“She stays with me.”
Relief swept through me, Evette would be protected while we sorted out her situation.
His glare turned amused and I braced.
“Thought so.”
I needed to shut this shit down before Zane’s meddling ass got too deep into his delirium and had me married with two-point-five kids and a white picket fence.
Married?
Where the fuck did that come from?
“Zane—”
“You and Cooper take her to the safehouse. I’ll send Ivy out to get her some clothes and whatever girly shit women need. Tomorrow, Evette’ll come in, work with Garrett, and this will be over ASAP and she’ll be on her way back to Cali.”
Back to Cali.
My stomach clenched and my jaw tightened.
Fuck.
“I’ll go get Evette,” I announced.
I was at the doorway when Zane called my name.
“Yeah?”
“Is it too soon to remind you to glove up?”
Goddamn smartass.
I decided a nonverbal answer was in order and flipped him off. My rude gesture was met with Zane’s obnoxious cackle.
“It’s a good day to be me,” Owen said and I looked from my boss to my teammate.
“What?”
“Brother, brother, brother.” Owen shook his head. “I didn’t think I’d get my chance so soon. Payback’s a bitch.”
“Payback?”
What the hell was Owen talking about?
“I see step one is complete. The woman has already scrambled that pea brain of yours.”
Realization hit and it seemed I needed to set Owen straight, too.
“Not even close to the same thing.”
“Right. I’m blind, deaf, and stupid. Because I’d have to be all three to miss how you were staring at the pretty Evette London.”
“Gabe,” Kyle warned.
“You have nothing to worry about,” I assured. “Owen might have good vision and his hearing along with his big mouth work just fine but he is stupid. I got Evette covered.”
“She’ll be covered all right.”
I ignored Owen’s lewd comment and left before I reminded him back in Idaho the whole house heard how he’d “covered” Nat.
Halfway to the breakroom, the knot in my stomach turned to a boulder. I’d known the woman an hour and she already had me building a fortress to fight against my attraction.
This was a bad idea. So bad I started thinking Myles and Cooper should take Evette to the safehouse and I should go with Kevin to find this Delilah woman.
Yeah, that would be better.
I rounded the corner and froze when I heard Evette laugh and the thorn that had started to push under my skin burrowed deep. So deep I was worried I’d never work it out.
But I had to. I couldn’t give in. I had to fortify my defenses.
She’d be gone soon and this would be over.
How hard could it be to keep the woman at arm’s length?
I couldn’t know it then, but I should’ve guessed; it was harder than a motherfucker. Evette was shifty, devious even, a witchy woman who’d woven magic and ripped my heart from my chest and held the bloody organ in her palms. It was fitting actually, seeing as it was hers to take.
Chapter 6
“Bad timing,” Ivy told me and I glanced over the rim of my mug. “Yesterday all the babies were here and you could’ve seen Maxine. She’s getting so big and don’t tell anyone I said this but Kyle is hot when he gets all big daddy and possessive over his daughter.”
Ivy didn’t have a thing to worry about. I was never going to call Kyle Smith “big daddy,” not even when repeating a story. Besides, I’d already heard from Anaya how crazy Kyle was with his daughter. Another thing I was happy my friend had. It made losing her to Maryland worth it. I missed Anaya. She and Kyle had come to Riverton to see me a few times but I hadn’t made the trip out here to see her. My friend, being kind and sweet, said she understood my fear of flying but I knew she was disappointed I hadn’t been out to see her new house and meet her new friends.
As I stared at Ivy it dawned on me what she’d said and I couldn’t stop the hysterical burst of laughter.
Bad timing.
I suppose you could call a gun to your head bad timing—though I called it bad luck.
“Yeah, I would’ve liked to have seen Anaya and Maxine,” I told Ivy. “But I have the feeling Kyle is going to keep them far away from me.”
And I understood why. Being anywhere near me could be dangerous.
“Eh.” Ivy waved a hand in front of her. “The guys will have this sorted in no time and you can see them before you go home.”
My heart started to pound in my chest and it had nothing to do with getting back on a plane. There were several other modes of transportation I could use to get back to California. The mere thought of going back to my apartment gave me heartburn.
Or was it that I was lonely? That I had a sad, narrow life?
Sure I had friends. And after Piper had hooked up with Ace she’d done her best to include me in her new family. I’d been invited to plenty of cookouts at Gumby’s—incidentally, Gumby’s real name was Decker. He and Sidney hosted parties all the time. Their place seemed to be the family gathering spot. All of Ace’s teammates were great, their women were even better. And now Kalee was home but I was still restless.
Not restless for adventure. I was a homebody. But something was missing. I knew what the something was but I was actively pretending I didn’t. Acknowledging I knew meant I’d have to admit what I wanted and I wasn’t at a point in my life where I could handle more disappointment.
I knew I’d never have what Piper, Anaya, and Kalee had. I was too boring, too set in my ways. I’d rather stay at home and watch a movie or read a book than go to a bar. Which was a turn-off for most men.
But I still wanted what my friends had and I’d never have it, so I was living in denial that I wanted it.
“Hey,” Gabe said from the doorway. “You about ready to leave?”
Leave?
Oh, shit. I had nowhere to go, no money.
I’d ditched my phone then found an ATM. Unfortunately, I had a daily limit as to how much cash I could withdraw. A limit I’d stupidly lowered in case someone got a hold of my bank card.
As soon as this was over, I was raising the limit. I’d learned a valuable lesson about being on the run—cash was king and I was fresh out.
Damn.
I’d need to book a hotel with my credit card.
Then they’d find me.
I’d already taken a chance having to book my flight. Which, let me tell you, costs a whack to book a same-day flight at the airport. The ticket was quadruple what it would normally cost. Or maybe it was so expensive because I had to take the redeye and change planes twice.
Now it was Saturday.
Wait, Saturday? Why were all these people working on a Saturday?
My mind was racing so fast I was nearing panic.
“Hey, Evette,” Gabe called.
“I need a bank. I ran out of cash.”
“Why do you need cash?”
“To book a hotel.”
“A hotel?”
I vaguely heard the surprise in Gabe’s voice but I was descending into mania.