Warm, gentle fingers brush over the knots and bruises I feel forming along my jaw and under my right eye. I flinch but ease when he leans forward and kisses them.
Brogan takes my hand and Ryder settles into the driver seat and pulls us out into the empty street.
Atlas settles me on his lap and his arms cocoon me in his warmth. I can feel his fear of what happened boiling just beneath the surface.
Over the next fifteen minutes I fill them in on my chaotic life over the last few weeks. My foray into dating, the nasty stalker, and my promotion.
The longer I talk the quieter they become. Atlas’ hands crunch the remains of my dress between his fingers and if Brogan’s expression is anything to go by, I’d say my SEALs are jealous of the fact I tried to move on.
City lights fade and before long, we wind along a backroad with sparsely-placed lamps.
“Where are we going?”
“To the mountains. We had a deal.”
I try to sit up, but Atlas and my ribs have other ideas. I cringe and make my stand while resting my head on his shoulder. “You’re shitting me, right? You still want to go to some cabin?”
“We have our reasons. We’ll discuss those later. We’ll also talk about you running off and not mentioning you had someone gunning for you later. And you forgot something back at the club.”
Atlas produces the slip of paper I left with his cufflinks.
It has my safe word scrawled over cream-colored stationary:
Butterfly
XOXO Kandy
“It doesn’t count unless you speak the words.”
Can’t blame a girl for trying.
“For now, sleep, butterfly. You’re safe.”
Atlas turns to Brogan and Ryder. “When we get there, get on the phone with Seth and Jacob. We’re gonna need their help and all the information they have.”
“And a body bag,” Ryder adds darkly.