Page 46 of Inked Craving

“It’s about time.” Archer clapped his hands, while Marc rolled his eyes.

“Seriously, you all don’t care?” I asked, confused as to where this conversation was going.

“All we’re saying is that you have been practically dating our sister for nearly a year anyway. You’re a good guy. We like you. And you’re our friend. If we didn’t like you, and if you weren’t good enough for Paige, we wouldn’t be hanging out with you. Not that we could ever tell Paige what to do. She’s her own person and would likely kill us if we tried to tell her what to do.” Beckett nodded.

“Plus, there’s the whole castration thing that the girls seem to love,” Jacob added, and we all visibly shuddered.

“Can we please change that? I don’t want to teach Emery that castration is the way to go.”

“Look at you, thinking that you’re going to be teaching Emery in the long term,” Archer joked, a broad smile on his face.

Marc shushed him. “I think you can clearly see that Lee is out of his depths here. This is the guy who promised he would never date seriously, and suddenly, he’s dating a woman with a baby, a baby that he helped bring into the world. It changes things. Let’s be nice.”

Never in my life would I have thought I would agree with Marc, let alone be thanking him and being on his side. Clearly, I had lost my damn mind. Not that Marc was a bad person, I just never understood him or really hung out with him enough to have these kinds of moments.

“The problem is, we couldn’t do anything when it came to Colton,” Benjamin said after a moment. “Not that we would. But we protect our sister at all costs, and at some point, we have to realize that she is an adult who makes her own decisions. Stepping in would only hurt her or piss her off. So, we’re there when she needs us to lean on, but we don’t force boyfriends out of her life.”

“That’s good,” I began, wondering what I should say.

“Of course, we always growl and try to intimidate the guys, but they never seem to go away.” Beckett glared at Marc and Jacob, who just grinned and shook their heads.

“Sorry, I’m not going anywhere,” Jacob teased while Marc leaned into Archer, a small smile playing on his face

“When Paige told us she was pregnant, we might’ve freaked out a bit. But, mostly, we hated the way Colton treated her,” Archer added.

“I hate him,” I growled.

“Because of the way he treated Paige? Or because you think that he stands in the way of what you could have?” Benjamin asked softly, and I flinched, the question hitting home a little too hard.

Archer leaned forward and patted my knee. “Colton will never be the problem. It will always be what you and Paige decide that works between you. Remember that.”

I looked at Archer after he spoke and swallowed hard. “She’s been hurt so much. I don’t want to be the guy who hurts her again.”

“Then don’t be,” Jacob added. “Because, honestly, we stayed away from Colton because we didn’t want to hurt Paige or the pregnancy. But if you hurt her, you’re our best friend. Wewillkill you.”

I laughed with the others, even though I felt like maybe they weren’t joking. Though I would probably deserve it.

The doorbell rang at that point, and I frowned, looking at the group of men there.

“Did Clay and Riggs say they were coming?

“No, Storm and Everly have the kids, so they have a date tonight. They’re probably screwing like bunnies and enjoying the time off,” Archer added while Marc just sighed.

“Really?” Archer’s husband muttered.

“I’m just saying. It’s the truth.”

I got up, ignoring the guys muttering and joking behind me. I walked to my front door and opened it, confused at the lack of anyone there. “Is somebody dinging and ditching? Is that still a thing?” Then I looked down and saw the wilted roses and the note, and my blood froze in my veins.

“What is it?” Jacob asked from behind me.

I couldn’t believe this was happening. We weren’t at my office anymore. No, this person, whoever it was, knew where I lived. I knew the look of that note; the feel of it near me. Unless I had two people sending me weird things like this, things had just escalated.

“I think I have a stalker,” I whispered.

“Are you serious? What the hell is that?” Jacob snarled, the anger in his voice reminding me that Annabelle had once had a stalker, too. I hadn’t been there to help either of them when everything went to hell, but I’d seen the aftermath. I didn’t want to think that this was in the same realm as what had happened with the two of them, but I just didn’t know anymore.

“What the fuck am I supposed to do?” I ran my hand through my hair, staring out into the distance as if the darkness held answers instead of more questions.

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