“This is bullshit!” I yelled suddenly, struggling out of Ian’s arms to stand and pace the room.
“Ace...” he started, standing to approach me.
I threw up my hands pushing him away to continue my pacing. “Seriously, what the fuck, Ian? This cannot happen all over again. I won’t let it! That piece of shit is not going to ruin your visit, and he certainly isn’t getting to me anymore. I am happy. Happy!” I glared at him, my expression contradicting my words, but I didn’t care, I kept ranting. “The prick is in some jail in New York, eating filthy prison food, getting infections from homemade tattoo guns and most likely taking regular ass rapings from a man named ‘Big Earl.’ I am here, running a successful business, living in a beautiful town surrounded by friends. I have a sexy as shit man who cares about me and a brother who has my back no matter what,” I declared fiercely.
Ian directed a sad smile at me. “Gwenevere…” he said quietly using my full name.
I held up my hand. “I’m not finished,” I snapped before stomping up to him, clutching his shoulders to make him listen. “Don’t you see? I will not have you directing those looks full of pity at me anymore, and I sure as shit don’t want you to have to handle me like I’ll break at any moment. You don’t need to. I’m okay, it’s taken a while and it’s taken that crazy fuck’s phone call to make me fully realize it, but I’m okay.” I smiled into my brother’s eyes, hoping he got me.
I sensed movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to see Cade, face unreadable, leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed watching me. I moved my gaze and it landed, surprisingly, on Luke, who was in his uniform, looking openly concerned but with a hint of a smile. How did he get here so fast?
“How long have you guys been standing there?” I wanted to know how embarrassed I should be.
Luke’s face broke out into an all-out smirk. “Big Earl?” Amusement danced in his eyes.
A lot embarrassed as it turned out.
I shrugged. “Hey, I don’t know too many prison nicknames, my knowledge goes as far as Shawshank ,” I joked, trying to keep the jovial mood.
Luke’s face softened and he entered the room, engulfing me in his arms.
“I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” he whispered in my ear.
I opened my mouth to reply when Luke was suddenly standing a good distance away and Cade stood in front of him, anger palpable.
“Hands off, Crawford,” he ground out, barely controlling a growl. “You are here in a professional context only, keep your fucking distance.”
Luke glared back at Cade and I rolled my eyes, which Ian caught, giving me an amused expression.
“Not another macho man stare off, please! I can hardly breathe with the amount testosterone in here. Cade, do not talk to Luke like that, he is my friend,” I scolded Cade and he turned to me, death stare directed in my direction now. Whatever. I ignored this and sent a soft glance in Luke’s direction.
“Please, Luke, sit down. Thank you for coming, can I get you anything?” My mother taught me there was never an excuse for bad manners, even if my crazy ex-boyfriend had just called me from prison, threatening to rape me.
Luke, instead of sitting, turned to my brother and held out his hand. “You must be Ian, it’s great to finally meet you. Gwen’s been looking forward to your visit. Sorry it had to start out like this.”
Ian looked surprised but took Luke’s hand giving it a firm shake. Cade also looked surprised, and pissed. He obviously figured out me and Luke had been talking.
“Nice to meet you too, glad to see Gwen has a friend on the right side of the law,” Ian said, directing a pointed look at Cade.
I scowled at him, obviously my brother was still not happy with my boyfriend. Great.
Cade grabbed my hand and sat me down on the couch. He didn’t join me, just stood beside the arm of the chair, hand lightly on the back of my neck.
“Now the pleasantries are over, can we please cut to how the fuck this bastard got Gwen’s number, or how the fuck he got a phone in the first place?” Cade barked in Luke’s direction.
Luke looked from Cade to me, obviously deciding not to engage in any hostilities. He sighed and sat across from me, scrolling through his phone. My brother stayed standing, eyes on me, or more specifically, Cade’s hand on me. I poked my tongue out at him. He needed to lighten up on the whole protective brother thing.
“Okay, so I just got off the phone with New York lockup. According to the Warden, O’Fallan paid one of the guards to smuggle him in a cellphone, which he had one of his men program your number into.” Luke tried to sound detached and all business, but his jaw was hard.
How did they do this so quickly?
“How did they even get my number?” I asked. I Decided to ignore the super-efficient and scarily quick response from Amber PD. “My cellphone number isn’t anywhere. I made sure only a few people had it, specifically to avoid something like this happening.”
Luke ran a hand through his hair, looking frustrated. “I don’t know, Gwen, that’s all the info I could get for now. Either one of these guys is a master hack or someone has given up your number.” He said the last part gently, but that still didn’t mask his true meaning.
My stomach dropped as three pairs of male eyes focused on me.
“That’s not possible, only the people I love have my phone number and they sure as shit wouldn’t give me up,” I told them all firmly.
“You sure about that, sis?” my brother asked quietly.
I glared at him. “Well, no, Ian, I guess Ryan could have given me up. You know the guy who slept beside me for two weeks after I got out of hospital so I wouldn’t be alone? Or maybe Alex, who followed me around the whole of New York whenever I went out, so I would feel safe? Or fuck, maybe Amy, my best friend who uprooted her whole life to move out here with me?” I paused, breathing heavily, about to list all of my new friends who I trusted just about as much, but a firm squeeze on the back of my neck stopped me.
I glanced up to Cade, his expression was still unreadable.
“Give your brother a break, baby. We just need to explore every option. Don’t worry, we’ll sort this, you’ll never be getting a phone call like that again.”
His voice was firm, sure. I trusted him. I trusted all the men in this room. Ian looked slightly taken aback at Cade backing him up and I fought a smile.
Luke cleared his throat, standing. “Okay, Gwen, I better be going, just wanted to come and fill you in face to face, make sure you were okay.” He slipped his phone away.
I stood, feeling Cade’s arms at my waist. “Don’t you need a statement from me or something?” I asked Luke, surprised.
He locked eyes with Cade for a split second before his gaze came back to me.
“No sweetheart, we can see the phone records as proof of the call and we have Cade’s statement. I’ll call you when we have something new.” He gave me a smile, shook my brother’s hand yet again and nodded stiffly to Cade. The room was silent for a moment after he left.
“So, Ian, what’s new with you?” I asked with only a hint of sarcasm.
I laid a plate of food in front of my brother, along with a beer.