Jesse lowered his voice as he angled his head closer to my ear to ensure that only I heard him. “But if you decide that you want something more than friendship with my little girl, make sure it’s what you want more than anything else on the planet, boy. Because once you make a commitment like that to my baby, that dick of yours had better not stray. You don’t want to know what I will do to you if you break her heart. You feel me, Harris?”
“Yes, sir.”
One massive hand lifted and gripped my shoulder, giving it a hard squeeze before he stepped back. “Good talk, boy. Good talk.” Laughing, he took another step back and I let myself breathe again.
Chapter 5
Lucy
Maybe I left it in the bathroom and it fell behind the toilet.
Even though I’d already checked there—twice—I went back into my bathroom and looked again. When it wasn’t there I slammed the seat closed and dropped down onto the lid before burying my face in my hands and finally letting out the small shriek of frustration I’d been feeling all day.
I’d gone to bed the night before in some pain but feeling like I could conquer the world. Being woken up in the early hours to a text from Harris had put a smile on my face as I’d drifted back to sleep that morning. I’d planned on texting him again when I woke up, to tell him…
Okay, so I wasn’t sure what I would have told him. Not ‘I love you’. I’d already said that a few times to him and he had yet to say it back, so until he did, no way was I going to let those words leave my mouth. He knew I loved him now. The ball was in his court. I wasn’t brave enough to say it again without knowing that he felt the same.
I’d been saved from figuring out what to say to him when I realized that I’d misplaced my cellphone, though. Of course I’d overslept and had been running late that morning so I hadn’t had time to really look for the damn thing. Mom had given me hers without hesitation and I’d gone to school. As the hours had seemed to drag by, I’d contemplated calling or texting Harris from Mom’s cell, but still hadn’t known what to say.
At home I did what little homework I had, then took a shower and got ready for dinner with Harris before I started looking for my phone. The search had begun two hours ago and now I was so pissed at myself for misplacing the damn thing that I wasn’t sure if I would be very good company for Harris at dinner.
Maybe I should just tell him I couldn’t go. He was going to be mad at me for losing my phone anyway. He was a freak about my phone and I knew it was because he’d called me so many times the night my bio father had taken me. He’d had to find out about my abduction on the eleven o’clock news—making him feel like shit after he’d gotten mad thinking I was just blowing him off.
Raking my fingers through my crazy-curly hair, I grimaced when a few of my fingers got tangled and I had to tug them free. I hadn’t taken the time to straighten it tonight. I pushed myself to my feet and went back into the bedroom to once again check under my bed, in hopes that it actually had fallen under there and I’d just missed it the ten times I’d looked previously.
Harris was waiting on me. I had to hurry or decide if I was just going to bail on dinner with him tonight—something I seriously didn’t want to do. But I didn’t want to hear a twenty-minute lecture from him about the importance of my phone when I was already mentally yelling at myself about it.
There was a slight tap on my door and I lifted my head as the door swung open. My brothers came into the room almost hesitantly and I frowned at them. Those two only hesitated when something was wrong. Conce
rned because I didn’t know if I needed to help them hide a body or possibly even hide them, I got to my feet. I would do both because that was how much I loved them. Didn’t matter what their reasons were; I would always protect those two not-so-little beasts.
“What’s up, you two?”
Lyric took another hesitant step forward and pulled something from his jeans pocket. It took me a second to realize what he was offering me, but when it clicked in my head I glared from him to his twin. “You little monsters!” I yelled.
Okay, so my vow of helping them only went so far. If they messed with my stuff, then all promises were over. Lyric gave me a sheepish look while his identical clone stood in my room with his arms crossed over what I knew would one day be an athletic chest and determined but ever-changing brown eyes.
“Why would you take my phone?” I demanded as I glared from one to the other. “You both know you aren’t supposed to even be in my room, let alone take my stuff. How dare you snatch something that wasn’t yours?”
Lyric opened his mouth to say something but Luca beat him to it. “We were mad at you. Last night you scared us. We thought something really bad had happened to you. Then you and Mom and Dad picked us up at Aunt Lana’s and you seemed fine except for a bandaged hand. We wanted to ground you from your phone so we took it.”
“But we didn’t realize how important our phones are,” Lyric continued as soon as his brother had stopped. “Harris explained it, though. We’re really sorry. Please don’t be mad.”
Some of my anger faded as fast as it had come. Sighing, I sat down on the edge of my bed. “Guys…” I shook my head. “I’m so sorry I upset you last night. I promise you it wasn’t my intention.”
Lyric moved across the room until he was standing right in front of me. His arms wrapped around my neck and hugged me tight. “I love you, Lucy. I don’t ever want anything to happen to you.”
Tears burned my eyes and I blinked hard and fast to keep them at bay, but a few spilled free anyway. “Ah, Ric.” I hugged him hard to me. “Its okay, baby boy. Nothing is going to happen. I swear.”
Another set of arms wrapped around both Lyric and me and I lifted my head long enough to press a kiss to Luca’s forehead. “You forgive us?” he asked after a few moments.
I hugged them both tighter. “Nope. Give me ten minutes, though, and I’m sure that will change.” Pulling away I winked at them and they grinned, knowing that I was still the pushoverthat I would always be where they were concerned. “Stay out of my room, boys. And if you take anything of mine again I’m going to start spilling all those secrets you both have to the world. Pretty sure there are things that neither one of you want Mom and Dad or say Vi—” The way Luca’s face went white as a sheet and then closed up tighter than a Venus flytrap told me that I’d hit my mark. Grinning, I ruffled his hair and stood. “Remember that the next time you think about taking something that isn’t yours, big guy.”
“Lucy?”
Hearing Harris calling my name snapped me into action. I ran back into the bathroom as my brothers left my room. Checking myself over one last time, I made sure that my makeup was still perfect and my hair wasn’t too much of a rat’s nest. I had on black leggings with a purple mini skirt on over it and my top was a brighter shade of the same purple color, which hinted at my cleavage but wasn’t enough to send my dad into cardiac arrest if he saw me. Satisfied that I looked okay, I slipped my feet into a pair of black ballet slippers and grabbed my phone and purse.
“I’m coming,” I yelled down as I headed down the hall.