Page 76 of As Thick As Thieves

“Good. Sorry.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’m not made for sitting around the house, it puts me to sleep.”

“We could go out. Surely someone would come and get us,” I stated, an idea popping into my head. “Maybe we could go to the gym?”

“I suppose. Let me wake up a little first,” he grunted and pulled his phone out. “I’ll check with the guys. One of their cars would be here, so we can just take that.”

I walked off to get changed, not surprised when I returned to find a sour look on Drake’s face.

“We need an escort. Jai and Will are coming to get us, and they’ll hang around the gym until you’re finished. I did request that they bring Leah and Sandra. We’ll go in one car, and another will follow.”

“Just be glad we’re allowed,” I huffed, finding my shoes while we waited for backup to arrive.

Drake

I let Penn and the girls workout together while I hung out with the guys, wanting to give her some space. I knew she’d eventually flip out at us for smothering her, and I could tell she was agitated by the constant security.

“How have you guys been? It’s been a while,” Will asked as he leaned against the wall, his eyes firmly on Sandra.

“Would be better if we could leave the house without someone attempting to murder any of us, but apart from that, things are good. Is Stone still being a drill sergeant?”

Penn’s laughter rang out from across the room, and I smiled as she bantered with Leah about something. Having friends was important to her, so I was glad she had some girlfriends to hang out with.

Jai snorted, drawing my attention. “Stone’s acting weird. Pretty sure he’s got a secret girlfriend or something.”

“We’re talking about the same Stone, right?” I asked dryly, and Will grinned.

“Yeah, he keeps smiling at his phone, and it’s freaking me out. At least he’s not yelling so much anymore. He’s been setting up jobs in the office and stating how many people need to go, then usually leaves us all to figure it out. We’ve been making bank lately without any stress.”

“I don’t think he knows any girls. None that would tolerate his bullshit anyway,” I replied, narrowing my eyes on Owen as he walked over to the girls to help Penn adjust the weights. “Hey! Don’t add more, she’s not recovered enough yet!”

Penn huffed, her voice whiney. “The light stuff isn’t doing shit.”

“Did you think you’d be toned in a week or something? This is going to be months of slowly building strength, babe. If you go too hard too fast, you’ll only get hurt and fuck up your progress,” I warned, Owen giving me a strange look.

“She can handle this, it’s not much.”

“Just because she can, doesn’t mean she should.”

He muttered under his breath but didn’t argue with me, and Jai let out a low whistle. “Who’s that guy? He’s got balls.”

“Owen. Penn’s known him for years. She used to sneak out of Kingslake and come here to train with him. As you can imagine, it’s really hard to be nice to him when he’s such an idiot,” I replied quietly. “We’ve run checks on him and nothing flagged as a problem, much to our annoyance.”

“He’s got a major hard-on for her by the looks,” Will commented as we all watched him interacting with her, and I didn’t let him know they had history. It wasn’t their business.

“So, you have no idea who Stone’s been talking to?” I asked, changing the subject. “No one’s been hanging around? For all you know, it’s Leah.”

Jai glared at me. “It’s not.”

“How do you know? You two aren’t exclusive.”

“C’mon, man. Leah can’t stand him half the time,” he pointed out, making me grimace.

“Yeah, and Knox hated Penn for a while, but he still found time to fuck her.”

“I hate you,” Jai grunted, his gaze going back to Leah as she ran on the treadmill, Sandra on the machine beside her as they talked amongst themselves.

For the next hour, I had to tolerate Owen gluing himself to my girl. I didn’t like it, but I trusted her, and it wasn’t like he could try anything with me watching them. Causing a scene would only make her mad at me.

“I’ll just shower, and then we can go,” Penn panted as she walked up to me, sweat coating her skin and a flush on her cheeks.

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