Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
GABE
I’m already sitting in the hot tub behind the house when Adam walks through the back door, carrying two tumblers, each with two fingers of amber liquid. He passes me one before he joins me, but rather than lower into the water, he sits on the edge and dips his feet in.
Christ, he’s fucking sexy.
“See something you like?” he asks with a smirk before sipping his bourbon and then licking his lower lip.
“You know I do.” I sip my own and enjoy the way it burns going down. “As much as I hate Alex being gone, it’s good timing. We have to talk.”
He nods and slips down into the water, sitting across from me. Pulling my foot into his lap, he starts to rub the arch with his thumb, and I close my eyes, melting into his touch.
“You have such good fucking hands.”
He growls, and I look over to find him watching me with those hot gray eyes.
“Before I fuck you,” he says calmly, “we need to talk about our girl.”
“Right. Focus.” I drag my hand down my face. “We could just add on a good chunk of square footage for her. Or build her a she-shed out here. We have the acreage for it.”
Our home sits on two acres, and we could easily build her a little something of her own.
“That’s actually a good idea,” he says, running his fingertips up my calf. “Or if she wants to stay in the house, we can build the office-slash-library at that end of the building and add the square footage to the footprint.”
Nodding, I sigh when his thumb digs into my heel. “We’ll hire a decorator and an architect. Either way, we’ll need plans drawn up.”
“I can make those calls in the morning and get things started.”
Sliding to him, I cup his cheek and kiss him softly. He tastes like bourbon and Adam, and I fucking love it. My cock thickens. “The fact that you know who to call for that is fucking sexy. You know that, right?”
“I like taking care of both of you.”
That’s a hit to the chest. We’re both protective and possessive when it comes to our little family, but Adam takes his role incredibly seriously. I know it stems from his shit childhood and the lack of love and care he received from his parents.
“And we appreciate you, A,” I assure him before nibbling on his lips. “You go above and beyond for us, every fucking day. I love you so much.”
He grins and leans his forehead against mine. “I love you, too, baby.”
“Come on, let’s go inside and scout out where we should add Alex’s space to the house. We’re both prunes by now.”
“It’s getting late,” he says as we towel dry and then walk into the house, checking the time. “She should be home soon.”
I reach for my phone, and feel my chest catch when I see a message from her.
Fuck, I adore that girl.
“She texted us,” I tell him. “Probably to let us know she’s on her way home.”
He checks his own phone as I pull the fridge open for a glass of water.
“Fuck.” His voice is hard, and I turn to see him scowling at his device.
“What’s wrong?”
“She’s not on her way home. She went to her apartment.”
I grab my phone and open the message.
Shorty: Hi, sexy men! Book club was so fun! Drank too much, so I’m walking to my apartment. Will crash there and come to your place in the morning. Sweet dreams. xoxo
“Yeah, no.” I shake my head, already headed to the bedroom to pull on clothes. “She’s coming home. She’s not staying at her apartment.”
“I don’t even want her to have the goddamn apartment anymore,” he says behind me.
“We’ll talk to her about that tomorrow.” I shove my feet into cargo shorts and grab a T-shirt. Adam’s already pulled on his own clothes, similar to mine, but instead of a black tee, his is green. Then we’re rushing through the house and out to the garage.
“I might spank her perfect little ass for this,” he says as he starts the Porsche.
It’s dark, and the roads are quiet as we drive into the heart of town. The tension in the air is thick because we’re both agitated. A little angry. A lot worried.
“I don’t want her fucking walking by herself in the goddamn dark,” Adam growls beside me, his knuckles white from how hard he’s gripping the wheel. “Why didn’t she just call us?”
“She said something to me earlier about us getting some alone time in tonight.”
“Fuck that.” He shakes his head and glances my way. “Is that how you feel? That you need time with me without her?”
“Okay, listen. No, I don’t need her to be away from us. There will be moments when it’s just nice to spend some one-on-one time with each of you, but I didn’t encourage that comment earlier. I told her to come the fuck home so we could worship her.”
A muscle flexes in his jaw, and I reach over to pry one of his hands off the wheel so I can link my fingers with his. He holds on tight, and I bring it up to my lips and kiss his knuckles.
“I don’t want her to think that she’s a fucking third wheel, G. I thought we were past that bullshit.”
“I don’t think that’s what she meant. It’s going to be okay. We’ll go gather our girl and take her home where we can take care of her.”
He sighs, then nods, and I feel his hand relax a little in mine. “Is it a little unhealthy that I can’t stand the thought of being without her for even one fucking night? I’m too used to snuggling up to both of you. I want you both with me, every night.”
“If it’s unhealthy, I’m there with you. We love her, A. Of course we want to be with her.”
We haven’t said it out loud yet—not to her, and not to each other—but that doesn’t make it any less true.
Adam pulls into the driveway, and before the engine is even off, I’m out of the vehicle and taking the steps two at a time to get to her door.
“It’s not locked,” I tell him, my voice hard with anger.
“Fuck.”
The windows are all open, but she’s not in the living room. We rush to the bedroom and stop short.
There she is.
Lying on top of the covers, fully clothed, her dark hair a halo around her head, she’s sleeping soundly.
“What the fucking fuck?” Adam says, lowering to his knees beside her and checking out her knees, which happen to be scraped up and bloody. There’s even a line of dried blood running down one shin. The sudden wave of anger and protectiveness that washes through me is no surprise to anyone.
“Who fucking touched her?”
I crawl onto the bed with her. It’s hot in this apartment. It’s not nearly as bad as it was when I first brought her home with me months ago, but it’s still not comfortable. Kissing her cheek, I push my fingers through her soft hair.
“Wake up, baby.”
She doesn’t stir. Actually, she snuggles up against me and sighs happily, as if she were missing me.
It makes my heart clench.
“I’ve got her.” Adam scoops her up into his arms and heads for the door.
Alex doesn’t wake up, but she does bury her face in his neck and hold on as he carries her out the front door and down the steps. I take a few seconds to close windows, grab her purse, and lock the door behind me, then hop into the back seat.
“Drank too much,” she mutters, shifting in the seat. “Couldn’t drive.”
“We’ve got you, Princess,” Adam says, lifting her hand to his lips. “We’ll get you home and take care of you.”
“What happened to your knees, baby?” I drag my fingers down her cheek.
“Fell.” Her lashes flutter, but she doesn’t open her eyes. “Stings.”
“I bet it does. We’ll get you cleaned up.”
Alex sleeps the rest of the way back to the house. I lift her out of the car, and Adam opens the doors for me. We take her to the bedroom and lay her on our bed, then get to work stripping her out of her clothes and cleaning the scrapes on her knees.
“Ouch,” she whimpers. Her brows pull together, but she doesn’t pull away. Once the dirt is gone, I tug one of my T-shirts over her head, and then Adam and I get into bed with her, spooning her on either side.
She sighs sweetly, cuddling into us.
“Never again,” Adam murmurs, kissing her hair. “From now on, we’ll go get her.”
“She needs to move the rest of her stuff out of that place too,” I reply as I drag my fingertips down her soft cheek and kiss the crown of her head.
Adam plants his lips on my forehead.
“We’ll make it happen,” he says. He’s calmer now that she’s home, but I can still see the worry in his eyes. “She’s ours.”