Page 120 of The Love Penalty

Grady shrugs. “I told him to get lost, but he just grinned at me and kept chowing down.”

Zander huffs, storming out of the room, and then we hear muffled conversation coming from what I assume is the kitchen. I can tell by his tone that Zander’s not impressed with their squatter.

Grady slips the flash drive into the laptop and starts creating a clip of the footage we need.

“None of your business!” Zander’s voice rises. “We’re just helping her out. Now would you go the fuck home, please?”

“I was invited here.”

“Carson wasn’t even home last night! I get that you guys were friends in grade school, but you need to let it go. This is a football house, meaning only team members live here.”

“But you’ve let me crash on your couch before.” The guy appears in the doorway, glancing into the dining room and eyeing us up before Zander nudges him toward the front door.

“What can I say, we’re generous like that, but it only goes so far.” There’s a click as I assume Zander opens the door. “Now go home and stop treating this place like your crib.”

“Fine, whatever. I’ll see you at the next party.”

Zander doesn’t respond, and a few seconds later, the door slams shut.

Zander stalks back into the room, scratching his head and looking pissed. “No more parties,” he mutters.

“You say it, but you don’t mean it.” Grady snickers.

Wily grins, then shakes his head when he catches my eye. “Maybe it’s not the worst idea.”

“Don’t stop partying on my account.” Lani pulls away from me and looks at the guys. Her eyes are rimmed red and she’s still looking really pale, but her voice has its strength back.

Zander shakes his head. “I don’t like this place being filled all the time with people I don’t know. Maybe we should be screening it more. If I’d known what that fucker was going to do to you, I never would have let him through the door.”

“You can’t know these things.” Lani sucks in a breath, brushing a finger across her cheek. “I didn’t go into that room knowing what was going to happen to me.”

I clench my jaw, my muscles vibrating.

Zander catches my eye, and I can tell he gets it.

“And I want to thank you guys for your help.”

They all tell her not to worry about it, and if there’s more they can do, we just have to let them know.

She gives them a weak yet grateful smile, and I kiss her forehead, still struggling to contain this emotion crashing through me. I need to get out of here. I need to find Harvey. Right now.

Grady holds out the flash drive and Lani takes it, wrapping her fingers around the stick.

“l can email you the file as well,” Grady murmurs, his fingers poised over the keyboard. “I’ll put it in Zander’s DropBox and send you the link.”

“Okay.” Lani trips and stumbles through her email address, having to correct herself twice. She winces and shakes her head. “My brain is mush right now.”

“That’s all right,” he murmurs, and then we hear the whoosh and know the email is heading to her inbox.

After that, it’s awkward. We’ve got to go, and there are pleasantries to be said. I don’t know how to do this shit when all I can think about is killing my cousin.

“I’m really sorry this happened to you.” Zander’s voice is deep and sincere as he looks at Lani.

She nods.

“And like we said before, anything we can do to help, you know?”

“Yeah.” She nods again and tries for another smile. “Thank you.”

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