I can faintly hear the muffled squeaking of Adam’s indignant protests, and it’s the thing that finally pushes me over the edge. A giggle bubbles out of me, quickly escalating into full-blown, doubled over laughter.
Swiping at the tears in my eyes, my laughter tapers off as reality slowly trickles back in. Bellamy’s tied off the top of the sock, him and Arson playing catch with the human hacky sack while waiting for me to finish my mini breakdown, tossing it my way, and as I glance down at the sock, it threatens to send me into another round of hysterics. It’s just… ridiculous. Completely and utterly ridiculous.
Adam can’t hurt me anymore; not when I quite literally hold his life in the palm of my hand.
Chucking him over to Ledger, I take a deep breath and stride right up to Vic, bracing myself for a fight. “Okay, he’s clearly not a threat anymore. So bring Kiara back.”
His jaw tics, glaring at the sock prison Adam’s being flung around in. “Only if that’s what she wants.” I note that he doesn’t bring up the flimsy excuse of us holding her hostage again. He knows Arson better than most; there’s no way he’d hold a woman against her will or try to sell her, and he knows it. Not after what his parents did to him.
Still, he hesitates. And I’m not the only one that notices.
Arson tosses the bundle to Myles and saunters over. “I respect you man, but if you make my girl cry by holding her only girlfriend hostage, I'm going to make your life a living nightmare. And you know better than most how little sleep I need.”
Vic mutters under his breath, the only part I catch being something along the lines of, “Fucking menace…”
I barely breathe for several minutes, and doubt creeps in that he’s coming back at all.
He took her and fled the country. How the fuck am I going to get her back? They could beanywhere.
Before panic can completely set in, Vic appears, a furious looking Kiara fighting his grip. “Seriously?” she demands.
Vic clenches his jaw without answering her, turning to Arson. “You'll get her settled in Mercy Ridge?” At my mate’s nod, Vic offers a terse, “Good.” With one last, longing look at Kiara, he disappears in a silver haze without so much as a goodbye.
Chapter 15
Ever
Home. Sweet, sweet, precious,home.
I stop myself from dropping to my knees and kissing the floorboards, because I still havesomedignity left, but it’s a close call. Instead, I settle for trailing my fingers along the entryway wall while Ledger insists on checking the house first to ensure no one broke in and is lying in wait.
Fingers crossed all is clear, because I’m pretty sure once my head hits my pillow, I’ll be sleeping for a week straight.
“What are the odds Oscar and Kiara both ended up with houses across the street?” Myles asks.
Ledger returns, relaxed enough to prove everything has survived untouched during our absence. “Are you really surprised? Ellis is the town realtor for a reason; he’s damn good at his job.”
Arson finishes setting up Adam’s habitat, and I can't help but snort at the finished project. He took a three-tier ferret cage on wheels and refurbished it into an obstacle course from hell. Spiked wheels, a pool of water withsomethingswimming in the murky depths I don’t want to be on a first name basis with, and an assortment of ridiculous traps that stand between Adam andthe pile of food and clean water he needs to live. And the second he thinks about camping out there? Arson will move the drop location to the opposite side of the habitat.
Thankfully, he thought ahead and got a black out curtain cover for it so we don’t have to worry about him seeing anything he shouldn’t.
Doesn’t mean he won’t be able to hear me getting railed six ways to Sunday, though. Serves the asshole right.
It’s ridiculous, stupidly perfect, and makes me love them even more because theyget itand don’t judge.
I’m over Adam, but I really do want him to suffer for everything he put me through. It’s not a matter of me not being able to move on, it’s a case of petty vengeance that IknowwwwwI should be better than to reduce myself to, but… I’m just not that good of a person. They don’t expect me to be, though, and I appreciate the hell out of them because of it.
I’m hovering between the kitchen and my bedroom when Myles appears and wraps an arm around my waist, telling the guys, “Ever’s mine for the rest of the night. If you need anything… figure it out,” and steers me away.
He doesn’t even wait for their reply, and I admit; I’m intrigued. Of all of my mates, Myles is the most shy. The least sure of himself. So seeing him take control?
It’s kind of doing it for me.
He leads me upstairs to the bathroom and closes the door behind us, flipping the lock. “The others can hold down the fort for one night.”
“Agreed, but… why do they need to, again? Not that I’m complaining,” I hastily add.
Moving to the bathtub recessed in the floor like a hot tub in the center of the room, he gets the water running before rummaging around in the cabinet beneath the sink, pulling out several bottles. “Because you've been through a lot these pastfew weeks. And I know you’re used to dealing with everything alone, but you’re my mate.” He adds a few things to the water and puts the bottles back, returning with a stack of towels. “And I haven’t gotten any time alone with you since,” he swallows, “everything happened.”
