21. Love Shack
Chapter 21
Love Shack
COLE
“ R epeat that.”
Sitting in a conference room at Nebula with Maximo, Ash, and Marco, we’d just wrapped a meeting with the management and event coordinators to ensure everything was in place for the upcoming holiday chaos. That year would be worse since it was followed by the insanity of hosting one of the championship football teams.
Which, if the oddsmaker’s prediction was right, would be the Founders from DC.
We’d been about to head to Moonlight for a similar meeting—minus the football—when the call from Freddy had come in. I knew something was up since he usually texted.
I put the phone on speaker so Marco could hear when Freddy said, “Callie was discharged?—”
“Where are you headed?” he cut in.
“And not with me,” Freddy finished.
“She left on her own? Pierce said she’d need a ride and to stay with someone.”
“Oh, she had a ride.”
“Who?”
“Alex.” The name was practically spit. “My garde manger.”
A surge of jealousy mixed with my concern to burn in my gut. I could hear the same anger in Freddy’s voice, like he wanted to fire the bastard. Since the guy had been the one to find and help Callie, he’d banked some goodwill.
If they were seeing each other, it wouldn’t be for long. He was a roadblock and nothing more.
That didn’t lessen my possessive rage at just the idea of him with her. Taking care of her. Touching her.
Logically, I should’ve felt possessive rage when I’d seen her in Marco’s arms. When I’d watched Freddy’s hand on her with something more than platonic support. I shouldn’t have been willing to leave her alone with either of them. And every dinnertime we’d spent together should’ve ended with my mouth filled with blood from biting my tongue to stop myself from threatening to ruin their lives if they didn’t get the fuck away. At the very least, it should’ve taken effort to keep my jealousy in check while we’d focused on her.
It wasn’t like that, though. Seeing them with her wasn’t a bad feeling.
Confusing as hell, but far from bad.
“That’s not all,” Freddy continued. “She has a male roommate.”
“That part might not be true.” Ash chuckled. “Mila tried the same lie to get under my skin.” His smile died, and his jaw clenched with jealousy like he hadn’t recently married her. “It worked, too.”
It was probably so they’d discharge her.
Unless she’s planning on having Alex stay.
Or staying with him.
I opened my laptop and switched from my notes to the program that tracked her phone. It was off, and the last tower it pinged off was just a couple of miles from the hospital. That didn’t narrow anything down.
“What I wanna know,” Marco said, “is how a barely over five-foot woman got past you.”
I didn’t blame Freddy there. If the stubborn brat didn’t want to go with him, there was no way to force it. Not unless we wanted security or the cops called.
Or that dickhead FBI agent.
The smart thing to do was let her leave.
Then follow to get her without the witnesses around.
That wasn’t what he said, though.
“Rice pudding,” Freddy bit out.
“You left because you wanted dessert?” I asked.
With a frustrated groan, he shared the wild goose chase she’d sent him on to the cafeteria while she made her escape. “I don’t even know when she arranged this.”
I clicked a few buttons to get to her activity. “She spent most of the morning playing some game. In between, she looked up the actors in that gory medical show she’s been watching. Also, she bizarrely researched king cake.”
“There a chat function in the game?” Maximo asked. “That’s a good way to do shit without being tracked.”
I opened my mouth to point out that Callie didn’t know she was being tracked, so she’d have no reason to avoid it, and she wasn’t that sneaky. Then I closed it.
Because clearly she was that sneaky, or we wouldn’t be trying to find her.
I loaded the app page and shook my head. “No. It’s a solo brain rot, time-waster game.”
Which was good because that would’ve opened a can of worms we would’ve had to step back and check into—without cutting her off that time.
I checked her call log next. There was an outgoing one early that morning.
While I’d been there.
“The telemarketer.” I ran my palm down my face. “I’d overheard her on the phone in the bathroom that morning. She’d said it was a telemarketer, and I hadn’t questioned it since it’d been a quick call. That must’ve been when she’d arranged her great escape.”
Maximo and Ash leaned back in their chairs. They both also smirked like assholes as they watched us struggle.
Interlacing his fingers behind his head, our boss asked, “How’re you gonna handle this?”
Maximo hadn’t said a word about how much work we’d missed to take turns at the hospital. He hadn’t blinked when we’d wanted to rearrange schedules to be there for dinner each night. He hadn’t even questioned why it was the three of us doing it.
The hospital had discharged her, which meant she was safe. She would be fine until we were done with our other meeting.
I wouldn’t be, though.
I wanted her close to make sure she was okay. Make sure she had meds, water, and food. Make sure she was taken care of.
