My face goes so hot I could probably fry an egg on it.
Journey’s gaze travels over the sofa that’s spewing foam, to the tiny kitchen, and finally settles on the bed tucked against the far wall.
The small bed.
Thesingularbed.
He rubs a hand over his jaw. “I’ll take the floor,” he finally says.
“You—“ I start, because again, my default is to be nice.
“Floor’s fine,” he says, and the way he says it closes the door on the conversation before I even had a chance to walk through it.
Stella is not even trying to hide her smile anymore.
I point at her. “Don’t.”
She holds up both hands, the picture of innocence.
I look back at the garbage bag I dropped by the window. At the smashed lipsticks, the broken palettes and the eyeshadow dust ground into my white rug that I will never, not in a million years, get out.
The flutter of fear that’s been living in my chest since we got here pulls tight, and just like that I’m very, very glad that Tacoma is the kind of man who gives orders.
Even if the man he gave them to looks like he’d rather be anywhere else on earth than stuck here with me.
Chapter Five
Journey
“Bax.”
The prospect’s head comes up from his phone.
I nod towards my sister. “Take Stella home.”
Stella’s gray eyes cut to me. “But?—”
“Now, Stella.”
Her jaw tightens, and she growls like a pissed-off kitten. I don’t know why she’s acting like a brat; she shouldn’t even be here. I told her before I left for Saint Louis that I didn’t want her running around all over town. She could go to work and school, and that was it. Whoever attacked her at the theatre was still out there for fucks sake.
“Fine.” She sighs.
She crosses the apartment and pulls June into a hug. “Call me if you need anything,” she says against the side of June’s head. “I mean it. Anything. Two in the morning, I don’t care.”
“I will.” June’s eyes close as she hugs my baby sister back.
Brooklyn moves in next, and gives her friend a tight squeeze. When she finally pulls back, her sharp eyes cut to me over June’s shoulder, and the look in them is clear as day.
I’d better take care of her friend or there’ll be hell to pay.
Whatever.
I hold the door while they file out, giving Bax a look that tells him he better do his job and keep my sister safe.
He gives me a tight nod, and then they’re gone.
Scratching at my jaw, I turn around. I’m not sure what the fuck I’m supposed to do now. June is my sister’s friend, not mine. I don’t know shit about the girl.
