“Well, I spent the last 5 years in the Marine Corps. I was stationed in Iraq, when my humvee found a roadside IED. Luckily, I was able to keep all my limbs, but I destroyed my knee and needed quite a few stitches.” He rubs at his shoulder, as if he remembers the pain of all his injuries. “When my knee didn’theal like it should have, they medically retired me. I wasn’t prepared to be out already, and I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. I am here, crashing in the pool house for now until I can figure out what to do with my life.”
“He will probably pick up a few odds and end jobs for us as needed.” Graham chimes in, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me onto his lap.
Callum gets up from his seat and takes off into the house. “Gotta use the head, be right back.” He announces as he practically sprints to the house.
I tuck myself in, adjusting the way I am sitting so my tailbone isn’t digging into Graham's thigh. I’m just enjoying being around everyone. The conversation is just a low buzz that surrounds me. Alyra comes and joins the small group of us. Her smile is slight, and I decide that I want to know her story.
“So tell us about your story?” I smile back at her. She just shakes her head with a chuckle.
“I am not nearly drunk enough for that, nor do we have the time.” She just smirks, her voice telling me that while she may be okay with her story now, it wasn’t always that way.
“Do we want to play a drinking game?” Graham asks as Demitri walks out of the house with Kyra in tow and a small cooler in his hand.
“What do you propose, Hutch?” Demitri questions.
I lean over to Kyra, who has shyly taken a seat next to me and Graham. “Hey girlie, everything ok? It’s not like you to just take off.”
“Ya, I’m fine.” She keeps it short, and I know there is something she's not telling me, but I leave her be for now. Her cheeks are rosy, and her hair's a mess. I will be asking questions later.
“I say we play never have I ever.” Alyra blurts out.
“I’m game.” I laugh.
Everyone settles around in the group with their drinks. We are going to learn some things about our friends tonight. A few rounds go by, and the prompts are pretty basic. Never have I ever had sex in a church, never have I ever slept with my significant other's sibling, etcetera. Finally, it is Alyra’s turn.
“Never have I ever wanted to be chased through the woods by a masked man.” She laughs as I lift my drink to my lips. Both guys look at me, jaws slack and eyes wide.
“Is that something you really want, Little Witch?” Graham leans to whisper into my ear. I shrug my shoulders while Dee and him exchange looks.
“I'm sure something can be arranged, Little Fox.” As soon as those words leave Demitri’s mouth, there are chills that run through my whole body. I shiver with a small shake, my ass grinds into Graham’s cock and he groans under his breath.
“Alright, everyone out. It's time to head out. I need to go take care of my girl.” Graham laughs while picking me up.
“Put Nyx down. We can’t leave our friends, and it's only ten o’clock, Hutch.” Demitri just laughs before taking me from Graham’s arms, and settles me against him.
The rest of the night is spent just getting to know the people my guys spend most of their time with. It was relaxing and perfect. I am still curled up in Dee’s lap, not quite sleeping but not fully awake. Looking over the embers left from the earlier fire, I see Kyra and Callum leaning together slightly, talking. They look a little more comfortable than they should, but she has the biggest smile on her face, and I couldn't be happier for her.
We make our way into the house when the guys notice the package I brought in. The packaging is simple brown butcher paper with twine wrapped around it. No shipping address or return address. Chills run down my spine. I can guess who this is from. Now let’s see what's in it.
“What is this?” Demitri walks over to the box and starts to inspect it.
“Oh, I found this at the gate when I got here.” I answer sleepily.
They open the box, and it is full of black and white photos. I reach in and grab a handful out, and it is just photos of the three of us in different states. Some of them are of us together, some are just of me, or just of one of them. The one in my hand is from the roof at Comerica, when I am on my knees in front of Demitri.Fuck.
Dee has a photo in his hand from the drive-in movie theater, where I am sitting on Graham’s lap just moments before we were interrupted by Jack. Graham has one that is of me outside for a run, by myself while the weather was still nice. Under the photos there is a note, handwritten in normal chicken scratch.
There is no place you can hide her that I will not find her. She will be mine.
CHAPTER 34
GRAHAM
It’s been two weeks. Two weeks of reviewing every single camera I can get my hands on that lead to our house. Two weeks of watching over our shoulders for anything and everything. Who the fuck is the asshole who thinks he has a claim on my girl?
Dee has been pacing holes in the floor trying to figure out how to handle this whole situation. I’m the one with all the tech talent; he is the muscle of this organization. Muscle isn’t useful unless we know who we are going after. Nowhere is safe for Nyx, and it’s driving him insane. When your sister is ripped out from under your family, it makes you feel helpless.
Stasi was taken, she was on her way to school. The assholes we were overseas hunting had their people look into our families. The easiest target was the 15-year-old Anastasia Meadows. She was Dee’s sister, but we both protected and harassed her like she was mine too. I think she also had a tiny crush on my little brother. Demitri was with our squad on a mission when we got a call saying she was gone. He hasn’t been the same since. He takes complete blame for everything even though he wasn’t even on American soil.
