Page 43 of His Own Heaven

Abby didn’t question them further. “Well, you’re here now. That’s all that matters.”

“Has there been any news at all?”

“Not since the last time you asked,” Ollie piped up from his seat beside their father.

Looking around their little group, Toby also saw Abby’s fiancé, Wolf, and Jane’s mum, Mary.

He crouched down in front of the older woman. “How are you holding up? Do you need anything?”

Mary leaned forwards, and Toby hugged the woman who was like a second mother to him and his siblings. “I’d be better if everyone would stop asking me that.”

“Yes, ma’am. How long have you been waiting?” he asked, easing himself into a chair opposite them.

“About two and a half hours,” Ollie said. “I called Charlie within ten minutes of the crash.”

Toby shoved his hands through his hair. “What the hell happened? Why would anyone want to run Rafe off the road?”

“It wasn’t Rafe they were after,” Mary said quietly.

Then Ollie got Toby and Charlie up to speed with everything they knew so far, which included Mary’s patisserie getting hit with graffiti and Jane’s old clunker of a Jeep being set on fire in front of the Bennett family home. And this was on top of Jane’s ex-fiancé/business partner stealing her life savings and leaving her at the altar only a week before.

“I need chocolate,” Toby said as Oliver finished filling them in, and he went in search of a vending machine. Charlie tagged along, and he was glad for the company. The last thing he needed was to be left alone with the jumble of anger, fear, and longing swirling in his gut.

“Thanks for the save before. With Abby.”

“No problem.”

He rubbed the back of his neck, hoping it would ease some of his tension. It didn’t. “My head’s still spinning from all of this.”

“From the news about Rafe or from Lucy dumping your sorry arse?”

Toby clenched his jaw against the memory. “I can’t believe she blew me off so easily. Not after everything we did this weekend.”

“Uh-huh.” Charlie chuckled and shook his head. “You can’t believe Lucy blew you off after you snapped at her? Really?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

His brother sighed. “For a control freak, you really are clueless sometimes, aren’t you? When we needed help, Lucy stepped up. She got our butts in gear and out the door in less than half the time it would’ve taken us on our own, and you scolded her for it. How did you think she’d react, you big moron?”

Toby blinked slowly. “What? I wasn’t mad at her for that. I was grateful.”

“Then why did you tell her off?”

“Because she was being stubborn.” He shoved his hands through his hair again. “All that bullshit about taking an Uber instead of letting me take care of her. She—”

“She what, Tobes? She offered to save us time so we could be with our family sooner? Wow,” Charlie drawled, sarcasm dripping from the word. “What a bitch.”

Toby glared at his twin. “You don’t get it. You’re not into power exchange like me and Lucy. I’m her Dom. She’s my responsibility. She’s mine to take care of, to protect. Not just her body but her reputation too.”

“Ah.” Charlie’s expression softened. “I think I understand now.”

“Do you?”

“That kid on Friday night, the one who insulted her.”

“He called her a hooker.” Toby’s glare intensified. “And that’s when she was wearing a bra and a reasonably modest blouse. No way was I letting her get in a car with some random bloke with no bra and a T-shirt four sizes too big. Because you know as well as I do what he’d be thinking, and I’ll be fucked if I let that happen. Not if I can protect her from it.”

Charlie watched him closely. “You really do like her, don’t you?”

---