Adam
Iwasn’t one to get angry quickly.It took a lot to get a rise out of me. But as I circled Adelaide’s block, I got fired up. This wasn’t a neighborhood for a young, single woman. And her building was completely unsafe. There were buzzers, sure, but I stood and watched several people go in after residents came out. They just held the damn door open for them. Strangers. Anyone could be wandering around her building.
This wasn’t gonna stand. If she insisted on living in that hovel, it was going to be the safest hovel to ever exist.
I took a car to Iris and Ronan’s apartment. She’d just gotten back from the tour I’d abandoned and was probably still pissed at me for that, but it wasn’t her I needed to see.
Ronan opened the door for me, ushering me inside. “How’s it going?” I asked.
“It’s grand. My love is back home where she belongs. I couldn’t ask for anything more,” Ronan replied. “It seems things are less grand for you, though.”
As we walked by the kitchen, Iris poked her head out and flipped me off. “We’re not speaking right now,” she reminded me.
“Ahhh, you love me.” I leaned a shoulder on the kitchen doorway. Iris had bed head and bare feet. She was pouring coffee into a bucket disguised as an oversized mug. “I saw Adelaide.”
I’d told her about my unwelcome homecoming right after it’d happened. Then I’d kind of slipped into a black hole of a fucking pity party, drinking and pulling my hair out, culminating in last night’s debacle. I’d probably be banned from the club. It was just as well since my dick was pretty much broken.
“Did she punch you? Kick your dick?” Iris cocked her head. “You don’t look much worse for wear.”
“No violence, although I don’t doubt she wanted to.”
“Any answers? Why did she move?” Iris had asked her sister on my behalf, and probably her own nosy behalf, but June’s lips had been sealed. All she told Iris was it was between me and Adelaide. The thing was, I didn’t knowwhatwas between me and Adelaide, and my brain was on the verge of exploding trying to figure it out.
I scrubbed my face hard with both hands and groaned. “That’s why I’m here. I need your man.”
Ronan was at their dining table typing on his laptop. He lifted his head, shooting me a questioning look. “Aye?”
Besides being a bodyguard, Ronan was partial owner of a security firm. They installed high-tech security systems for the famous and elite and employed a fleet of refrigerator-sized men as bodyguards.
“Yeah. The girl lives in an unsecured building with two flimsy locks on her door. I don’t know, I think she broke off from her dad or something.” I groaned again and flicked my eyes back to Iris. “Saul is a whole other story I gotta tell you about.”
“Oh shit. Are we in trouble?” She carried her bucket mug to the dining table and braced a knee on the chair beside Ronan. He wrapped his arm around her hips and leaned his head into her side.
“I don’t know. Maybe. A lot happened this morning, but my main priority is Adelaide. She needs security. Cameras, better locks, a bodyguard. I’m not letting her live there unprotected.”
Ronan studied me from over his computer. “And she has agreed to this?”
Iris snorted. “I doubt it. She’d rather punch his junk than take anything from him.”
“You should see where she’s living. It’s not safe, Ronan. I’m gonna end up camping outside her door unless I know she’s secure inside.”
Even then, I was considering taking up residence in her hallway. I didn’t like her being so far from me. It was unnatural.
Iris sipped her coffee. “Let him hire a bodyguard, babe. I don’t need Matt this week since I’m not leaving this apartment.”
He rumbled at her. “Not without me, you aren’t.” His attention turned back to me. “I can put Matt on her. He’ll watch her from a distance and create a safety report. As far as security and locks…if it were me and my woman was being difficult as she is wont to do, I’d go above her head to the landlord.”
Iris slapped his arm. “I’m never difficult.”
Ronan gave her a gentle smile. “You’re a brat.”
“True, but only because you like it.”
I cleared my throat. “I’m still here.”
Iris put her mug down to circle her arm around Ronan’s neck. “Why is that?”
That made me laugh. Jesus, I wasn’t wanted anywhere today. Good thing I didn’t take Iris’s rejection as personally as I took Adelaide’s.