And not by Alex.
By us. By me. Whichever.
I stood. “I’m going to get her and bring her to Moonlight. I’m guessing it’s going to take some convincing, so I might be late to the meeting.”
Marco was on his feet before I was done talking. “Same.”
Man of many words.
“I’ll meet you at her apartment,” Freddy said through the phone.
Maximo shook his head, which caught me by surprise. If anyone understood that kind of obsession with keeping an eye on someone—whether they knew about it or not—it was him.
But then he said, “We’ve got the meeting covered.” His gaze went between Marco, me, and the phone. “You take care of your girl.”
“You sure?” I asked. If it was any other time of year, I would’ve already been out the door. But the holidays were batshit crazy, and Maximo pulled out all the stops to make it something special.
For the guests and for us.
Ditching out on that meeting could fuck shit up since I did a lot—including working with the decorator to program the lights.
It was Ash who answered. “You covered for me after Mila was attacked and again when her mother died. I owe you.” He tapped his iPad. “I’ll take your level of neurotic notes so you know what systems need to be changed and upgraded before then.”
I lifted my chin and started for the door with Marco. I asked Freddy, “You have her address?”
“Grabbed it from her employment file.”
“Then let’s go get our girl.”
Callie
This was the right choice.
When my evening nurse had shared that I’d be discharged if everything went well overnight, I’d nearly told the men the good news. After thinking it through, I’d formed my master plan.
Distract Freddy so I could escape with Alex.
I’d felt guilty about roping him into things, but it’d been my only option. The overbearing watchdogs would never willingly take me to my apartment or to get my car. They certainly wouldn’t drop me at the curb like Alex had, leaving me to go inside alone.
And that was all I wanted.
Solitude.
I was pretty sure.
Mostly.
Except not really.
Okay, fine. I was happy to have a hot shower with decent water pressure, my own weird bed, and clothes that weren’t thin and scratchy. But I didn’t want to be home.
I wanted to be back with Marco, Cole, and Freddy.
And that was the problem.
I wasn’t only thinking about Marco’s chuckle, Freddy’s easy flirting, or Cole’s shy smiles. I didn’t want the comfortable silences with Cole, Freddy’s talkative antics, or Marco’s mix of the two.
I wanted it all.
I missed the three of them equally , not one more than the other two.
At first, I’d assumed they were only there because Mr. Black had sent them, but they wouldn’t have kept returning. They certainly wouldn’t have done so much to take care of me. Not when there was a full hospital staff to handle that.
I might’ve been inexperienced, but I wasn’t stupid. It was easy to see my feelings were reciprocated.
Times three.
And that was why I needed to be home and, more importantly, away from them. I would use the space to get my head on straight before I returned to work.
Because even if I could choose, I wouldn’t put them in that position. Not when it could affect their friendship and their working relationship.
It was one big mess that wouldn’t end well.
With a melodramatic sigh, I carefully rolled to grab my phone from the side of my bed. I touched the screen. Then touched it again.
Nothing happened.
I’d forgotten to charge it overnight, so it’d died during the car ride with Alex. I’d placed it on the charger before my shower, but I’d failed to make sure the other side of the cord was plugged in.
It was not.
Taking it as a sign that I should rest instead of endlessly scrolling, I got up to fix the outlet, and then climbed back into bed. My lids stayed open as I stared at the sheet hanging above my bed.
For the entirety of the time I’d lived there, I’d done my best to ignore what was hidden underneath it. But the longer I looked, the more my mind began to wander.
My hand followed.
First, up to my breast, staying over my shirt. It skimmed back down before sliding under the loose fabric. My fingertips were cold when they teased over my nipples, hardening the peaks and sending a tremor down my spine.
In my head, they were touching me. With their hands. Their lips. Their tongues. All while I watched everything .
My breath sped up as my hand went down my stomach to push under the stretchy waistband of my pajama pants. I was nearly touching where I ached most.
And then my heart lodged in my throat when a loud thundering seemed to shake the whole apartment. I snatched my hand out and sat up.
What the hell?
There was a much closer, sharp knock on my bedroom door. I hurried out of bed and threw open the door.
Jesse didn’t look happy. “You have guests without the agreed upon twenty-hours notice.”
Guests? Plural?
Yes!
I mean, no.
No, no, no. They wouldn’t.
Oh, who am I kidding? Of course they would.
This is bad. So bad.
I took off toward the front door, but I was too late to lessen the damage by keeping them out in the hallway. Freddy, Cole, and Marco strolled right in with the usual cocky confidence they entered every room. Like they owned the place.
