“Seeing it is sometimes different,” Yates stated. When his phone rang, he grunted and immediately picked up, his first words ‘I know’ making me realize it was his father. I winced at that, hating that this was becoming such a massive issue.
Dermot chuckled, drawing mine and Stratton’s attention.
I frowned. “What?”
“I think you freaked King out a bit, baby girl.”
“Huh? Why?”
Stratton pressed his nose to my hair, seemingly just enjoying wrapping me up in his arms. He had always been a bit quieter than the others, and maybe a bit broody, but Stratton was a sweetheart at the center of it all. Maybe a sweetheart with tattoos and piercings, but still extremely emotionally open once you broke past that hard outer shell. That thought had me smoothing a hand over his, Dermot’s eyes tracking it again as that small bit of what I was pretty sure was envy flashed through his eyes. He had no reason to be envious, though. I very much wanted to touch Dermot, I just wasn’t positive where the line lay between the two of us since we hadn’t known one another as long.
“You didn’t freak out,” he explained.
“I mean, they were covered in blood the other night and I was fine. I just don’t understand whythisis what concerns them, especially after what King just told me.”
I just had to keep reminding myself to not tell them that their violent sides turned me on. That was weird, right? Acceptance was one thing, but being turned on by it would probably make them worry about me…
But come on! They beat up Greg because of how he acted towards me. Was I the only one that found that attractive?
Possibly. That’s fair.
Stratton froze behind me, then he tilted my head up, holding my jaw in a firm grasp. I wasn’t positive what it was about the position or him manhandling me a bit, but I felt my body melt into him, allowing him to position me how he wanted. His bright blue eyes darkened as he seemed to momentarily forget what he’d been about to say.
“King told you everything?” His words were rough and a bit raspy.
“About the Ross family? Yes.”
Stratton nodded and then let go of my chin gently, my gaze moving over to Dermot, who was looking at me curiously. So I asked a question I was sincerely wondering about.
“So, do you have a secret room also?”
Dermot flashed a smile that was all mirth and darkness. “Not here, but yes. Why? Interested in seeing it, Dahlia?”
I mean, if it yielded the same result as when I saw King’s… yes.
When an email ping sounded, Yates ended his phone call, the device sliding onto the table as he opened the message. Almost immediately, a bit of dread seeped in, realizing all too soon what it was that he was looking at. Mostly because there was only one thing that could put that look on Yates’s face, one similar to the one I’d seen the night with Ian, violence written across his expression.
He was watching the video from the club with Abby.