Chapter 5 #2
“Not the point.” She didn’t need to know how deep the stalking—I mean recon—went and that I knew a disturbing amount of details about her. Well, except for what she left behind when she moved here.
The corner of her lips quirked upward. “Kind of is…,” she teased.
“Juno,” I said with a frustrated sigh. How could I make her understand what knowing she was potentially in danger did to me?
“Our friend is missing. We’re all at a loss on where she is, who has her, or if she’s even still alive.
” I slid my gaze to the dented and rusted row of lockers to avoid the pity in hers.
“And there is nothing I can fucking do about it. She’s missing, and…
.” I swallowed hard. “Please be more careful. I can’t… .”
“Okay,” she whispered when I trailed off, unable to utter the next words around the lump in my throat. “I promise to be more careful. Hey, look at me, Langston.”
Swallowing hard, I reluctantly shifted my watery gaze down to her.
“I’m worried about her too, but you guys were family. I can’t imagine how hard it is on you, West, everyone at Uplift. Do you have someone to talk to about it?”
Seeing the compassion in her soft gaze had me forcing all those emotions down. Feeling too raw and exposed, I peeled my fingers free from around her throat. That was enough of opening up about the things eating me alive inside.
Sitting back, I crossed my arms. “Who said you were ignorant or incompetent, Juno?”
“And back comes the caveman,” she muttered with a sigh. “No one, okay? Can I please go work out now?”
“Not until you tell me who spewed those lies at you.”
Her teeth sank into her lower lip, a swell of unshed tears suddenly filling her lower lids as she shook her head. “Please, Langston, not now. Maybe never, but not now.”
“Why?”
“Because talking about it means remembering, and remembering means feeling all that shame and self-loathing all over again. Once I do, it’s hard to stop, and I don’t want to go down that path today, and especially not with you.”
I bristled at the last part. “You actually believed that shit you just said about yourself? How?” Idiot, incompetent, and anything else similar were not words I’d ever even think of using about the amazing woman.
Focusing on something just over my shoulder, she slowly nodded. “At one time, yeah, I did. But I’m working to undo it all, little by little.”
“Why did you believe it?” None of this made any sense. She was so strong and self-assured with me, never backing down. I couldn’t imagine her believing any of that, much less listening to someone else say it to her.
She blew out a shaky breath, and I steeled myself for her answer, knowing I wouldn’t like it. “Because when it constantly comes from someone you love and who you think loves you just as much, it becomes your truth.”
Bloodlust pumped through my veins, making me vibrate with unfiltered anger. Someone who said they loved her filled her mind with those lies, which made it worse somehow.
“Who?” I demanded. “Give me a name, and I will rip out their throat so they can’t say that bullshit to you or anyone else again.”
“No need to kill someone and end up in prison for the rest of your life on my behalf,” she huffed with a small grin. “But thanks.”
I angled my head to one side and then the other, stretching out the building tension in my neck and shoulders. “Juno, I would gladly die there with a smile on my face if it meant ending the person who made you question the truth of who you are.”
Her eyes widened in obvious shock. Before she could respond, the locker room door flung open.
“Okay, you two, that’s enough time alone to figure your shit out.
” I snarled at the intrusive asshole over my shoulder, which only made West’s smile widen.
“Hey, don’t give me that look. I’ve held Oliver back from barging in to check on you two, so turn that scowl into a smile and a fucking thank-you.
” His gaze shifted down to Juno, his features instantly softening. “You okay, sweet cheeks?”
Her soft laugh eased some of the tension making my muscles twitch. “There’s that term again.”
West bit his lower lip and nodded. “What can I say? It fits you. Now.” He clapped his hands together before pointing at me. “Answer the question. Are you good, or do I need to kick my friend’s ass?” He arched a dark brow my way when I huffed out a laugh. “I was going to offer to let her watch.”
“Fucking hell,” Juno groaned with a slight whimper.
“Is that a yes?” West asked, moving to my side, shifting to angle his crotch right in front of my face.
The knowing smirk he shot down at me said he was well aware he was being a fucking tease.
“I see you already got him all riled up. He might take that out on me.” Running the tip of his thumb along his lower lip, he looked between us.
“But don’t worry, Juno. That’s how I like it. ”
“Fuck,” I snapped and shoved off the ground to stand. West’s heated gaze stayed locked on my tented shorts. “Fucking watch it, West.”
“Oh, I am,” he joked.
“Help me up before you two attack each other,” Juno grumbled.
I extended a hand, and when her tiny one slid into mine, I carefully lifted her off the floor. We eyed each other for a second before she carefully weaved between me and West for the exit.
“Juno,” I said, making her stop with a hand on the door. She didn’t turn, but I knew she was listening. “I’m serious about taking your safety more seriously, and that includes that fucking date of yours. You’re not going out with a stranger tonight, or any night, until we catch the sick bastard.”
“Oh, fuck,” West muttered under his breath, looking to the ceiling like he might find more patience there.
Juno whirled around, the tip of her ponytail smacking her in the face with the violent move, and pointed at my chest.
“You can’t tell me what to do, Langston. I will go out with who I want, when I want.”
I studied her flushed cheeks and heaving chest. “Fine.” I shrugged as if it didn’t matter to me. “It’s his fucking funeral.”
