“You’ll protect me from their protection, won’t you?” Tessa opened the door and exited into her living room.
“I’ll do my best.” Jacob followed her to the kitchen, where the guys were giving a great imitation of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
20
ZANE FORCED HIMSELFto stay put when Tessa entered the kitchen. He wanted to pull her into his arms, drag her into a room where no one was around, and hold her.
Unfortunately, he had no right to do that.
But that was going to change. And soon. He was done pretending he was okay with the status quo. Done pretending that his feelings for her were platonic. Done with keeping his distance. Done with secrets. And done with trying to find anyone who could take her place.
She slid onto a stool at the bar. With her eyes on the counter, she asked, “What’s the verdict?”
His so-called friends all dropped their eyes to the floor, then to him. Great. So he was going to have to be the one to tell her? Fine. “Twenty-four-hour companionship. You don’t go anywhere alone. You’re either at work or home or one of our homes. If you’re here, someone is with you. If you’re at work, you don’t leave the office without a shadow. If you need to go to the grocery store, make a list. Someone will pick up whatever you need. This continues until we’ve agreed the danger has passed.”
Tessa looked at each man. Each man, that was, except Zane. “I expected as much.”
“We care about you, Tessa.” Gil walked around the counter and stood beside her. Luke took her other side. Benjamin stood in front of her. Zane maintained his position, holding up the refrigerator.
“These guys”—Benjamin pointed at Luke and Gil—“tell me that you have no room to argue with our gross overstepping of all reasonable boundaries, given that you yourself have, in the not-so-distant past, undertaken extreme measures to keep them safe. Is this true?”
A grin flirted on the edges of Tessa’s mouth. “Maybe.”
Luke and Gil both reacted with gasps and shakes of their heads. “Maybe?” Gil said. “If you can’t remember the way you drove by my house in the middle of the night when Ivy was in trouble or the way you refused to leave Zane’s hospital room in case he woke up and needed an ice chip, then we need to have a chat about your mental capacity.”
She still looked wan, exhausted, and her eyes were red and puffy, but her shoulders had dropped and her hands were no longer clenched, the affection and humor all around her having the expected effect on her stress level. “My mental capacity is fine, and you’d do well to remember that. Especially if you want me to use my brain the next time you’re ready to buy your wives gifts and you come to me wanting assistance. I may have to conveniently forget exactly which type of oar Faith was hoping would be under the tree.”
Luke winced.
“Or the earrings Ivy showed me a few weeks ago that would make the perfect ‘just because I adore you’ gift.”
Gil groaned.
“As for you”—she turned her attention to Benjamin—“your wife is hoping for some new vinyl records to add to her collection.”
“I know.” Benjamin sounded smug.
“Do you know which one she wants most? Or where it can be purchased for half the regular price?”
Benjamin bowed his head. “You are the queen of savings and good deals and gifts, and we, your humble servants, want you to know that we will do whatever we can to keep you safe so you can continue to make us look good to our wives.”
The four of them burst into laughter. And for the first time since he’d been back in Raleigh, Zane felt the sting of being on the outside looking in.
When the laughter ended, they all pitched in to clean up Tessa’s apartment. Ivy and Sharon had come with Gil and Benjamin, and they made short work of the fingerprint dust. Faith and Luke restored order in the living area. Zane and Benjamin put the bedroom back to rights.
When everything was done, they all said their goodbyes. Hugs and whispered promises of protection and vengeance were bestowed on Tessa while Zane kept himself occupied in the kitchen.
Faith and Luke were the last to leave, and he heard Tessa ask, “So who gets babysitting duty tonight?”
The response was too low for Zane to hear. The fact that the conversation was taken to the hall confirmed that Tessa had not approved of the decision.
But there was no way Zane was leaving her. Not tonight. He knew she was exhausted, and if she didn’t want to talk about what happened, he wouldn’t push. Yet. But she would know that he cared about her safety. That he was going to be there for her no matter what. He wasn’t going to let her push him away.
He knew how she felt about him. If she hadn’t cared about his dating, maybe it would be different. But she’d given herself away tonight.
He’d never meant to hurt her. And as far as he was concerned, it wasn’t an issue she ever needed to worry about coming up again.
He was off the market.
