Page 54 of Billionaire Daddies Next Door

“I don’t know! I’m so angry at you, Joanie, but I can’t stand here and not hold you when you cry. I fucking care about you. Don’t you get that? We all care about you.”

“She cares about you, too! She doesn’t shut up about you guys!” Billie was at the edge of the crowd, bent over with her hands on her knees as she struggled to regain her breath. “I think I won, by the way.”

Smith moved closer. “Is that true? I was starting to think you didn’t care about us at all.”

“She cares! She’s just scared!” Violet stepped closer with her own guys surrounding her. “If you let her push you away, you’re not as smart as I thought you guys were.”

Chase studied my expression. “Are they right? Do you care about us?”

My heart thumped painfully away and the silence stretched. I knew if I said I didn’t care for them that they’d leave. They wouldn’t keep pushing. If I really wanted to be rid of them, that’s all it would take. I couldn’t do it, though. I didn’t want them to go away. “Yes.”

Bear held up his hand even as the crowd of our friends and neighbors started cheering. “Yes, what? If we’re both done making choices out of fear, you can’t cut corners.”

I held his gaze. “Yes, I care about you guys.”

“But?”

I shook my head. “Nothing. I am scared but…I care about you guys. I didn’t like this week without you.”

“So. You’ve won the lottery and lost everything. Are you willing to play again?” Bear’s eyes were intense as he waited for my answer. When he saw me smile and nod, he ran his hands down his face and smiled. “Good. Same.”

“Okay, love birds! Get off our battle area and go make up.” Margaret waved us away. “There are more pairings we need to get to. This is a big day for Lilyfield!”

I gasped when Chase picked me up and wrapped my legs around his waist. “I can walk!”

He cupped my ass and laughed when a loud cheer went up around us. “You can be carried, too.”

I was about to argue but I lost my train of thought when I looked over and saw Billie surrounded by her bosses. They were all breathing heavily and staring at her like she was the last piece of chocolate cake in the world. I whistled to myself and wrapped my arms around Chase’s neck. “Something’s in the air.”

He grunted. “Yeah, it’s called Margaret’s meddling. Not that I’m mad about it.”

I looked back at Margaret and saw her lean over and whisper something to Mayor Stevens. His cheeks turned bright red and then the two of them separated like it’d never happened. “What the hell is going on there?”

“Let’s just mind our own business today. We have some catching up to do.” Smith patted my ass. “And there’s something we have to tell you about your house.”

“What?” I looked at him wild-eyed. “What about my house?”

He winced and beside him, Bear matched his grimace. “Well. The girls got a little upset.”

I looked at Bear. “What happened?”

“I’m going to fix it.” He swallowed. “And the girls are grounded.”

“What happened to my house, Bear?”

“They wanted to see you and when I told them no, they snuck over anyway. It looks like they left the door open and the rest is Smith’s fault.”

Smith groaned. “It seems like maybe Mack chased some sort of animal inside.”

Chase snorted. “Mack chased a raccoon inside. And not just one. A whole bunch of them.”

“You’re telling me that my house is overrun with raccoons?” I tried to get out of Chase’s arms but he didn’t budge. “Let me go so I can figure out whose ass to kick first.”

CHAPTER 39

Joanie

“Did you guys plan this?” I stared into my house from the front door, not daring to step a single foot inside. From where I stood, I could see two raccoons looking back at me like I was trespassing on their land.

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