And had a key.
“Uh, I can explain,” I blurted even though I very much could not .
Freddy handed me a bag that I took automatically as he said, “Cute pajamas, mon ciel étoilé .”
I looked down at the matching set that was covered in flowers.
You can take the girl out of the hippie commune…
“How’d you get in?” Jesse asked from behind me. “The door was locked.”
Marco shrugged. “Must be faulty. You should have the super replace it.”
I scoffed. The super had never and would never replace anything.
Jesse inched toward the doorway to his room. He transferred his glare from the men to me. “I told them to wait outside.”
“Yeah, they don’t listen well,” I muttered with my own glare aimed at the men, though I was secretly thrilled to see them. I was also secretly mortified that they’d interrupted a vivid fantasy of them while I was about to…
Yeah.
Cole studied me, and for a panicked second, I thought he could tell what I’d been doing. I knew that was impossible. That there was no way. But then he asked, “What were you doing, Calliope?”
My mouth went dry.
But it wasn’t my arousal he was seeing. It was my messy hair, flushed skin, and other signs of exertion.
“How’d I know you’d overdo it? Christ.” His stern tone and expression didn’t make me feel chastised. It made me feel… something else entirely. “You shouldn’t even be out of bed.”
“And you shouldn’t be here at all,” I shot back.
“Then it’s a good thing we aren’t staying.”
An odd mix of relief and crushing disappointment swirled in my stomach.
My feelings didn’t have the chance to sort themselves out before he continued. “And that includes you. Let’s get your stuff while you decide where you want to stay.”
“I already told you, I’m staying here,” I said, though doubt filled me at my own words.
Marco shook his head. “Not an option. Point us to your room. You can relax and tell us what to pack.”
“How about I tell you where to go?” I put my hands on my hips. “Maybe right back out the door. Maybe straight to?—”
“For fuck’s sake,” he interrupted, “you were already attacked once. You think we’re going to leave you here when your lock can be disengaged in under five seconds?”
Wait, does that mean it was locked, but they broke in?
My panicked gaze shot to the side, but thankfully, Jesse wasn’t still there. If I had any luck, he’d already put on his noise-canceling headphones.
But of course, that wasn’t the case.
My roommate flung himself into the doorway with a horrified expression. I was about to defend the men breaking in—and hope he didn’t decide to call the cops anyway—when he asked, “You were attacked ?”
His question wasn’t asked out of concern, and I tried to gloss over what’d happened. “It’s fine. It was nothing. I’m?—”
“It damn sure was something, little steak.” Freddy folded his tattooed arms across his chest—clearly holding a grudge at my stunt earlier. If he was going for vengeance, he couldn’t have been more effective. With one question, he blew up my whole carefully orchestrated plan. “Did you not tell your roommate you were stabbed?”
“You were stabbed ?” Jesse scanned me like he expected blood to start pouring from a wound at any moment. “You said you had appendicitis.”
“I… Uh… The…” I stammered through multiple excuses and couldn’t seem to land on one.
“Did they catch the person?” He raised his phone. “Wait, stabbed ? Do they think it was the serial killer who’s all over the news?”
“No?” I tried even when the men across from me nodded.
“And you came here ?” Jesse shook his head. “You need to go.”
“You can’t do that,” I whispered.
“No behaviors that negatively impact the rest of the household. It’s right in the lease that you signed.”
“I didn’t choose to be stabbed,” I argued.
I looked at the men, partially expecting them to back me up. And honestly, it wasn’t far off. They seemed torn between defending my honor and being pleased it was playing out in their favor.
“I know that.” Jesse’s face softened. “And I’m sorry for what you’ve been through. Honestly.” He pointed into the room he shared with Brie, though she wasn’t home. “But I have a pregnant girlfriend to protect. I won’t let anything happen to her or our baby.” He swung his arm around to gesture to the men. “It’s not like I’m sending you onto the streets. You’ve clearly got more protection than we can offer you here. You’ll be safer with them.”
I opened my mouth, then closed it again.
For one, he was right. I’d been so focused on getting home to normalcy, I hadn’t even considered the possibility that my attacker might follow me. It didn’t matter how unlikely that was.
Any risk was too much.
For another, less important factor, my short time home had already shown that I didn’t really want to be there.
That I’d missed the men.
Maybe more time with them will bring me clarity.
Or explode into a fiery disaster that burns everything to the ground.
Either way, I’ll have closure.
And that’s always gone swimmingly…
Cole smoothed the feathers I’d unintentionally ruffled. “We’ll upgrade your lock system and install a hidden security camera.”
