. It’s. Not. Fair.”
Holy moly.
She was actually surprised that she could make that much noise. And she was pretty sure she’d actually sworn too.
Breathing heavily, she stared at both men and waited for them to say something. Would they be shocked? Would they try to silence her?
“Good girl,” Kellan said, shocking her.
“We’re so proud of you.” Eli moved in behind her, hugging her tight as Kellan cupped her face between his hands.
She sagged in their embrace, exhausted.
“I’m sorry.”
“Do not apologize,” Kellan told her fiercely. “The last thing you need to do is apologize. You have a right to be mad, to be upset.”
“But just know this, from now on, we’re going to take care of you,” Eli told her. “We will never just take.”
“I know,” she whispered. “I know you won’t.”
“Come on, baby,” Eli said, lifting her. “Let’s get you into bed.”
They laid her down in the middle of the bed, climbing in on either side of her to hug her between them.
She quickly drifted off to sleep, safe in their embrace.
Kellan steppedinto the house where his girl had been living.
The place was still a disaster. She wouldn’t be returning until it was cleaned
In fact, he didn’t think she would be coming back here at all. They’d need to find a different place to live. This one wasn’t safe and he wouldn’t risk her by bringing her back to this house.
Besides, they’d need somewhere bigger.
There was something going on here. He hadn’t seen anything suspicious yet. But he could feel it in the air. And it was more than just the fact that her house had been broken into.
This wasn’t a simple break-in. And if it was this Lee guy then why come after Arabella now?
He’d been right in thinking that Arabella was going to change his life. But he was willing to admit he’d been incorrect in thinking that it would be a bad change.
Kellan sighed. He wanted to be back in the hotel room with his girl. They’d finally gotten her off to sleep earlier. He hated seeing her upset but it had been healthy to get all of that out.
And the irony of that thought wasn’t lost on him considering he was fairly emotionally repressed.
But that was his personality. He wasn’t like Arabella.
Eli was the better choice to be there if she woke up. If she needed something. And she had Horse too. That dog seemed to be able to read her moods and know what she needed.
It wouldn’t be hard to have him around. It also helped that Horse didn’t like Eli as much as he did Kellan. He smirked as he remembered Horse walking around with Eli’s shoe in his mouth.
