Page 73 of Deadlier Obsessions

“Peanut, if you’re asking me to throw you in front of me next time we get kidnapped, I’m afraid you can kiss my ass.” Her lips quirk in a small grin.

“Dear god, let us never be kidnapped again. Do you think we give off some vibe that says, ‘kidnap us, we like it really’? I mean, seriously.” Stella’s phone pings, not for the first time this morning, and she ignores it.

“Do you need to get that?” She shrugs, tucking the phone in her pocket as she stands up again.

“Stel-”

“I love you, Lucy, and for that reason I’ll always put myself in harm’s way if it means you stay safe, so please stop asking me not to. It’s just not in my nature.”

“But your baby…”

She sighs, resting a hand over her stomach and closing her eyes. “My family is everything to me, Lucy. That means this baby, you and your baby, and those three guys out there. Don’t ask me to ever put myself behind any of you, because I just won’t.”

She heads for the door, and I follow, casting my eyes around the room for anything we might accidentally leave behind. I’m paranoid about losing something in a hotel room.

“Stel?”

She stands in the doorway, one hand still on the handle, but doesn’t speak.

“I can accept that, if you can accept that I’ll be stepping in front of you next time we’re kidnapped. Got it?”

She starts giggling, and reaches for my hand, so we can walk out to the guys together. Her phone pings in her pocket again, and her shoulders slump.

“Do you need to-”

“It’s Abigail, Lucy. I have no idea what to say to her.”

GAGE

Since the house is within driving distance, we chose to not fly because I think Stella has been through enough and doesn’t need the added anxiety of another trip on a plane. Mav is driving the black minivan we rented, while bitching the entire time about being a servant. I think he just needs to get laid, because he’s been moody as fuck, and getting on my very last nerve. I sit with Sebastian, and for some reason our women moved to the row of seats at the far back, when there was plenty of room up here, which has my suspicions raised. I’m trying to listen to them, but I hear hushed whispering. What the fuck are those two up to?

Pretty Boy stares at me with curiosity. “What is it?”

I hook my thumb back toward the women. “They are up to something.”

“No, they are just talking.”

Glaring at him, I bark out, “Then why the fuck are they whispering?”

People whisper because they don’t want to be overheard. They do it, when they’re hiding something. There shouldn’t be any secrets between the five of us. Sebastian may be perfectly fine not knowing what’s going on, but I am not.

I rise from my seat and push past Sebastian and move over to where Stella and Lucy are.

Glaring first at Stella and then at Lucy, I speak in a low, even tone, “What’s going on back here?”

They both look up at me with slight fear, but Stella’s eyes are the most telling. Fucking guilty as sin. Whatever is going on, it’s all her. Of course, I’m not surprised in the least. Every single time one of them has been up to no good, it’s Stella. Always.

I glance at Lucy. “Go sit with Pretty Boy, Lucy. Stella and I need to talk.”

She gets up with great hesitation, but does as she’s told, because she knows two very important things. One, what I fucking say goes. And two, I won’t hurt Stella. Well, for the most part I won’t.

I sit next to her and stare at her for a long beat, and she trembles slightly. I’m an asshole, so it definitely makes my dick hard.

“What’s going on, Stella? What are you up to?”

Her eyes widen as she stammers, “No-t-thing.”

Clearing her throat, she says, “I’m not up to anything.”

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