Page 60 of Protection for Rowan

He’d been fired because of her. She had to change herassessment of him, or he would never get his job back. He could make her see the truth.

Though she’d been absent from her house since he’d been thwarted, he decided to go back and see if he could figure out where she’d gone. Once he found her, he would make her do what he wanted.

He paused as his thoughts turned to how she'd felt underneath him. She'd loved what he'd done. A shiver raced through him, and he shook off his thoughts. Later, once he had her back in his possession, he would think about that again. Right now, he needed to concentrate on finding her.

The area around her house was dark. He smiled to himself as he walked around back, searching for a way in. The stupid teenager next door interrupted him when he tried to go into a side window. Luckily, he was able to get in through a window at the back. He replaced the screen so no one could tell he’d gone through the window.

The house smelled unused, as if a little dust had settled on surfaces. He didn't dare turn on any lights as he slowly made his way around the rooms. He should have been more careful when he'd taken her to the cabin. This could have been resolved by now. Surely, she would have realized how good of a person he was if she'd only spent more time with him.

He found her computer in a room at the front of the house. After closing the curtains and draping a blanket over the window to block the light, he turned on the computer, glad that she hadn't password protected the thing. Why would she? This was her home, and no one else would be looking, except him of course. He should have grabbed her computer before, then he wouldn't have had to come back here.

Unsure where to look first, he stared at the screen for along moment. He moved the mouse over the screen, finally settling on email. It took a moment to load everything. He went through the subjects, wondering why she was getting emails from other men.

He clicked on an email from a man, seeing that everything inside the email was professional. He drew in a deep breath, reminding himself this wasn’t why he was here. After she took back her claim that he shouldn’t be allowed to work as an air traffic controller, they could work on their relationship. When they'd been at the cabin, he'd known she wanted him. They just had to get past this one problem, and then they would be free to have a real relationship.

He read down the list of emails, finally seeing something about a retreat north of San Francisco. He opened the email, surprised to see that she’d booked two weeks at the place. Why would she do that when she knew she had to help him? Maybe he’d been wrong about her. She was much more selfish than he’d first thought.

He had to go get her. Someone had a negative influence on her, and he had to save her from them. She needed his help. That was the only explanation for her going to this retreat. It was a very loud cry for help, and he would answer that call.

Chapter 45

Shine pickedThario up on the way to Sharp's place. They were having pizza and movie night while Danika and Nichole were spending the night at Jay's place. He was glad all the guys wanted to get together. Frog had his head hung over the seat, his nose up against Thario's neck.

“Your dog is a riot.”

“Yeah, he’s fairly attuned to me now.”

“You still upset over what that woman said?”

Thario blew out a breath. “I know I shouldn’t be, but it hit hard.”

“Well, it’s her loss. You’re a good person.”

Thario shrugged. It was going to take a lot to get Thario out of his head. Shine was up for it, though. He would make sure his buddy didn't fall through the cracks. Too many guys were lost to the demon within. He didn't want that for Thario.

Apple was the last to arrive. He seemed down about something but didn't seem to want to talk about it. If Apple wasn't back to his usual self on Monday, Shine would talk to him.

“What movie are we watching?” Apple asked as he grabbed two slices of pizza.

"That horror flick, the latest by Jordan Peele, is out. I thought we could watch that," Sharp said.

Griz popped down on the couch. “Nice.”

Shine grabbed some pizza and a beer and sat on the beanbag. With the couch, and a few beanbags, there was almost enough room for everyone. Frog stretched out next to Thario who was at the end of the couch. They needed more space, but housing in this area was expensive. Few guys had space to host a big get together. At least they were all friends so being piled in so close wasn’t bad.

Midway through the movie, Sharp stopped it so they could all get up and get more pizza and beer. Thario seemed to be in a better mood. It was good to see Frog watching him from across the room instead of being right underneath Thario's feet as they refueled. When Thario sat down, Frog put his head on Thario's thigh and sighed. Shine felt that sigh. If Rowan came home, he would sit on the floor at her feet and do the same thing.

By the end of the movie, everyone was much more relaxed. It could have been the beer or just hanging out together. Sharp had another movie queued up for them, but they were waiting to start it until after they all got more food and drink.

Thario was having a deep conversation with Squat, which was good to see. The guys weren't pandering to Thario, either. They were genuinely interested in their buddy.

“Hey,” Sharp came up behind him. “What’s up?”

Shine shrugged. “Just worried about Thario. He had a bad experience with a woman at a bar.”

Sharp grunted. “I get why you are worried. I’ll check inon him later in the week. He’s a big boy and knows he was a total shit before the accident.”

Shine gave a chin lift. “Yeah, he said that. I just don’t want him to get too depressed.”

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