Chapter 36
DEMITRI
Nyx has finally stopped whimpering in her sleep, and we are getting ready to pull up to the gate.
I would love to let her sleep in Graham’s arms, but I need her safe in my house.
Our house, with security tighter than the White House.
With the bulletproof, locked windows, with doors that you cannot break down.
Yes, I may be a little crazy when it comes to the safety of my loved ones and myself.
Since Stasi’s murder, everyone’s protection is more important than anything else.
No dollar wasted for the best. I even made sure to secure my parent’s house since we got home from that deployment.
As we approach the gate, something is wrong. The gate has been blown to shit, and our driveway is open to anyone. I can feel my heart start to race. The panic washes over my stoic face.
“What the fuck?” Graham says quietly to not disturb the beautiful girl in his lap.
“What he said.” Callum climbs out of the truck with his hand on his gun.
I go to join him, giving Graham a look that says to protect her with his life.
Giving him his gun from the locked center console, before climbing out of the truck.
I peer around to see if I can see anyone lurking in the darkness.
Nothing seems out of place, well minus the gate blasted open. No weird packages, no notes, nothing.
Callum and I join them back in my truck, and we head for the house. My breathing tries to ratchet up, but I keep everything slow and controlled. Breathe in for 4,3,2,1…breathe out for 4,3,2,1. Every breath is slow, controlled and methodical. I will not lose control right now.
“Stay here.” I growl at Graham. I’m too loud, and Nyx starts to stir.
“Go, I got this.” Graham tells me before he goes back to comforting the beautiful woman in his arms. I hear him start to quiet her before I jump out of the truck.
“Ok, you got my six, Cal?” I ask Callum as we walk up to the front of the house.
“Duh.” Is his only response before the motion sensor light switches on and every single thought empties out of my head.
You can’t protect her, even here. She will be mine.
The message is painted on the siding with dripping red spray paint.
Scrawled across the windows to the living room.
Fuck. There goes my perfect control. The anxiety washes through my system like Niagara Falls.
My breathing no longer controlled, coming out in short staccato beats.
My heart is going to bust right out of my chest, and I cannot get things to slow down enough for me to think.
I fall to my knees, and my hands pull at my hair.
“Demon.” I hear her gentle steps walk up behind me before I notice she is crouching down to kneel on the ground next to me. My hands in my hair and tears trying to break free.
“Get back in the truck, Little Fox. I can’t protect you out here.” She giggles slightly, pulls her Sig out of the built-in holster on her leggings and holds it in her right hand. She takes my face in her one open hand and gives me the lightest kiss possible.
“Demitri,” she leans into my ear, “I can protect myself for the most part. The Hutch Bro’s are out doing a perimeter sweep, and you need me.”
“The Hutch Bro’s, huh?” The statement makes me smile. “Maybe we need to get shirts made.”
Her touch starts to make me feel slightly more in control.
She keeps her left hand on my cheek, and I reach up to rest mine on top of her soft fingers.
She doesn’t say anything, but she holds my gaze, and she breathes in and out in slow controlled movements.
I follow her, and get my heart slowed, and my breathing returns to normal.
“Good boy.” She coo’s gently, “Do you think you can stand up for me, Demon?” I nod my head at her, not willing to speak yet. Too afraid to break again. She doesn’t need to see me break.
We both get up off the ground and face the house. Her hand is a constant presence on my arm since she can no longer comfortably reach my face. I start walking up to take a look at the windows and door.
“All clear out here, Dee.” Graham and Cal say in unison. I swear they were meant to be twins sometimes.
“Ok, good. Now let’s see what’s going on with the house.” I hear Nyx answer while I just stare at the message.
Graham slaps my back in a brotherly comfort, and finally the calm of a war zone settles over me. I can focus again and not just feel like I’m in a nightmare.
“Cal, go check the pool house.” I start to spit out commands for everyone but keep Nyx close to me.
We check all the ground level windows, and a few appear to have some damage from an attempted break-in. Ha, assholes, my house is impenetrable! This makes me feel good, knowing they tried but had to just leave the damn message in spray paint.
Nyx walks up to the message and touches it gently. “It’s still tacky.” She states as she joins me back at my side.I wrap my arm around her as if my presence alone will keep her safe.
“So they were probably just here.” My voice comes out calm, my war room experience keeping things under control.
She nods her head gently as the guys come back to us. Graham takes her from my arms and wraps her in a hug. His shoulders relax the minute she is pressed against his chest.
“Pool house is cleared, no attempt that I can see. Also, what the fuck kind of reinforcements are on this house?” Callum gives me his report. Graham hasn’t said anything to me, but I assume the rest of the house is cleared as well.
“The glass is bulletproof and cannot be broken. Well, I’m sure a bomb might shatter it enough to break through, but for the most part it’s impenetrable.” I answer Callum.
I walk up to where Graham has Nyx wrapped up and make a Nyx sandwich. I wrap my arms around her and grab the sides of Graham and pull them both into me. I breathe in the warm vanilla scent of her hair and allow it to give me some comfort.
“I think I am going to call in some of the guys to keep an eye on the house tonight, until we can do a full security review tomorrow.” My words come out weird because I still have my cheek resting on her head.
“Call in Jason and David. Both of them have worked as bodyguards when we have celebrities in town.” I grunt an agreement to Graham before giving Nyx a light kiss on her forehead and I pull away from them both.
“Take our girl in the house and I’ll make the phone call.” He nods and places his hand on Nyx’s back to lead her up to the front door. I run over to the truck quickly to grab Midnight out and send him into the house with them.
I watch them enter the house before pulling my phone out of my pocket.
I punch in the passcode because it is too dark outside for the facial recognition to work.
I hit the icon to pull up the phone and pull up David’s contact, the phone rings a couple of times before I hear David’s gruff voice answer.
“Ya, Boss?”
“Are you in town?”
“Always, Sir.” He chuckles. David is in his late forties, but don’t let his age fool you.
He still goes through all the team workouts with the team, and in all honesty he could get all of us motivated to run into a burning building just because he could.
He is the “leader” of this team even though Hutch and I own the business.
His presence and experience just commands respect.
“How fast can you be to our house? We had an incident this evening, and we want a couple guys on site to help watch everything. I was hoping you and Jason could team up for the night.”
“I can be there within the hour.” I hear him moving around his place, I assume getting himself ready to leave. I hear the distinctive beeping of a gun safe. “What kind of fire power do you think I should bring?”
“I would say a couple hand guns, anything bigger we have here we can get out if needed. We have probably two guys working together that we need to keep a lookout for. I do not believe they will be back tonight, but I want Hutch to run a security overhaul before I trust it to keep us safe.” He grunts his understanding before we hang up the call.
I repeat the same conversation with Jason before I head back into the house to find Hutch and Nyx curled up on the couch with what appears to be either tea or hot cocoa in mugs.
I walk over to the large, cozy couch, before pulling Nyx into my lap just moments after Hutch takes her mug out of her hand.
There is something just innately intimate about the moment, not sexual but just appreciating this woman in my arms. It is at this moment, that I know I will never be able to let her go.
I will never make her pick between myself or Graham, not that that was ever my plan anyway, but this is home.
Her in my lap, Hutch sitting on the couch next to me, and the home, and business we created together.
Our struggles and broken pieces might make this relationship hard, but nothing worth fighting for is ever easy.