“Back off,” I warn Oliver.
“Back off? You made a promise and broke it! You were supposed to wait until he was twenty-one,” he snaps at me.
“That fucking changed the moment he wasn’t safe anymore.” I shrug.
“He wasn’t safe because of you! If you had left him alone like I told you to, Nine wouldn’t…”
“What?” Sully’s high-pitched voice interrupts Oliver’s yapping. “You asked him to stay away from me until my birthday? Why?”
“I had to. Nine is out there, and Ezra is too fucking… ruthless for you.” Oliver is flaring up. “I wanted you to enjoy the campus life and maybe find someone your age.”
“You are the reason he stayed away,” Sully whispers accusingly at his brother before turning to me with his brow furrowed. “Is that why you waited?”
I nod. “For you to make space in your life for me.”
“Space? You barely gave him a few feet.” Ramiel’s joke ends abruptly with Hunter’s hand over his mouth.
“He’s been fucking stalking you! Even put a camera in your room and cloned your phone!” Raguel holds Oliver against him as heloses his temper. “And nobody here had the decency to tell me. They supposedly even helped him.”
“Well, there’s a fine line between stalking and romance, and Ezra walked that bitch hard, Ol.” If looks could kill, Lori would be six feet under by now.
“Like you didn’t do that shit with Rague. Or Rami with Hunter when he showed up at his place unannounced. Raph forced Michael to live with him, Uri scared away all the guys who had even a vague interest in Sari, and Lori has a stalking kit in his car! What point are you trying to make, Ollie?” Sully finishes the list panting, his back stiff, hands squeezing my knees.
“My stalking kit is in everyone’s cars…actually,” Lori corrects him.
“I followed Rague one time and by chance,” Oliver still tries with Sully.
“Not me. I followed the shit out of Gabe, still do sometimes,” Lori interjects again.
“I like it,” Bezaliel agrees, earning a wink from his fiancé.
“Still spy my Bearman through my cameras,” Ramiel admits.
“Ditto.” Hunter smiles back at him.
Stalking has deep roots in this fucking family.
“Everyone has the desire to spy on others. It’s human nature,” Sariel states.
“It’s like wanting to stab the person bumping into you or to open a present,” Raphael adds.
“The way you think is boringly disturbing,” Ramiel tells him.
“Yours is just boring,” Raph clips back.
“Watching my target is part of my job,” I say.
“Like a possum in the wall kind of thing?” Lori asks me dumbly.
“Target? He’s an assassin who enjoys killing people,” Oliver mutters, not giving up. I approve of his perseverance, but he’s going to lose. I’ll never let go of Sully.
“Your husband and the rest of the brotherhood have the samehobby,” my little chick reminds him. He sounds upset now. I don’t like it.
“You need normal, Sully. Your life has gone down a spiral once already, and the last thing you need is a psycho who can only fixate on you.”
“You can’t decide that, Ollie,” Lori slides down Gabriel’s body to face him.
“Butt out, Lor.”
