Prologue #2
Why did you wave your hand?
Idiot.
“Your father never said anything about a girl, right?” Gray Eyes asked, looking over at Sin.
Wait. Did he live here?
Was . . . was his dad her mum’s boyfriend?
Holy shit.
This just got worse and worse.
The quiet, muscular guy grunted and the others all nodded.
Did they understand him?
Wow .
He looked like a . . . a sentry standing there, watching over his friends against any sort of threat. A guardian.
She was suddenly aware that her thumb was at her mouth, but instead of latching on, she just ran it over her lips.
“Nope,” Sin drawled, although she noticed he didn’t look as relaxed as he sounded. “A fucking daughter? What the fuck? What. The. Fuck!”
Picking up a glass, he threw it at the wall.
It was so sudden and unexpected that for a moment, she just froze.
And then she ran.
Slade let out a deep breath.
Fuck.
He didn’t need this fucking shit.
Also, his dad was the biggest fucking wanker in the universe.
“First, he shacks up with a woman he barely knows. And now he conveniently forgot to fucking mention that she had a daughter?” he yelled.
A cute, younger daughter.
Who did not look like she was tough enough for their world.
And now you’ve scared her.
Not that she’d be here long. Although it had been a while since his father had moved one of his women in with him. He usually rented them an apartment close by.
Just six more months.
Six more months and he was out of here. He’d graduate from high school and go to university. With his real family.
The three guys in this room.
Not his fucked-up father and whatever woman he’d shacked up with.
“He’s never brought someone here who had a kid,” Quaid mused.
“Why wouldn’t he tell you?” Spencer asked, sounding confused .
“Because he’s a fuckwit who doesn’t care about anyone but himself,” Slade snarled. “I can’t believe this!”
“It doesn’t matter,” Quaid said dismissively. “She’ll be gone in a few months once he gets bored.”
“Do you think she knew about you?” Spencer asked. “The girl, I mean, not the mum.”
“It didn’t seem like it to me,” Quaid said slowly. “She appeared a bit . . . lost.”
“Why isn’t her mum with her?” Spencer asked. “Where the fuck is she?”
Slade had only met Sylvia once when his father informed him that she was moving in with them. And she’d stared at him with a bit too much hunger and lust. Slade shuddered. He was used to that. To women of all ages coming on to him.
But she was supposed to be with his dad.
“What’s the bet she abandoned the kid the second they got here,” Quaid guessed.
Fuck.
Quaid’s guesses were usually fucking accurate. Which meant that poor kid had probably been dropped off and left to fend for herself. She might not have known about him. And he didn’t exactly make a good impression.
Yeah, he needed to work on his temper.
“I scared her,” he said.
“It might be for the best,” Quaid said. “Keep her away from us. Better than her getting close and . . . attached.”
Quaid sounded as if the very idea disgusted him. But he only let the three of them close.
He was even more damaged than Slade and that was saying something. Quaid hid his damage under layers of icy protection. Whereas Slade let his morph into angry outbursts.
“She’s just a kid,” Spencer said.
He was the kindest of all of them. The one they protected the most fiercely. Without Spencer to breathe some softness into them they’d probably be fucking sociopaths .
Sometimes Slade worried that that was exactly what he was becoming.
Rock shared a look with them all. He nodded to Slade, then at the door where she’d disappeared. Rock never said much, but then he didn’t really need to.
Slade got what he was saying. It wasn’t the kid’s fault that she had a fucked-up parent.
“Can’t believe you’re going to be a stepbrother,” Spencer said with a grin, obviously trying to lighten the mood. “Slade, the big brother. Are you going to get all protective? Sharpen your knife on the porch when she starts to date?”
“Don’t be a fucking idiot,” Slade muttered. “She’s just a kid. How old do you even think she was? Eleven? Twelve?”
She was small. Almost scrawny.
And he’d just frightened her so badly that she’d run off.
Yeah, he could be an asshole.
But scaring a little kid was a new low.
He set off to search for her. He had a date to get ready for tonight. The last thing he needed was his father pressuring him into a family dinner with his new woman.
He’d rather choke on his own vomit.
It took him twenty minutes to find her.
He found her in a large cabinet that sat in one of the reception rooms. It was a monstrous thing that had to be well over a hundred years old. She’d managed to scrunch herself up tight into it.
To his surprise, she was sucking on her thumb. Which made him feel even more terrible.
Christ.
What kind of fuckwit scared a kid into hiding and sucking her thumb?
Him, apparently.
She quickly took her thumb out when she saw him, her eyes going wide. Her face was pale and it fucking killed him.
