Clearing his throat, he locks his phone and tucks it into the back of his skinny jeans that look to be cutting off the circulation to the small bulge he’s proudly displaying. “That doesn’t matter. I still have access to her FindMe, so she clearly wants to speak with me. Where is she? Her purse is here, so I know she’s around. Is she in the restroom or something?”
I feel Maddie shift against me, a fresh tremble running through her body, and I worry that this new encounter hasscared her. That lasts for all of two seconds before I catch Rayne’s hand darting under the table and catch sight of him fisting the lapels of Maddie’s blazer as though he’s trying to stop her from revealing her hiding spot.
“I don’t think that’s information you need,” Ryan answers for us all, his jaw clenching in anger as his usually calm brown eyes stare at Toby like he’s trying to miraculously set him on fire with a single look. I can relate. The anger in my chest at the sight of the bastard is something new and unusual but very much growing the longer I look at him, the feeling worsening knowing this is the shit Maddie has been dealing with on her own for God knows how long. Well, she’s had her best friends, I don’t doubt. But none of them should be dealing with this brand of stupid.
“I just want to talk to her. That’s all,” he argues, looking toward where the restroom is.
I see the contemplation cross his fake-tanned face, his foot twitching like he’s fighting the urge to go looking in the women’s restroom for the woman under the table. This man seriously has no boundaries. What the hell is his problem?
Caiden turns fully in his seat, pale-green eyes turned sharp and cutting, and he tilts his head a little menacingly and smiles. “She doesn’t want to talk to you. So how about you walk your implanted ass all the way back out of here and forget that Madison Fowler exists, yeah?”
“What are you, her bodyguard?” Toby spits, his own anger coming out to play now that he’s been denied what he wants.
Caiden’s smile grows, a scary look crossing his eyes as he says, “Worse for you, bud. I’m her man. I have a nasty right hook, I don’t fight clean, and I’ll do just about anything and everything to keep her safe. You wanna talk to her? You’ll have to get through me first.”
“Me too,” I agree, leaning back in my seat and flexing the tatted muscle that pops as I cross my arms over my chest, thankful I wore a tight shirt to work today. I know how intimidating I look, my height and body shape imposing to the worst of people, and I know how to use it to my advantage. Plenty of assholes in my line of work have tried to screw me over, and plenty of times I’ve corrected their mistakes, all thanks to Caiden’s training. That guy keeps me built like a Mack truck, and I’m more than willing to use the muscle that isn’t decoration like Toby’s, especially if it means keeping Maddie safe.
I have no idea why I have the strongest urge to protect the blue-haired pixie, but it’s undeniable and I’m not one to fight feelings. If my head and heart are screaming at me to make sure Maddie is out of harm’s way, then that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I’ll analyze my feelings later.
“Same here,” Ryan agrees, leaning his elbows on the table with an almost indifference that hides his true emotion so well that you would never guess he was anything but calm and collected. I know better. We four have been friends for years. We know each other like the backs of our own hands. And I know for certain that Ryan is masking his anger just as well as I am right now.
Toby looks at us all like we’re the trash beneath his feet, and I give him a wide, toothy grin that I’ve been told can look terrifying, just as Rayne chimes in. “We already told you she was taken, asshole. Take the hint. She’s not interested, you blew it, and she’s found a place with four guys who treat her much better than you did. Cut your losses before you start making enemies in high places.”
I feel the threat in the air, feel the danger I know Rayne is capable of. Hell, I’ve seen it firsthand. There’s a reason he’s so good at patching wounds. There are countless reasons why he’s such a wizard when it comes to wielding a needle and thread,stitching cuts and mending the broken. He’s patched himself up more times than I can count, long before we met. He’d been patching his mother up long before he learned and honed his craft in the tattoo world. If there’s anyone you want in your corner when shit goes down, it’s Rayne Hunter, because that man can be a real mean motherfucker when he wants to or needs to be.
Toby scoffs, either completely oblivious to the obvious threat in Rayne’s words or just plain fucking stupid. Whatever it is, there isn’t a single ounce of self-preservation in the man as he sends Rayne a scathing look and spits, “High places? Who the hell are you?”
I didn’t know Rayne’s smile could look scarier, but he manages it, the darkness in him bleeding out with his calculated words. “I’m one of the men that kisses Madison every single night before bed. I’m one of the men that takes care of her every single need. I’m the man who can break you faster than you can sneeze. And I’m the man with enough connections that I could find several ways to bury you without even laying a finger on you. Want to try me? Because I’m willing to play if you are.”
