Page 90 of Worth the Chase

She leaned up on her elbow and cocked her head to the side. “Maybe.”

“Are you going to tell your parents what happened?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I mean, I was going to tell my mom for sure.”

“Are you going to tell her we’re living in sin?”

I waggled my eyebrows, and she tossed a pillow at me.

“Go away,” she demanded before flopping back down and pulling the covers up to her chin.

I headed out of the bedroom and pulled up the group chat for my brothers and fired off a text, asking them to meet me at Bells’s apartment ASAP. Then, I texted my dad, letting him know I’d be a little bit late this morning and that I’d fill him in when I got there. He was agreeable, but also a little concerned.

I got to the apartment first and watched as my brothers pulled in within seconds of one another, clearly trying to beat each other.

“What’s up?” Patrick said as he slammed his door after Jasper hopped out.

“What’s going on?” Thomas asked.

“I need you guys to help me get all of Bella’s shit out of here and into my truck.”

I turned my back to them and started walking up the stairs. I held her keys in my hand.

“You called us out here to help move your girlfriend?” Thomas shook his head.

When we stood outside of her door, I faced them. “Bella was attacked last night. Some tourist guy was going to hurt her. He only stopped because his friend came outside and saw what he was doing.”

Their faces both paled instantly.

“Jesus,” Patrick breathed out.

“Is she okay?” Thomas asked.

“She’s pretty shaken up. She’s so fucking tiny, you know? How is she supposed to protect herself?” I had been wondering about that for half the night. If she’d had her mace, would it have even stopped the guy or only made him angry?

“Should we send the girls over?” Patrick asked.

I nodded. “I think that might be a good idea.”

I watched as he pulled out his phone and started typing with two hands. “Done.”

“Both of them?” I asked, meaning Addison and Brooklyn.

His phone vibrated. “Yeah. Brooklyn said she’ll head right over after she drops Clara at school.”

“Great. Thanks.”

I opened her front door and took stock of what was inside. Her apartment didn’t have a shitload of furniture, but I wasn’t sure if she wanted any of it or not. My thought was that we could furnish the downstairs with all of her things. I hadn’t gotten around to that yet. It was pretty much an empty level. I never even went down there anyway.

“It’s going to take more than one trip,” Patrick said as he looked around.

“I figured.”

“I can’t believe this happened,” Thomas said as he ran his hand down his face and walked into the kitchen.

“I know,” I agreed, trying not to replay Bella’s words from last night over again in my head. They made me feel crazy. “It’s shocking, but maybe it shouldn’t be. Maybe we’ve been living in some kind of bubble all these years.”

“Do you think it’s getting worse?” Thomas started pulling Bella’s things out of the cabinets and placing them on top of the counter.

---