“We haven’t discussed shit!” I cried. “You made a highhanded demand, I said no, then we were interrupted before I inevitably won the argument!”
Serenity looked at West with pity. “That usually is how fights with her go. You’ll see.” She leaned forward a smidge and whispered, “She can be kind of stubborn.”
“I am not stubborn! And, no he won’t see.” I stubbornly stomped my foot like a child. How in the hell had this whole night gotten so totally and epically effed? Was this all just a crazy dream? Had I accidentally eaten a pot brownie without realizing it? Just to make sure, I pinched myself in the arm as hard as I could. “Ouch, damn it!”
“Why in the world did you do that?” Mom asked in bewilderment.
“I thought maybe this was all a nightmare. But nope. It’s just my life.”
“You’ll come home with us,” my father announced seriously, using that tone that left no room for argument. However, having not spent most of his lifetime under Joe Ryan’s roof, West must not have read my father’s tone, because he argued. “No offense sir”—I groaned internally. Starting a conversation with ‘no offense’ meant you were most definitely about to say something seriously offensive—“but given what happened to Stella tonight, and your involvement that started these dominos falling, I’m not sure your home is the safest place for her right now.”
When my father’s face fell, I wanted to throttle the living hell out of West. “If I could physically punch you right now, I totally would,” I hissed. “Right in the freaking throat.”
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Spencer seethed, blowing up and taking two big steps closer to West. My brother could be a hothead more times than not, which played a large part in why he beat up all my and Serenity’s exes when we were teenagers, but for the first time ever, I was actually worried he’d stepped up to the wrong person.
Spence was no slouch, that was for damn sure. He was built just like our dad, minus the soft middle part, but something told me West would thrash him. He might not get as much enjoyment out of it as he had when he knocked Jason on his ass, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t do it. However, while my brother’s face was growing redder and redder with anger, West was the picture of calm and cool. He didn’t seem fazed by my brother’s threatening demeanor in the slightest. He looked like he was happy to stand there, refusing to take the bait, until Spencer wore himself out.
“Spence, just stop, okay?”
“No, I damn well won’t stop,” he threw back at me. “This asshole thinks he can talk shit to Dad? Hell no.”
“He wasn’t talking shit, son,” my father stated firmly. “He’s speaking the truth. What happened to your sister tonight is all my fault.”
Oh hell. I was going to cry. I did not want to cry. “Daddy, please don’t—”
He lifted his hand to stop me before placing it on my shoulder and gently pulling me into his large frame for a tender hug. It wasn’t as good as the bear hugs he usually gave me, but that was only because he was being careful with me, and I appreciated that. As much as I loved them, my ribs couldn’t have handled a Joe Ryan bear hug just then.
“No one’s said it, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t all thinking it. I got us into this mess. The four of you trying to spare my feelings doesn’t take away the truth in that.”
I curled my lips between my teeth, ignoring the pain when it reopened the cut there.
Dad turned his focus to West, and sure enough, the man’s earlier statement that my father needed to feel this as a reminder to never let it happen again was spot on. Dad was actually looking at the stranger with appreciation in his gaze, almost as if the fact we’d been walking around on eggshells for the past several months to keep from upsetting him had been a weight on his shoulders that had now been lifted. “Thank you for saying what no one else in my family has been willing to say. But I promise you, I’ll keep Stella safe.”
Why in the hell was my dad making that kind of declaration to a man he didn’t know like West held some sort of sway.
“If the concussion’s your concern, I’m prepared to camp out on her floor so I can check on her throughout the night to make sure everything’s good.” And now he was reassuring him? What the hell was going on?
“Dad, you don’t have to—”
West cut me off. “I’m sure you’d gladly do that, sir. But there’s still the fact that these men know where she lives. If he’d wanted to get in here the first time—”
“First time?” my mom yelped, her cheeks losing their natural rosiness as her eyes widened to the size of saucers.
“Um.” Serenity held up her hand like she was in the middle of a classroom. “I only told them about tonight. I didn’t mention what happened a few weeks ago.”
“A few weeks ago?” my father boomed, his loud timbre threatening to rattle the walls until the sheetrock crumbled.
“It’s not a big—”
“The man who assaulted Stella tonight was here waiting for her a few weeks ago with a threat for you. Tonight he acted on that threat. I’m guessing since it could have been much, much worse, this was just a warning.”
I whipped around on West, my concussed head crying out at the movement. “You are such a tattletale!”
Mom turned on Serenity, her hands on her hips and that stern mother look on her face. “And you knew about this, young lady? And you didn’t say anything?”
Serenity jabbed her finger in my direction. “She made me promise not to tell!”
Throwing my head back again, I told that higher power that clearly hadn’t been listening the first time, “Oh my God, I need this night to end!”
“Don’t worry, sir,” West continued, pretending I wasn’t currently tucked under my dad’s arm, having a mental breakdown. “I can keep her safe, you have my word.”
“Yeah,” I grumbled sullenly, then used finger quotes. “Because he’s got skills.”
Spence arched an indignant brow. “You’re a cop?” Then he turned to me, full of self-righteousness. “You’re hooking up with a cop?”
“I’m not hooking up with him,” I shouted.
“I’m not a cop,” West replied calmly.
“Then what the hell are you, a super-secret spy or something?” Spencer’s lips curled up in a smirk. “You the next Jason Bourne?”
“I work at Alpha Omega.”
The grin fell from my brother’s face, replaced by wonder, “Oh shit, you are the next Jason Bourne. Wait. Are you the one who messed that Valentine fucker up?”
At the quizzical look West cast me, I answered, “The ex.”
“We pulled up, and he was climbing in his car, face all bloody and busted to hell. Please tell me you did that.”
“I did that.”
My big brother’s tune changed in an instant. His smile turned genuine, and he moved in West’s direction, lifting his hand for a shake. “Glad someone finally laid that son of a bitch out. Stella made us swear not to put a finger on him—”
“Because I didn’t want any of you to be arrested,” I insisted indignantly. “And also, what the hell is happening right now? I feel like you guys know something I don’t.”