Page 141 of Duty and Desire
I was Jet’s little sister.
I wasn’t…
Woodenly, my head moved so I could take in the men in the room.
Every last one was scowling at me.
Because it wasn’t that my sister and all her friends’ men (and okay, also my friends) were badasses and assumed they could take care of all the women in their lives’ problems, no matter what kind of satellite that woman was in their life.
It was that all my big brothers had been kept in the dark when something was threatening me.
I didn’t…
I didn’t know.
I was just Lottie, Jet’s little sister.
I had no idea they felt this deeply for me.
But they did.
They did.
They felt really fuckingdeepfor me.
It was then my throat closed and my eyes got hot.
“You didn’t come to me.”
My attention went to the man who spoke.
Eddie.
Oh boy.
“Eddie,” I whispered.
“If they didn’t have it…” He shook his head. “If something happened to you…” He couldn’t finish that either.
And I knew that, now, he couldn’t not only because his life would be hell if something happened to his beloved wife’s beloved little sister, his beloved boys’ beloved aunt.
Also because something would have happened to his sister-in-law, a woman he cared deeply about.
Oh God.
“It didn’t. It was Hawk Delgado, Eddie,” I said quietly. “He had it.”
“I’ve been to this guy’s house, Lottie,” Eddie retorted. “If they didn’t have it…”
He again didn’t finish.
With not a small amount of difficulty, I swallowed.
“Lottie, honey, look at me,” Hank called.
I looked at Hank.
“There was more than just finding this guy,” he said. “You had to be out of your mind worried. You should never take that on alone. It doesn’t help you or the situation and it doesn’t save the people you’re keeping in the dark from anything. They’re just going to feel what you’ve endured over a week in a second,” he lifted a hand to indicate the room, “as you can see.”
