I release my hold on King and turn to face Carver directly. I bite the inside of my cheek, feeling the awkwardness between us and desperately wishing that I could take it all away, but at the end of the day, he did it because he loves me and I’m the one who has the issue. I’m the one who’s hurt when I should be thanking him for taking the burden on his own shoulders instead of sitting back and letting me get played.
I step into him and let him curl his arms around me, and the second he pulls me into his chest, the floodgates open. “I’m sorry,” I cry, hating how weak and vulnerable I feel, but know that if at any time in my life that I have to be vulnerable, I’m glad that it’s with them and not someone who would take advantage of me.
Carver’s hand roams up and down my back as Grayson’s low voice sounds through the big room. “Are we cool?”
I nod against Carver’s chest, feeling like I’m snotting all over his suit. “I really want to hate you all, but I can’t.”
“Need some time?” Carver murmurs, knowing me better than I know myself.
I nod again and focus on breathing in and out, desperately trying to calm myself. “Time would be great,” I grumble. “But so would ditching the party and getting drunk on the beach.”
Cruz laughs, grabbing my arm and yanking me out of Carver’s. “There’s my girl,” he booms, pulling me in hard against his chest and crushing me under the strength of his impressive arm. “I thought we lost you for a second.”
“You’ll have to try harder than that.”
Cruz passes me off to Grayson who wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me into his side. “Give me ten,” Cruz says with a wicked grin stretching across his too handsome face. “I’ve got to break the news to Mom that I’m bailing. She’ll cry on my shoulder for a bit, then kick me out for making her cry in the first place.”
“Shit,” I say, biting down on my bottom lip, slightly horrified by how okay he is with that. “Then maybe we should stay. I don’t want to upset her.”
“Don’t even think about it,” he hollers through the room, making his way to the door. “Mom will understand.”
Just as Cruz’s fingers curl around the door handle, five phones begin screeching to life. “The fuck is that?” I mutter, feeling my thighs and remembering that Cruz has my phone.
The boys yank their phones out of their suit pockets faster than lightning. Cruz races back over and as he does, I’m forced to look over Grayson’s thick arm to see his phone.
I suck in a gasp, my heart racing all over again as King’s voice cuts through the noise of the five notifications hitting our phones at exactly the same time. “It’s the new security system,” King rushes out, speaking mainly to himself because we can all see exactly what he’s seeing. “What the fuck is going on?”
The boys press buttons, trying to get into the system to bring up the camera feed. “It’s probably just a squirrel or something like that,” Cruz murmurs, waiting impatiently as the feed loads while trying to keep me calm. “Something would have tripped it. It’ll be fine.”
Grayson looks up at Carver. “You set it, right?”
“Fuck off, man. Of course I fucking—”
His words cut off as the feeds load onto everyone’s phones to show us at least fifteen masked men breaking in through my gates and surrounding my home with big guns and weapons. Men are scattered all over the property, some climbing over fences and some getting up onto the second-floor roof.
“No, no, no, no, no,” I breathe, clutching onto Grayson’s arm with fear pounding through my chest.
My mouth goes dry, watching as each of them crouch down, trying to keep themselves hidden while clearly unaware of the new security system the boys had installed. Grayson zooms in, taking in the gear and noticing how they’re all connected and able to speak to one another. “S.W.A.T. raid?” he questions.
Carver shakes his head. “No. The uniform is all wrong. This is another attack.”
Then all at once, someone gives an order and the masked men make their move.
Windows are broken while doors are kicked in. Gas bottles are thrown in, and not a second later, the men rush into my home, their guns prepared to take out any threat.
“Fuck,” Carver says, latching onto my arm and tugging me toward the door with the guys instantly following behind. “It won’t take them long to realize we’re not there. We have to get you out of here.”
“But they’ll come here,” I demand, trying to put on the brakes, but Carver’s grip is way too strong. “Your little sisters are here. Everyone’s siblings are here. We can’t risk them like that. Your families ...” I look up at Cruz. “Your mom. We can’t leave them unprotected.”