“Come out of there.” He winced. Probably not how you were supposed to talk to a kid. But what did he know ?
Her breathing grew faster, her thumb trying to return to her mouth before she seemed to realize it and drew it away.
Then she shook her head.
He raised an eyebrow, shocked. He might be seventeen, but he was used to grown men jumping when he said jump.
This slip of a girl was either lacking common sense or she had more guts than most adults.
For the first time, he truly took her in. Her shoes looked scuffed and worn, like her clothes. She was pale and thin.
Her hair was clean but limp.
His brain shoved that information to the side for the moment. He had to get her out of the cupboard. Preferably before his father came looking for one of them.
“What are you doing in there?”
She blinked rapidly. “Playing hide and seek.”
Okay. His lips twitched. He hadn’t expected that reply.
“Peek-a-Boo!” she said.
Another lip twitch. Shit. She was pretty cute.
“Indie, get out, please. I promise I’m not going to scare you anymore.”
She shot him a disbelieving look.
He nearly laughed. Yeah, maybe she did have more guts than he’d thought.
“Well, I’ll try not to. How about that?” he said to her.
It must have been enough to reassure her because she climbed out of the cupboard and stretched her limbs with a wince.
“Maybe we should start again,” he said as he stepped back to give her space. “I’m Slade. I live here with my father. I take it you’ve met him?”
She shook her head slowly.
That. Mother. Fucker.
He took a deep breath in and let it out slowly, trying to regain his composure as she took a step back, bumping into the large cabinet.
“You haven’t fucking met him?” he whispered .
Shit. He probably shouldn’t swear in front of a kid.
“Um. No.”
“But you’re moving in here?” he asked.
“Apparently. I didn’t know about that either.”
“What?” he spat.
She jumped, then winced as she accidentally smacked her head against the cabinet.
“Shit. Come away from there before you do some serious damage,” he commanded.
Rein it in, asshole.
“I’m sorry,” she said with a gasp, turning toward the piece of furniture. “Did I mark it or something?”
“What? No, I wasn’t talking about that ugly thing, I was talking about you.”
“Oh. It is pretty ugly,” she agreed.
She had some guts, even if she was a bit jumpy. He hated to think about what could have happened in her life to make her so jumpy.
“Come and sit down.” He gestured to the flowery sofa.
She sat gingerly as though she was scared to touch anything.
“Relax,” he grumbled. “I’m not going to bite.”
“Um, I didn’t think you would. I’m just aware that everything here probably costs a lot of money. And likely isn’t replaceable.”
“Only thing in here that can’t be replaced is you.”
She blinked at him. “Or you.”
He had to grin even though he didn’t find anything amusing. “Not according to my father.”
She tilted her head to the side. “You don’t get on with him.”
It wasn’t a question. She was smart and perceptive.
“You didn’t know you were moving in here? And you haven’t met my father?” he asked.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Fuck.” He ran his hand over his face. “And your mum just left you here?”
“I don’t know where she went.” She looked lost for a moment .
And he felt like even more of an asshole for scaring her.
“How old are you? Eleven? Twelve?”
“I’m fifteen!” she said indignantly. “Well, in just over a month I will be.”
Older than he’d thought. Was she small for her age? He didn’t know many nearly fifteen-year-olds.
Slade nodded, making his mind up. If her mother wasn’t going to take care of her and she was living in his house . . . well, that made her his.
And he took care of what was his.
“Come on, Boo,” he said. “I’ll introduce you to the rest of the guys.”
“Boo?” she asked.
“Yeah, short for Peek-a-Boo.”
She went bright red. “Not my finest moment.”
He grinned. “Come meet my friends. We’re more like brothers. Then you can get settled in your room.”
A strange look filled her face and she hesitated.
“They won’t hurt you.” He tried to gentle his voice but figured he failed when she didn’t look reassured. “And I won’t throw any more glasses.”
At least not around her.
“It’s not that. I don’t think I have a bedroom.” She clasped her hands together tightly. “And I don’t know when my things will arrive.”
Fuck.
His father was a wanker and her mother . . .
“Don’t worry, kid. I’ll get everything sorted. You’re mine, now. And I always look after the things I own.”
Six months later . . .
Her gown itched.
Apparently, just because something cost more didn’t make it more comfortable .
“Stop fidgeting, Indie,” her mother snapped as she turned away from studying herself in the mirror.
“This dress is itchy,” Indie told her.
“Listen to me.” Her mother grasped hold of her chin. Hard. Indie stood still.