Page 9 of Guarded By Them

“Good,” Kodee said. “That was exactly what we wanted.”

Warmth bloomed in my chest. I’d never had men being protective of me before. Right now, I felt like I had three crazily hot bodyguards.

The guy behind the counter was doing his best not to pay us any attention. Dillon, Kodee, and Ryan probably looked like the kind of men you wouldn’t want to make eye contact with for fear of them asking what the fuck they were looking at. I knew they weren’t like that deep down—well, maybe apart from Dillon—but since all three of them were armed, I figured the guy behind the counter was probably doing the right thing.

The bell above the door dinged, and we all froze, turned toward the entrance. A woman in her thirties pushed through the door, dragging a small child along behind her.

She headed straight to the bathroom, smiling apologetically at the guy behind the counter. “Sorry, he’s gotta go.”

The woman caught sight of us. She ducked her head back down again, pulled her son closer to her body, and vanished into the bathroom. I was thankful the guys weren’t still guarding the way. I had the feeling the boy might have been peeing behind the building instead if they had.

Dillon jerked his chin. “Come on. We need road trip snacks.”

We divided up, taking different aisles. The store was small, so we could all still see each other. I wandered down one aisle, taking in the variety of shapes and sizes and colors of the snacks on offer, though I had no idea what to choose. I couldn’t read the names on the packets, and I only recognized a handful of them. I picked up a bar of candy, and then put it back down again, unsure if it was even something I’d like.

Dillon’s voice came from beside me. “Decided on anything yet?”

I looked down at the armfuls of snacks Dillon had picked up. It seemed he planned on living on cheese puffs and chocolate-filled pies for the near future, at least.

“That doesn’t look much like a balanced diet to me,” I teased.

“We’re on a road trip. You’re not allowed to eat like an adult when you’re on a road trip. You have to revert back to childhood. It’s practically a law.” He flashed me that irresistible grin, and I melted inside. I thought Dillon could probably get anyone to agree to anything he said with that grin.

He picked up another packet of chips from the aisle and threw them to me. I caught them out of the air and laughed.

“Choose your own. If you think I’m sharing, you can think again.”

My mouth dropped. “You cannot eat all that by yourself.”

His green eyes twinkled. “Wanna bet?”

I laughed again and turned back to the stock on the shelves, but paused.

“Go on,” he encouraged.

“I... I...” Heat flooded my face. “I don’t have any money to pay for anything.”

I’d never had money of my own. Even when my mother had been selling me off, every cent had gone back to her. Occasionally, I remembered her giving me ten bucks and sending me to the store for the most basic of groceries—enough to keep us both alive, and that was about it—but she’d always made sure she accounted for every last cent.

Dillon frowned. “What’s ours is yours now, Rue. You have your own money.”

He juggled the packets in his arms to reach into his pocket and pull out his wallet. He delved inside, and took out a fifty-dollar bill and handed it to me. “Take it.”

I didn’t want to take his money. It felt too much like he was paying me for sex.

“I don’t want it.”

“But I want you to have it. It’s not a gift or payment, or anything like that. We’re a team, and we share, remember? We share everything.”

“Except your snacks,” I pointed out, though I got the feeling he wasn’t just talking about snacks or money now.

Still, I didn’t take the fifty.

“Fine.” He huffed air out through his nose, clearly exasperated. “But you choose whatever you want, and I’ll pay for it. My treat. Okay?”

I nodded. “Okay. Thanks, Dillon.”

My mouth watered at the number of treats on offer. But I found myself overwhelmed, unable to choose. I wasn’t normally allowed to choose my food myself, and simply ate whatever I was given. I wanted all of it, and yet I was afraid to choose any of it. It was a strange place of indecision to be caught in. I recognized some of the branding, and the work Ryan had done with my reading meant I was able to discern some of the names, though they didn’t mean much to me.

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