Page 30 of Midnight Rain

Austin curled his hands into Cormac’s shirt. “God, no. My problem is still here.”

“What problem?” Beckett asked.

“Give me five more minutes so I don’t beat all your asses,” Cormac snapped.

“How in the hell were we supposed to know what you were doing?” Hayden asked. “You came barreling down those stairs looking like the devil unleashed. Even I was fucking terrified of you.”

“Then you went for Austin,” Izel added. “It would have killed me to do so, but I would have snapped you in half if you would have hurt him.”

“Does he ever use contractions?” Austin whispered.

Cormac chuckled. “He takes some getting used to, but you can’t ask for a better guy at your back.”

“Tell us what the hell is going on,” Duncan demanded. “We’re all confused as fuck. Austin said someone was going to kill him. Who?”

When Austin finally unburied his face from Cormac’s warm chest, he saw Orion, Bran, and Santee peeking from the kitchen, as if afraid to come into the room.

God, he’d caused such a scene. He’d thought for sure Cormac’s brothers were going to shoot the giant to stop him. Shit had gotten more than intense.

“I’m sorry about the drama.” Austin wiped at his eyes, hating that any of them had seen it. This had been the kind of fight his parents had gone through, forever scarring him and turning him into them. It was also the kind of argument Austin had with his previous boyfriends, though they’d told him in one form or another to go fuck himself.

“You don’t have shit to apologize for,” Cormac said, his hand on Austin’s lower back.

“Can we let Lila into the room?” Paloma asked from behind Orion and the others. “I took her outside so she wouldn’t be afraid or try to attack anyone to defend Austin.”

Austin felt horrible that he’d forgotten about her. He’d been out of his mind with panic and fear, but that was no excuse to forget her when she’d always been there for him.

Paloma set Lila down, and the dog immediately raced toward Austin, barking and growling at everyone she passed. She leaped into his arms and licked his face, trying desperately to crawl up him.

“I’m okay,” Austin reassured her. “Daddy is okay, my sweet little girl.”

Cormac shoved a finger toward her as he glared at everyone. “That’s who all you motherfuckers need to be terrified of.”

Orion and the others eased into the room, slowly and cautiously, as if Austin would go into another toxic explosion at any second.

“What’s going on, Austin?” Orion asked, appearing shaken. “You said upstairs that he was going to kill you. Who were you talking about?”

Izel curled his arms around Orion, and Duncan stood close by, looking like Orion’s bodyguard. Bran eased over to Hayden, who sat and tugged him onto his lap. Santee was glued to Beckett’s side.

Behind them were Milly and Paloma.

“Go ahead,” Paloma said encouragingly. “None of this is in any way your fault.”

Austin was almost brought back to tears by all of the support surrounding him. Not once in his life had he had this. Not from his parents, his friends, or anyone else who’d claimed to care about him. It had taken a house filled with strangers—minus Orion and Paloma, who were family—to give him that.

“Someone is stalking him,” Cormac said.

Austin was glad he didn’t have to retell the story all over again. He’d had to do it twice already, so he didn’t mind Cormac being his mouthpiece.

“Who?” Orion asked.

As Cormac told them—Austin was impressed that the guy pretty much repeated every word verbatim—Hayden, Duncan, Izel, and Beckett’s features darkened.

Even Milly looked ready to snap Jaycee’s neck.

Orion exploded as he shot out of Izel’s arms. “Your fucking mother gave him your new number?”

Paloma didn’t even say anything to Orion for his language. She looked as pissed as she had when she’d learned about Austin’s troubles the first time.

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