I stood there in shocked silence as the three of them stumbled into the kitchen, seemingly trying to wrap each other in a headlock and failing. When they noticed they were being watched, they straightened up immediately and transformed into the sexy, mature men the women around me imagined them to be.
Ian nodded to the other women around me as he walked over to me and kissed me on the cheek. “Sorry we’re late. You okay?”
I nodded and found myself pulled away from him and into Jayden’s arms. I grunted and grew a little dizzy when I was taken into Adam’s arms and kissed on the forehead. Passed around between the three of them with every eye in the kitchen zoomed in on me wasn’t exactly a relaxing experience. I worried about what everyone was thinking until freaking Maggie Haynes broke the awkwardness.
“Adam! Hi!”
28.
***Adam***
IcouldseeVioletfrom across the room, locked in a conversation with an older man and his wife. I’d made sure to position myself throughout the night so I was able to see her and the red dress she was wearing. I was counting the minutes until I could get her home and tear it off her. It was driving me insane to think about the other men at the party seeing her curves on display.
“Did you hear me, Adam?”
I blinked and looked down at Maggie Haynes. She was one of the teachers who came for the tour with her class a few times a year. Nice lady, but she was a talker. I cleared my throat and then drained my glass of punch. “I’m sorry. I missed it.”
She rested her hand on my arm and grinned. “It’s okay! I was just asking what kind of music you normally listen to.”
Small talk. I looked around for an out, but Ian was being fawned over by a group of women who seemed to justlovetrue crime, and Jayden was knee deep in dads asking about their projects. I cleared my throat again and shifted slightly away, so her hand dropped from my arm. “Um. Anything, I guess. Lately, it’s just whatever Violet has playing.”
Speaking of, I caught one of the dads standing with Jayden running his eyes all over Violet’s ass. Just when I thought my head would explode, Jayden shifted and grabbed the man’s shoulder. It looked friendly, but I could see the man wince. Good. The fucker needed to keep his eyeballs to himself.
“Do you ever give tours to individuals?”
I frowned and shrugged. “I guess. As the ranger, I do whatever I need to. If someone needed a tour, or to be shown to their campground, that would be my job.”
“So, if I came up one weekend, you could give me a tour?” She smiled sweetly at me and looked hopeful as she waited on my answer.
I glanced over at Violet and saw that she’d sat down on a piano bench and was by herself. The look on her face when she met my eye made my stomach clench. “Uh, as a ranger, it would be my job to show you around. I haven’t been working weekends, though. I’m sorry, Ms. Haynes. If you’ll excuse me, I need to check on someone.”
When I looked back at the piano bench, it was empty. I searched the packed house and then swore to myself when I looked out the front window and caught a shiny red shadow slipping into the darkness of Violet’s house across the street. Without a second thought, I got Ian and Jayden’s attention and nodded towards the front door. I saw the moment they couldn’t find Violet where they’d last seen her.
Ian pulled open the door and closed it behind us as we slipped out into the night. “You saw her leave?”
“Saw her slipping into her house. Did something happen?” I ran my eyes over her windows and frowned. They were all still dark. Why was she just hanging out in the dark?
“Not that I know of. Besides us being late.” Jayden reached the door first and tried to open the door. “Locked. What the fuck?”
Ian grunted and pulled a set of keys out of his pocket. “No one fucking judge me. I made contingency plans, in case she tried to run away again.”
I smiled into my hands as I watched him open the front door and push it open. “Get me a set of those?”
Jayden grunted. “Same, detective man.”
I flipped on the light switch and felt my stomach flip when I saw Violet curled into the arm of the couch, her face buried in one of her frilly pillows. “Vi? What’s wrong?”
Jayden sank into the couch beside her and stroked her bare thigh. “Did something happen?”
Sinking to his knees in front of her, Ian gripped her face and forced her to look at us. Her eyes were red from crying and her mouth was set in a firm line of disgust. Ian brushed a curl out of her face and growled. “Talk now. Did someone do something to you?”
She laughed bitterly and pushed Ian’s hand away so she could throw herself back over the arm of the couch in a majestically dramatic fashion. “I’m mad at myself right now. Leave me be. I need time to suffer and sulk in private. Go back to the party. Everyone loves you guys there.”
Jayden frowned. “What are you talking about, Angel?”
She growled loudly and banged her hands on the side of her couch. “I’m not an angel! I’m a jealous freak!”
Ian reached over and gripped her hands, easily ending her tantrum. When she struggled against him, he leaned into her space, filling her vision. “Stop it before you hurt yourself. Tell us what happened.”