Page 53 of My Three Rivals

“I shouldn’t be surprised he graduated to be such a disgusting adult,” Tegan went on, shaking her head. “He never let me come here. I thought he was just being an asshole…”

“He couldn’t risk you learning about his business,” Atticus volunteered.

She nodded. “I know that now.”

Swallowing visibly, she turned to stretch out her legs partially and look at me. “What was he thinking?”

I shrugged, unable to answer that question for her.

“I wonder if Lou was at the hardware store looking for Teresa,” she mumbled.

“Teresa?” I echoed.

She shook her head as if trying to clear it. “He has to be stopped—all of them!”

My hand slipped off her shoulder to lie on her flat stomach. Atticus sat on the bed, Wyatt following to stand at the head.

Sprawling out beside her, Atticus lightly moved the stray strands of hair from her face. “Lou is part of something much bigger,” he reminded her, nuzzling against her neck softly. “These types of criminals won’t just go away.”

“I’m not being naïve,” she moaned, the sound contradicting her own words. “But this… here…?”

She shuddered, and Atticus wrapped his arms around her as I fell to her other side, laying my head against her neck.

“I wish you hadn’t kept it from me,” she went on mournfully. “I had a right to know.”

“In all fairness, we weren’t sure we could trust you, either,” Wyatt offered in his completely undiplomatic way.

He finally joined us on the mattress, reaching for Tegan’s socked feet, his fingers working nervously as he massaged them. Bit by bit, her body relaxed against the three of us, quietly, silently coaxing her out of the depression sinking in around her.

My hand trailed over her firm breasts, making circles as she bit on her lower lip. Atticus cast me a wary look, but I wouldn’t do anything without Tegan’s consent, my hand remaining light over her clothes. She nuzzled into me, exhaling deeply, and I felt myself grow hard at the feel of her hot breath.

“If you’d told me before, I could have done something,” she breathed, still trying to convince herself.

“Like what, Little Fire?” Atticus asked gently. “The three of us have been trying to navigate this ourselves and have had no luck.”

She pulled her head out from my neck to look at him, her breath still on my skin.

“Why hasn’t he come here? Looking for me?”

My hand stopped its exploration, and I turned toward Wyatt, who paled at the thought.

“Probably because we have more money,” Atticus explained. “You don’t have anything to give him.”

Tegan sat up abruptly, all our hands falling away with the motion. “But if you stop paying him…”

“We’re not going to let anything happen to you or the vineyard, Tegan,” Wyatt told her, echoing my inner thoughts.

“No, we won’t,” I agreed, trying to lay her back against the bed, but she wasn’t going back down now.

“What a mess,” she sighed. “There has to be a resolution. Maybe if I met with him—”

“NO!” all three of us yelled in unison, the blood draining out of my cheeks.

“You can’t just meet with a guy like Lou,” Atticus added quickly.

“You met him,” I added. “Did he give you the impression that he was the kind of person you can negotiate with?”

Tegan said nothing, but she untangled herself from us all and pulled her knees up to her chest, her vivid eyes clouded.

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