Even chills rock through my body at the very thinly veiled threat, and I lean back farther in my seat to check on the girl under the table, only to find her now fully calm and relaxed against Rayne’s legs with his hand buried in her hair at the nape of her neck. I almost laugh, seeing it as a calm button Rayne has somehow found, because she doesn’t look as though she’s about to crawl from under the table any longer and scratch Toby’s eyes out.
“Was that a threat?” the stupid fucker asks, skin paling beneath the fake tan as he tries to look appalled at the idea anyone could even dare threaten him.
Rayne shrugs. “Take it as you want, bro. Just know that if you don’t start leaving our girl alone, whatever or whoevercomes your way is called karma, and she’s a nasty bitch who shoots first and doesn’t miss.”
Toby simply stands there for a long moment, swallowing hard as he stares at each of us like he doesn’t know what the hell to do now, and Caid leans toward him and loudly whispers, “This is the part where you crawl back into whatever hole you scuttled out of.”
Sure enough, Toby takes a step back before he pulls his cell out of his pocket again. He checks it, eyes the women’s restroom, then curses under his breath and finally leaves without a backward glance. I already know that isn’t going to be the last we see of him, but I’ll be damned if we let him get close to Maddie again.
The sudden protective and somewhat possessive feeling I felt when I first encountered that jockstrap has come back with a vengeance, and as soon as Toby crosses the threshold of the restaurant, I duck my head slightly to look at Maddie and mutter, “You need a restraining order against that tool.”
Her entire body deflates, sagging fully against Rayne’s legs, and she drops her forehead to his knee as she grumbles, “You’re telling me. I’ll make a report or something after work.”
I nod, catching Rayne’s tatted hand scratching under her hair, and I’m pretty sure he’s doing it subconsciously because he doesn’t even react, still eyeing the door as though he’s daring Toby to waltz right back inside and demand to see Maddie again.
“Coast is clear, Blue. Feel free to climb out from under the table at any point,” Caid announces, snickering when we hear the woman audibly sigh before she finally drags herself from her hiding spot.
She comes out on the opposite side from where she slid out of her chair, her hair now a little rumpled and a whole lot sexy, and an irritated look on her face that has no business amping up how attractive she looks right now. Even in thehorrendous yellow suit, she looks incredible, and I swallow hard before masking it all with an amused smile as she plants her hands on her dainty hips. “I swear to God, I’m being haunted by the universe or something. I’ve done something very, very wrong in a past life, because there is no way I would be suffering this much otherwise. Maybe this is karma for launching the lube out of the window.”
None of us reply, watching her as she stomps in her high heels right back to her vacated seat. She parks her ass, crosses her arms, and gazes at her pizza with a pitiful expression. “My pizza is cold now, too. That rat bastard, ruining my day, ruining my mood, and ruining my goddamn lunch. On a separate note, do any of you perchance know a sniper-for-hire you might have the number of? I need to make a call.”
“You can’t hire a man to kill him, trouble,” Ryan snickers, pushing her plate toward her in an attempt to get her to finish her food, even though it has probably grown cold by now.
“I thought you were fun, with the wooden phallus and all. Guess planned homicide isn’t your cup of tea after all,” Maddie pouts while she reaches for a slice of pizza and chomps into it anyway, her shoulders visibly relaxing as she chews, and I rub a hand over my beard to hide my confused but incredibly amused smile.
It’s good to know it takes very little to calm her down. I stuff that little bit of information away in my head for future reference, because there isn’t a single doubt in my mind I’m going to need it. Maddie already seems like a solid fixture in our lives even after such a short amount of time, and with the way my chest constricts every time I see her, hear her name, or even think about her, I’m just going to assume I’m in pretty deep.
Based on the way the others are pretending to be hers, too, it looks like I’m not the only one. That’s going to be a conversation we’re going to need, for sure. Because even thoughCaiden mentioned it very briefly, the idea of sharing a woman is completely outside of the box any of us are used to. Jealousy already flares to life in my chest, and my brain automatically shuts down the very possibility of sharing my woman with absolutely anyone. But when I think of the possibility of that woman being Maddie and her being with Ryan, Rayne, or Caiden, it’s almost like a blanket of calm washes over me because that means there are four extra sets of hands to look after her and care for her. These guys are as close as brothers to me. I’d trust them with my entire life, so the notion of all of us being in an actual relationship with the manic little pixie stealing more of Caiden’s fries and placing a piece of garlic bread on his plate doesn’t set me on fire like it would if it were anyone else.
