Page 30 of Mine to Keep

I decided to answer. “No, we don’t, and that brings me to the next part of this.” I glanced at JJ, hoping he’d take over for me,but he stood akimbo with a very stern expression on his face.I guess I’m on my own.

“Let me finish before any of you yell at me,” was how I started.

“Fucking hell.” Angel hung his head.

I opened my mouth and let it rip. I started from the very beginning, leaving nothing out. Well, okay, I did. But whenever that happened, JJ interrupted. There were grumbles, wide eyes, some soft cursing. Angel banged his head a few times…He did realize he was only hurting himself doing that, right?

When I finished, earning a thumbs-up from JJ, I scanned every face in the room. Four’s hadn’t changed at all throughout my speech. At first, I wasn’t even sure he was paying attention, but then I quickly remembered he was always paying attention.

Mason’s expression was soft and understanding, much how JJ was after he’d gotten his anger out. Shep and Gabe had matching looks on their faces. Not so much disappointment but more like, “We have rules for a reason.”

Angel was glaring…and totally grinding his teeth. No surprise there that he was angry.

Noel…he was grinning like he’d won the lottery. I loved him to the core, but he was a typical brother. He waggled his brows.

“So, let me get this straight.” Shep scratched his chin and smoothed his hand over his long beard. “You want us to vote on whether or not we should help Matt, if he decides he wants it. And we’re voting to hunt down this stalker and make them stop, however that may be. The details are murky there, and we’re doing this not because Matt asked for help but because you”—he waved his hand in my direction—“also stalked him and found all this out and want to get involved because he makes you feel all tingly inside?”

“Wow, babe.” JJ wrinkled his nose.

“Am I wrong?” Shep looked at everyone, and they all agreed with him.

“I want us to help him because this person is escalating. It’s getting serious, and he’s leaning on the police to make it better.”

“Mendez, you said his name was?” Angel asked.

“Yeah, and he’s a good cop, but they can’t do much, unless…” I didn’t have to finish my sentence, they all knew what I was alluding to.

Noel stood and smiled. “And it has nothing to do with the fact that Matt makes Nick’s penis happy.”

I went to hit him but he darted away too fast, giggling as he hid behind Four, who cocked his head to the side and regarded me.

“Do I vote?”

“Of course, Four.” JJ stepped up. “You’re a part of this family.”

He nodded curtly. “Then I say yes.”

“Why do you vote yes?” Angel wondered.

“Am I required to explain my vote?” Four genuinely seemed curious.

“Not if you don’t want to.” JJ glared at Angel. “So, Four votes yes; I also vote yes.”

“Same.” I shrugged because obviously I did.

It was quiet for a beat and then, one after another, each person voted yes. Angel took a few steps closer.

“We only get involved if he wants it, Nick. If he doesn’t, he deals with it his way. I know you got some warm and fuzzies for him, and we all like Matt. He’s a great guy, and he helped JJ tremendously. But, his word is final. Got it?”

I glanced at my family, seeing that they were all clearly in agreement with Angel. “Yeah, I got it.”

“Okay, then when we see Matt, we bring this offer to him.” With that, Angel walked out of the room. That had gone better than I’d hoped.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Matt

I’d calledDarnell Sunday and asked him to come over and bring an overnight bag. He’d been suspicious but had agreed to come. While trying to figure out who to ask, I’d gone back and forth between Mika and Darnell. In the end, I’d known Darnell would be easier since Mika’s business hours were so weird. Darnell’s work hours were close to the same as mine, so our schedules meshed better.

---