Her high-pitched screech of pure exasperation echoed off the lockers, making me wince. The door slammed shut behind her, cutting off her detailing all the ways she wanted to murder me.
“Well, that went well,” West snapped. He smacked his good hand between my shoulder blades. “Way to prove to her that we are, in fact, just a couple of overprotective assholes.”
“We are,” I muttered indignantly. “Why hide it?”
“Um, so we don’t piss her off like you just did.
” He turned, running a hand over his head.
“I know you’re still lying to yourself that you aren’t utterly obsessed with that woman, but I’m not.
” He turned and stabbed a finger in my chest. “And since we’re a package fucking deal, I need you to calm the caveman shit down, get your shit together, and help me convince her she’s ours. ”
“Oh, we’re a package deal, are we?”
Mischief sparked in his dark eyes, and I knew I was going to fucking love and hate whatever he said next.
“If you don’t think so, maybe I’ll take a play out of Juno’s book and find a date tonight and—”
In a swift move, I pinned him against the lockers with his chest and cheek pressed to the metal. After a few half-assed attempts to buck me off him, he relaxed with a deep, guttural groan.
“You are not going out with anyone, not without me,” I snarled in his ear.
Unable to stop, I ground my painfully hard cock against his firm ass, making us both suck in a hissed breath.
“But you want Juno, that’s fine. I’ll be the levelheaded one and stay the fuck away from her until we know she’s not trouble. ”
“Oh, she’s trouble,” he said over his shoulder. “The best kind.”
“That woman is hiding something, and until I know what it is, she’s all yours to fuck around with. And about that date—we are going tonight.”
He strained to look over his shoulder, eyes wide with surprise. “What?”
I nodded, easing up on my hold. “Recon only. We hang back to see if she reveals anything and to make sure she’s safe.”
“Safe, right,” West laughed, his entire body trembling against me. “And if she goes home with this guy or he goes back to her place? What then?”
I thought for a moment before responding.
I was a stubborn idiot for not admitting what everyone else knew.
Hell, even I did too, deep down. The truth was, I didn’t trust her not to hurt my best friend, my Uplift family, or me.
What West didn’t realize was that when I said “safe,” I meant safe for us, not just Juno’s safety.
“Then I guess you’ll have to step up your game if you want her to come home with you instead.”
West flipped around to lean back against the lockers. “Really?”
Arms crossed, I shrugged. “You want her, you figure out how to get her. I won’t stand in your way.”
A slow smile pulled at his lips, making his dimples pop. “Fuck, you’re stubborn.” He sighed. “Fine, I’ll figure something out.”
Stepping back, I adjusted myself, the discomfort making me grimace, which of course he noticed.
“I can help you with that, you know.”
“Don’t fucking start,” I grumbled. But holding her down, then pressing against West had me so fucking hard I could feel my dick leaking.
“You really need to figure your shit out so you don’t die from fucking blue balls.”
“Maybe I’ll find some random, then,” I snapped, moving to the locker where I’d stored my keys and wallet. That was a lie, and he knew it, which was why I made it a point not to face him.
“Damnit, Langston. Stop lying to yourself. Enough is enough. You’re not going out tonight or any other night to find some random woman to fuck and leave.
” West dropped his head forward, making my chest pinch at his obvious disappointment with me.
“And here’s a thought: Maybe if she knew why you were overly protective and concerned about her safety, she would open up about her past and understand your tantrums a little better.
” He peeked up through his dark eyelashes.
“Someone hurt her, Langston, and she needs to trust that we won’t too. ”
“She wouldn’t tell me who,” I practically pouted, making West swallow a laugh.
“You no doubt did your whole ‘who hurt you?’ growly bit and demanded it.”
“So?”
“Well, it obviously didn’t work.”
“You walked in before I could get it out of her.”
He slowly nodded. “Baylee and Aspen said we need to gain her trust, show her that we’ll protect her not only physically but in every way.”
My brows pulled in tight. “I don’t follow.”
His damn wide smile appeared once again as he shook his head and ran a hand over his short hair.
“I know you don’t, and honestly, I don’t either.
Something about being emotionally safe, whatever that means.
Either way, we’ll figure it out and be that for her.
Which means you need to tone down—” He gestured up and down my body. “—that.”
“You gestured to all of me.”
“Well, not the physical parts of you, because you know how fucking hot you are, but more what’s on the inside.”
“Thanks, fucking asshole.” I hitched my chin at him. “Grow your hair back out. I liked it long, and I can tell you miss it.”
He shot me a wink and headed for the door. “You just enjoyed having something to grab. But just think, if you ever pull your head out of your ass when it comes to Juno, her long ponytail would easily wrap around your fist.”
Once he was gone, I slumped against the locker and rested the back of my head on the cold metal.
I was in so much damn trouble with those two.
West could handle himself, so I shouldn’t worry about him, but he was mine, so I would.
Juno surprised me earlier, but her being out alone on the streets or even alone in her cabin scared me to death as much as the woman herself did.
She was practically a stranger with how little we knew about her background, and I knew all too well how strangers could quickly destroy someone if I wasn’t careful.
First, I failed Mattie.
Then Caroline.
West, when he was hurt.
None were my fault, but I wasn’t there when they needed me to protect them.
I wouldn’t let that happen again.
Not to them or anyone else I claimed as my family.
And if that meant Juno hating me for a little longer until I uncovered her secrets, then so be it.