“Oh, you mean like just taking me without consent. Out of the blue. Imagine.” I glower at him, making sure he knows I’m talking about what they’re doing right now.
Hunter chuckles and kisses my throat. “So sharp and prickly.”
“Little viper,” Lief says, drawing my eyes. “Stefan will destroy your reputation and peace. And … If any of Mr. Volkov’s enemies find out that you are important to Hunter and Chase, you will be in immediate danger.”
“Let us take care of this,” Chase says, reaching back to me. “It won’t take long.”
“Long meaning twenty-four hours?”
“A month tops.” Hunter shrugs.
“That’s the rest of the semester!” I squeal. “You can’t just drag me out of school without people noticing! I have a job! I have friends!”
“You will still be able to do school. I looked into the policies,” Lief murmurs.
“And your office is very flexible with visit types,” Hunter reminds me. “You’ll be able to do it online since we have a VPN set up, through Chase. And my brother isverygood at what he does.”
I blink at him. They’ve really thought about this.
“You’re too important to lose, sweetheart. We’ve all lost someone, one way or another, don’t ask us to risk you,” Hunter says.
God, it goes right to my heart. I sniff and lean against Hunter. It’s just too much.
He wraps his arms around me, pats the top of my head instead of my back and clears his throat. “Lief will get everything you need from home once we get you settled in. One of us will always be with you. You’re going to be safe with us.”
“House arrest,” I murmur.
“We’ll keep it fun,” Chase assures me. “You’ll get the best food, we’ll spoil you. You can swim, work out, and you’ll have your own office. You can do whatever you want.”
“Except go out alone,” I whimper. “I’m basically a prisoner.”
None of them say anything to that. Not a damn word.
Probably because I’m riding a fine line. I know that. I’m not exactly a prisoner, but it’s damn close. Huffing, I wipe at my eyes.
They show me into the ‘house’ which is really a glorious modern home, bordering on mansion. They don’t know the meaning of the word ‘subtle’.
The entire back of the house is made of windows, overlooking an infinity pool that reaches the edge of the cliff we’re somehow on. High fences surround it, leaving no doubt that I’m caged.
There’s a gym in the basement, as I’m told; two offices, there are four bedrooms, a study with plenty of books, there’s an in-home theater and a safe-room on top of everything. I just sit down on the couch, in front of thefireplaceand stare at the spotless white walls, the pale gray wood floor, and the black and white furniture.
Lief kisses my cheek and heads out. Chase says something to Hunter before going upstairs. Hunter sits on the coffee table in front of me, his legs spread, even though his foot bounces. He’s agitated, even if he won’t admit it. And heneveradmits it.
We need to work on his comfort with sharing emotions.
But Hunter guides my chin up and kisses my forehead. “I sounded too much like my father earlier. Would you like to talk about it?”
“Comfort matters,” I hiss. “Being happy and comfortable is just as important as safety, especially when you’re going to extremes. Do you think I’d let Stefan woo me? Take me?”
“I do think he would have put you on tabloids, that he would have found you and approached you, that you would lose your temper and lash out and then you’d be on a list you shouldn’t be on.” Hunter’s hands are so soft, but I notice they’re calloused too.
He swallows and I finally see a trace of fear in his eyes. “Valerie, you are important to me, to us. Losing you … coming close to a repeat of last time is just too much. It scares me.”
“Nothing scares you,” I argue. “You’ve said that.”
“I also said I’d ruin you. Do you feel ruined yet?”
No. My life is chaos right now, that’s true, but I have a high tolerance for ‘ruin’. But the way these men are getting under my skin, the way they’re affecting my heart and soul, how important they’re becoming through the little things and the big … yeah. That’ll ruin me.