Page 78 of Four Times Saved

He turned his back to me.

He hates me. Ouch. How interesting...

Eric scoffed. "Yeah. As if it's that easy." He lowered his voice to a whisper, looking around us before speaking to me. "You're going to hold this over our heads from now on, aren't you? Use it for blackmail."

I snickered. These men had watched too many crime shows. Okay, fine, it did happen in real life.

Before Ethan could peel my skin off my face, I shook my head. "No, honestly. It's on the house. Consider it a favor to my wife's best friend."

Matt wheeled around, eyes wide and blazing.

Okay, I guess I couldn't bring Lily into this.

"I was never going to actually hurt you," I repeated. "I just needed to find a way to get you to do what I knew you all wanted to do, deep down." With that, I hurried from their doorstep and back to my place for a quick change, because my wife was waiting for me, and I had something to give her.

Chapter 35

Lily

"Let's just go." I nudged Ann-Marie after picking my jaw up off the ground from the sight of my men in suits.

They looked good as hell. Ryan's suit threw me off a bit. He was wearing a black turtleneck beneath the black jacket, and it wasn't even fall yet. Still, he wasn't sweating. I guessed the car's air conditioning had something to do with that.

They weren't wearing suits when they left. Wherever they had to go was apparently more important than being here for me in my time of need. I didn't care what they had to say to me; whatever it was could have waited.

"I'm with you, girl, but unfortunately I'm not looking forward to riding with my husband either." He was also changed...out of his suit.

Weird that they all left us here and turned up wearing different clothes, but after the session I'd just had, my over-analytic brain had been run through and was seeking a desperate reprieve. The last thing I wanted was to get into a conversation with my men, explaining how much they let me down today. It was moments like these I wished I had my old car, my own money, and my old independence, because now, what? I was stuck traveling with them?

"I'm sorry." That was the first thing that came out of all four mouths as they approached me and Ann-Marie left me alone in the den with them.

We did our best to be each other's support today, at least outside of the therapists' offices. I was hoping for kind of a dual therapy thing, because I didn't want to be alone, which was selfish of me. Ann-Marie was adamant about having her own therapy session. She was still not ready to open up to me about her kidnapping story, and mine would trigger her.

Yet another reason why I needed my men with me. I was falling apart in there, as I was sure she was. I thought I'd fallen apart for good after going through everything. It was a miracle I still had my head on my body.

Men, they could be so damn clueless sometimes.

"Let's just go home." I kept my eyes on the ground, walking away from them and toward the vehicle which I had to wait for them to unlock for me.

Irritating.

They used it to their advantage, and I was about to blow a fuse. I said as much without saying a word, pinning them with eye daggers.

"That's the thing." Ethan approached me and pulled out a bunch of keys. My brows creased. "I wanted it to be a surprise."

I didn't know why he was smiling. There was nothing amusing here.

"I got a call from the realtor this morning while we were at the hospital..." He started.

My jaw slackened.

"We managed to close on the house. We can start moving in whenever you're ready. Would you like to go and see it?" Ethan's smile widened.

Pop, went the fireworks in my heart.

Hold on, wait a minute. I was still mad at them.

Mad and excited as hell.

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