Page 62 of Saved By the Marines (Soldiers Of Misfortune)

“Give us a minute while we change. Then we’ll talk,” Wolfe told me. They each gave me a kiss as they headed upstairs.

It didn’t take long before they were back downstairs. Wolfe’s hands wrapped around my shoulders and he sat me down at the table. They were all quiet as they sat too.

My eyes flicked between their faces. “What’s wrong?” I finally asked.

“We went back and forth with whether we should tell you this or not…” Wolfe started.

“We don’t want to keep anything from you,” Kip explained.

“Your dad was the reason we had to go to this meeting.”

My eyes widened as Wolfe’s words sunk in. “Oh.” I wasn’t sure what else to say. I opted to wait to see what was going on.

“He tried to get us discharged,” Jas snarled, anger clouding his face.

My heart sank in my chest. Dad had threatened to do that, but I was hoping that maybe he’d just let me go. That maybe this was my chance to get away from him and find some happiness. But the great and mighty senator just could not leave me alone.

“He was not successful,” Wolfe told me.

I looked up and found his eyes boring into me. Hope was a dim flicker, trying to chase away my fear.

“Turns out they want to keep us around more than they want to please a senator,” Kip said with a grin.

I peeked over at Jas. “So that’s it?”

“No,” Jas replied. “Guaranteed he’ll try again.”

I sighed and stared down at the table. “I’m so sorry he’s causing you trouble.” I started to stand until a hand clamped down on my shoulder.

Jas forced me to sit back down. “Where you going, Brat?” His eyes were narrowed. They were all silent as they waited for my response.

“My father is trying to get you fired,” I explained, unsure of what they were confused about.

“Yeah? So?” Kip asked.

“I can go,” I offered. “If I leave he’ll turn his attention to just me and you won’t have to-”

“Not happening.”

Looking over, I blinked slowly at Jas. His expression had softened. “But I thought-”

“You thought that because I was pissed at your dad that it extended to you? Get this through your head, Bailey. Nothing he does will ever make me angry with you. You aren’t responsible for the tantrums he throws. Nor will he ever have any say over our relationship.”

My breath caught in my throat because Jas had hit the nail on the head. I’d spent most of my life cleaning up after my father’s bouts of rage. I’d tried my best to make sure that nothing ever went wrong so he wouldn’t get angry in the first place. And, inevitably, I always failed.

“We aren’t letting you go anywhere, Bunny,” Wolfe told me with a serious look on his face. “We just don’t want to keep you in the dark about what your father’s doing. That will just bite us in the ass later on.”

“We’ll keep you in the loop,” Kip added, “as long as you do us a favor.”

“...okay.”

“No feeling bad about the stunts he pulls. No feeling guilty that he’s trying to come for us. That’s what he wants. He’s using us to get to you. We knew it would happen.”

“We’re here to protect you,” Wolfe said.

“From everything,” Jas agreed. “Even dickhead fathers.”

It took me a minute to realize tears were dripping down my face. I’d never had anyone willing to stand up for me this way. I crawled over onto Wolfe’s lap and he settled me against his large chest.

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