Jesse nodded before raising his brows at me. “As I said, more protection.”
He returned to his room, smart enough not to argue at their generosity.
I needed to be smart, too.
With a frustrated sigh that I only half felt to my weary soul, I gave them the stink eye.
They were, unsurprisingly, unfazed.
They were, however, prepared.
Cole opened the front door and grabbed some duffels and totes with the price tags still on them. It was overkill.
I lifted a brow. “Presumptuous.”
“Prepared,” Freddy corrected.
“Heavy-handed.”
“Determined.”
He threw an arm around me, but it was Marco who said, “Let’s get you packed, baby girl.”
Unlike them, I was plenty fazed by that. He’d called me baby before, but never baby girl. I liked the former, but I really liked the latter.
I smothered that feeling and the accompanying smile. “Don’t call me that. And this is just temporary until I’m fully recovered and find a new place.”
“Whatever you say, ch—” Freddy started before amending, “little steak.”
“We’ll grab the essentials now and come back for the rest tomorrow,” Cole said.
I was about to tell him it was not a two-trip situation when my reality crashed over me, a tsunami ready to wash me out into the sea of embarrassment.
I dug my feet in. Unfortunately, the hallway was vinyl flooring, I was wearing socks, and Freddy still had his arm around my shoulders as he walked and dragged me along with him.
My words spilled out in a frantic rush. “Wait, hold on. I’ll handle this myself. You can wait in the car.”
“While you barricade yourself in? Nah, goddess, we’re good.”
Cole was the only one who’d never called me a nickname. It was just my continued bad luck that out of all the options, he’d go with that one.
My already high levels of stress skyrocketed, and my head swam. “Don’t call me that.”
“Why?”
“I… Just don’t. Please .”
His body language changed. The already towering man seemed to get somehow taller, and his usually soft expression turned severe.
I braced, knowing he was about to push.
Before he could, Marco cut in. “What the fuck?”
I’d been so distracted by the hated word, I’d forgotten I was supposed to be keeping them away from my bedroom.
It wasn’t dirty. Not with garbage or dust or creepy crawlies. But it also wasn’t clean. My space was cluttered in a functional way that worked for me.
Organized chaos.
To an outsider, though? Yeah, it looked dirty.
That alone was bad enough, but the room itself was… interesting.
“What in the actual fuck?” Marco rephrased as he scanned around us.
I shrugged out from under Freddy’s arm and tried to tidy some clothes that’d made it from the hamper to the little chaise lounge under the window.
That was basically almost hung up.
“I was gone for a week. And it’s not like I was expecting company,” I reminded as the clothes were taken right back out of my hold.
Cole repositioned them in one hand to point to the bed with the other. “Sit.”
“I don’t give a damn about the mess.” Marco gestured around. “What is this room?”
His shock was understandable.
The small space was dominated by an elevated, circular bed surrounded by two steps that wrapped around the whole thing.
Said steps, along with the rest of the floor, were covered in red shag carpet.
The love shack was something straight out of a porn—and not a good one.
The mirror hanging above the bed didn’t help.
Like they’d just noticed that little feature, they stared up at the sheet I had covering it.
“Is that what I think it is?” Freddy asked.
“Probably,” I mumbled, my face going as red as the carpet.
And not just out of embarrassment. My fantasy from earlier came to the forefront of my mind, and I swallowed hard.
Cole tore his focus from the ceiling first. He must’ve read my discomfort—though hopefully not the other part—because he schooled his features like nothing was off.
There was.
So much.
They hadn’t even seen the worst part yet.
“It used to be a luxury hotel back in the seventies,” I explained. “All the rooms were suites with kitchenettes. Now they’re kitschy apartments.”
“That’s one word for it,” Freddy said under his breath before Cole elbowed him.
I appreciated his concern for my pride, but it was a lost cause. “No, he’s right.”
Freddy gave me an apologetic smile. “Sit. Eat your pudding.”
“My what?” At his pointed look, I glanced down at the bag I’d forgotten I held. One that contained a six-pack of rice pudding and a plastic-wrapped spork.
A dream come true.
I glanced at the men as they went to work packing my meager belongings.
And a disaster in the making.
I didn’t bother pointlessly trying to help since they wouldn’t let me. Instead, I sat on my porno bed and opened one of the rice pudding cups.
I was about to dig in when Marco’s horrified voice cut through my peace. “Is your bathroom carpeted ?”
The heart-shaped tub was elevated in the same way the bed was—red carpet and all.
He said something about asking Pierce for mold testing, but I wasn’t paying attention.
I was too busy with my pudding.