Page 19 of Room One Hundred and Eighteen

I pull up in the driveway and Cash grabs the door handle yanking on it, growling when I don’t unlock it fast enough. I smirk at him. Sometimes I just like to mess with them.

I finally unlock the door when Courtney grabs for the handle. Max growls when she tries to step out.

“You wait for one of us to help you out, princess. Don’t ever touch that door again.”

She cocks her head but says nothing which surprises me and the boys. Obviously she’s more rattled than I thought she was.

I know I am.

“What happened?” Max grumbles because Cash tucks her little hand under his arm and leads her into the house. Guy’s a jealous bastard but he’d never hurt one of us. Or our little princess.

“We’ll discuss it inside. After a drink.”

I need a fucking drink. This day has been a mess and the last half an hour was worse than anything I’ve ever experienced. I hope to never look up and see what I saw this afternoon. Court’s tiny figure highlighted in the beams of light from that car scared the living hell out of me.

Cash leads Court into the huge living room and over to our overstuffed sofa. She falls into it when he pushes her lightly. And keeps on falling. She scrabbles to try and sit up, lying there like a turtle that’s been flipped over on its back.

“Hey, baby. Hang on. We might have to get a new couch,” Max laughs and helps her get situated, laughing even harder when she huffs at him.

“We wanted a really comfortable sofa but we might have overdone it.”

“You think,” she grumbles.

Max and Cash sit down beside her, each one of them holding one of her hands. I pace the living room and then I point at Cash. “You son of a bitch! How the hell did you know that he was going to do that?”

“He who?” Court says, her eyes darting back and forth.

“Who took that car out last night, princess?”

She crosses her arms and eyes all of us like we’re about to torture her or something.

We might at some point. But only in the really fun way.

“Fine.” She flounces on the seat and glares at all of us. “Evan took it out.” Then her eyes dart to her pocket and I nod at it. “What are you hiding, princess?”

Cash reaches over and pulls a piece of paper out of her pocket. All of us stare at it and then Courtney sighs. “He was there in the club the whole time.”

Because in Cash’s hand is a crumpled invitation to the Club last night. Where the hell did he get that and why? It’s a good question because there is some stuff at the club that might be considered unsafe depending on your partner.

It makes me fucking happy as hell that we ended up being there last night. Because the options of what might have happened to her do not make pleasant thoughts.

“I think we have to assume that he had a separate car there last night and that invitation because he intended to grab Court for some reason,” Cash says. And that is a chilling thought.

“I think we’re gonna have to have a chat with that guy.”

“It would be better if I had a chat with him,” our little princess says, her back stiff and straight.

“Oh hell no!” Max growls, for once losing his cool. “There is no way in hell you’re getting anywhere near that guy.”

Her little pointed chin comes up and she glares at all of us. “That’s where you’re wrong. It’s my decision and I’ll do what the hell I want.”

Exactly the wrong thing to say. All three of us stand up tall and I move closer to her, one careful step at a time, watching her eyes get big and round. I lean down and pen her in with my arms on that overstuffed couch. She flushes and glances away from me, fidgeting in the seat.

“You will not go near that guy until we figure out what the hell he was planning with you.”

She grits her teeth and glares at us. “I can’t just disappear from work.”

“Then one of us will be with you at all times.”

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