“Yeah…” She looks a little rattled.
Daisy whispers in her ear and hugs her tighter.
Sulli glances down at my phone. “Who are you texting?”
“Price.”
Her brows jump.
“He’ll want Triple Shield guards to scout the perimeter of the cottage.” In a whisper, I add, “I’m playing nice.”
Considering I’d rather just call my temp guards to the job, who are more than qualified now that Michael Moretti is kicking their ass. But Price is Daisy’s bodyguard, and he’ll want to be informed of teenage trespassers now. Not later.
Plus, teen issues aren’t in Kitsuwon Securities’ wheelhouse, as Price has so often and patronizingly told me. Xander Hale is the only minor on my client list. He’s enrolling at Dalton Academy starting in January, but until he’s in school, Price is staking claim to threats around the teenagers.
The T-Bags are his problem.
As long as the Meadows girls and everyone else are protected, it’s fine.
Though, yeah, my ego is a little bruised.
I know Kitsuwon Securities has better bodyguards than Triple Shield.
The door opens.
“All clear,” Banks slips inside.
Ryke is right behind, shutting off the flashlights. “Did they touch you?” he asks Nona and Sulli.
“No, Dad,” Nona says.
“I’ll call their parents later,” Daisy tells Ryke. “I think Rose has met some of them at PTA meetings.”
“Fucking fantastic.” He unpockets his phone. “What are their last names?”
Daisy tells him quietly.
Banks isn’t lingering in the kitchen. He aims straight for Sulli, and I glance at her jeans, blood sleeping down her thighs. My phone vibrates like bullets unloading in my fist.
Messages from Farrow, from Price, from Michael Moretti, Connor Cobalt—on and on and on.
“You alright?” Banks asks our girlfriend, gently holding the back of her head.
“Yeah, the T-bags are real D-bags.” She blows out an unsteady breath. “Fuck, fuck.” She notices the blood in the light. “This period sucks.”
Banks rests a comforting hand on her lower back, and I whisper to Sulli about how she can go change. We’ll wait, but she’s adamant on staying here.
“I’m not leaving you guys again.”
“Did you try to hit them?” Ryke asks his youngest daughter.
“Sulli held me back. But I should’ve spit at them,” Winona says angrily, but her arms still quake. She squats down to hug Goldilocks.
Ryke shakes his head. “You did the right thing walking away.”
Winona frowns. “They might’ve heard me and Sulli talking about her boyfriends.”
Lovely.
But I hold on to the fact that Winona said “boyfriends” like she’s accepted me and Banks. I’ll take any win these days.
Ryke buries his face in his hands for a second. He’s not ready for our relationship to leak. Honestly, none of us are ready. We’d rather stay in private for as long as possible. Less stresses and voices. We’re free to be happy without total condemnation.
The thing that I’ve learned about us is that we’re not as careful as Farrow and Maximoff were. Not as careful as even Thatcher and Jane.
Charlie caught me kissing Sulli in Yellowstone.
Jane found out about Banks and Sulli around then too.
When it comes to Sulli, I’ve always walked a risky tightrope. But it’s even riskier now that we’re together. The feelings we feel are like a haze I walk into and never want to come out of.
Sulli turns to me and Banks. “Back in the woods, they never said anything about my love life or my bodyguards, so there’s still a chance they never heard a thing.”
I ease. “We’ll keep an eye on headlines.”
Nona rises to her feet. “I’m going to Vada’s to study. Is that okay, Mom?”
“I can take you,” Daisy says.
“No, I can,” Ryke cuts in.
“No, I have this.” Daisy rests her hands on his waist. “I love you to the moon and back, Ryke.” She loops her fingers in his waistband, rising on her toes to kiss his cheek. “You should stay and talk more with your daughter’s boyfriends.”
Ryke glares at the wall, but his gaze softens on his wife. “I fucking love you too, sweetheart.”
Daisy grabs Nona’s hand. “Onward and out.”
As they leave, Ryke takes over what Daisy left unfinished. He sets a saucepan on the stove. “Akara, can you grab the fucking marshmallows from the pantry?”
Sulli begins to smile, more hopeful, like maybe we buried the hatchet. But I’m pretty dang sure the blade is out in the open. Sitting between us. Waiting for someone to grab and hack.
“Yeah, sure.” I give Sulli a look to lower her expectations on my way to the pantry.
She nods understandingly. Her smile is gone.
Disappearing, I text Price back and find a bag of Dandies marshmallows on the shelves. The silence is skyrocketing the level of awkwardness. Astronomically.
And I’m not even out there.
When I return, I rip open the bag. Sulli has an even sadder face, and I toss a marshmallow at her. It bounces off her forehead. Coming close, I catch the marshmallow before it hits the ground.
A softer smile plays at her lips.