Always You (Adair Family 3)

Thane and Mac.

My attention moved to Mac as he jumped out of his vehicle, his face dark with thunderous rage.

And while there was still anger inside me when I looked at him, it wasn’t as volcanic. In fact, it had been diluted with utter sadness because I was pretty sure I could never forgive myself for putting us in that situation, and I’d never forgive him for his reaction to it.

Looking away, I turned to Thane as my big brother pulled me into his embrace. “Are you okay?” he asked gruffly.

I nodded, giving him a reassuring squeeze. God, our family needed a break from all this crap. When would it stop?

Mac’s eyes bored through me as he gathered with us to watch the police load my Defender onto a recovery truck. “When do you think I’ll get it back? They just said ‘as soon as possible.’”

“I’ll see if I can get a bit more information,” Thane said, already moving away. “I want to talk to the police, anyway.”

Mac hurried to follow him.

A few minutes later, the police got in their car and followed the recovery vehicle out of the car park while my brother and Mac returned to us.

“Well?”

“They said they’d contact you, right?” Thane asked.

“Yes, but I was hoping they might give a specific day.” How the hell was I going to cope without a car? I needed a vehicle to get to work.

Thane shook his head. “They said as soon as possible, and I believe them. For now, let’s get away from here. I can get everyone in my car. We’ll head back to mine to discuss.”

“I’m actually kind of tired.” Ery gave me an apologetic smile. “I can stay if you need me, but I thought maybe Mac could drop me off since I’m in the opposite direction from you all.”

I was surprised, but not upset. Whatever had gone on in Ery’s past, I had a feeling all this brought it back up for her. I didn’t want her to be alone to deal with it, though. “Do you need company?”

She shook her head. “I think I’m going to take a nap. Call me if you need me, though.”

“I will.” I hugged her and whispered, “I’m sorry about all this.”

“Hey, not your fault.” She stepped back, her next words directed at Mac. “Do you mind?”

Mac flicked me a look but said, “Of course not.”

Arran and I piled into Thane’s SUV, and the first words out of Arran’s mouth were, “That’s it, you’re moving back in with us.”

“Us?” I asked, my hackles rising at his bossy tone.

“Thane’s.”

“No way. Thane already has you. He’s not putting up with me indefinitely.”

“I’m right here,” Thane cut in as we pulled out onto the road. “And Arran’s right. You can’t stay on your own while we’re in the dark here.”

“No.”

“Then move onto the estate,” Arran pushed. “It’s guarded.”

“That helped Greg McHugh, didn’t it?” I flinched at my bitter sarcasm. “I’m perfectly safe at my home with my very expensive security system.”

“You don’t have a car right now,” Thane reminded me. “Come stay with us for a bit, and you can borrow mine. We’ll make do with one for now.”

“No,” I repeated stubbornly. “I’ll borrow a car from Lachlan’s fleet. But I’m not changing my life because of this moron who’s just trying to scare me. Me. No. Take me back to my house. Arran’s left a borrowed Range Rover there, anyway, that he needs to collect.”

“Oh, shit, yeah, I forgot about that,” he muttered.