Chapter14
"I don't want you in this fucking house," hissed Alek as soon as we were alone.
Moody bitch. I pushed myself up, pulling the wires off me as I went, ignoring the pain that echoed all the way through to the far corners of my body. Without Becks next to me, there was nothing to take my mind off the battering I'd taken.
Which was all the more reason to get her back. "Fine. Give me Becks and I'll go."
"You can't have her. Daisy just got her back. They need to catch up."
I raised a brow at my brother. "I knew you were a lot of things, but I didn't know you were an idiot. If I leave, Becks is going with me. She's mine."
"She's under my protection."
This had to be some sort of game he was playing. Or a test. Was my brother fucking testing me? "Good news. I protect what's mine. That makes your job a hell of a lot easier."
"Do you even know if she wants to go with you?"
It doesn't fucking matter!I wanted to scream at him, but barely managed to hold myself back. Even so, his questioning of Becks and me was making me shake. The pain was making my self-control more tenuous than normal, and if I attacked Alek that would hurt our already precarious peace. "Did it look like she didn't want to stay with me when you found her in bed with me?" I snapped back. "She found me. She saved me. She belongs to me. There's no arguing with that."
"No arguing with what?" asked the light voice of Daisy as she entered the room, gravitating towards Alek and leaning towards his arm which he immediately wrapped around her shoulders.
Like a switch went off, his threatening stance was gone, and he was this oversized teddy bear cuddling his tiny woman.
And my tiny woman was noticeably missing. "Where is she?" I growled.
I meant to sound menacing, and it worked better than I anticipated, because Daisy squeaked and pushed further into Alek, who gave me a death glare. "Watch your fucking tone."
"Be happy I'm watching my fucking fists around you, brother." However, I did gentle my tone when it came to Daisy. For one, I liked the little woman who had wrapped my brother around her finger. But most importantly, "You're Becks' friend, so no matter what, you're safe with me," I assured her. "But she's not with you, and you're holding onto him like he's your life preserver in the middle of the Baltic sea, so I know Becks has done something reckless. Talk."
My words gave her some reassurance, because she emerged from Alek's shadow enough to meet my eyes, taking a steadying breath. "I didn't know if I should tell you. But I don't think you'd give me a choice, and I do think that when you and Alek set your mind to keeping someone safe, you get it done one way or another."
Everything in me wanted to scream at her to get to the fucking point, but I willed up every ounce of patience I possessed.
"Did she run from me?" I bit out. I thought we'd come to an understanding. She'd just been here. In my arms. Talking to me. Whispering to me.
I never should've let her fucking leave. The next time I caught her, I was going to tie her to the fucking bed. That way she'd never be able to leave me again.
I'd build an entire house as a panic room. I would seal us both in and never give her the codes. I could keep her naked and at my disposal whenever I wanted her.
At the thought, my cock went hard. I cursed the thing as I kept my focus on Daisy. I really didn't care if she or Alek noticed. Right now, the only thing I cared about was Becks. If they didn't realize that, then they could deal with whatever misconceptions they had on their own time.
"Becks is worried about Layla. I think she took one of the cars to go check on her."
Goddamn it. I was going to throttle Becks when I tracked her down. "Who the fuck is Layla?"
Daisy cocked her head. "You don't know who Layla is?" I growled, and she realized that wasn't important at the moment. "Layla is Becks' sister. A year younger. I just figured you would know because Alek knows everything about me."
"Alek is an obsessive stalker. I'm an obsessive..." I didn't know how to finish, so I didn't even try. "Why is she checking on Layla? Is she in trouble? And why wouldn't Layla live in the city with her sister?"
"Layla went through something when she was younger. Something traumatic. She lives with a woman back in Talon Rock. She does web design from home and never leaves the house. Like, ever. So, when Becks called her and Layla didn't call back, it freaked her out. It was all over her face. She said she was going to the bathroom, and she never came back. The next thing I knew, the Escalade was gone, so I came here to tell you."
"It doesn't make sense. If her sister was in danger, why wouldn't she get me?"
"I mean, don't get upset, but before she met you, she was hardly in any danger, was she?" As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she huddled in closer to Alek.
"For fuck's sake, I'm not going to hurt you. If anything, Alek should be hiding behind you."
"Anyone who leaves this house could be followed by Black Thorn. You get that, right?"
"I know. That's why I let her take my phone. So you will have tracking on her and know exactly where she is. You can catch up to her. So don't talk down to me like I'm the one who brought this shit to our doorstep, Mr. Big Bad Mafia Guy."
Maybe I shouldn't have told Daisy I wasn't going to hurt her because the girl was growing balls. "I'm trusting you with my best friend's safety, which is saying a lot, considering how you wanted me dead just days ago. But know that I'm with Alek now, and I have him behind me a hundred percent. If you make an enemy of me, you're making an enemy of him, too.”
I met my brother’s eyes, and he gave a slight nod to back up what Daisy was saying. The lines of loyalty were being drawn. The moment I attacked her, I marked my place away from my family.
No, the Black Thorn marked my place away from family the moment they had stolen me. When they programmed me to be their drone and break the bond between Alek and me. We might never have what we once had, but we were still brothers. We understood each other in a way no one else would.
Even now when it came to Daisy and Becks. No one would know how deep this need for Becks ran through my veins like Alek, and vice versa for him and Daisy.
And that's why he would give me everything I could possibly need to reach her and this mysterious sister of hers.