Chapter 19
“You look like you want to kick doors in,” Cormac murmured as he pulled up to one of Micah’s safe houses.
Daniela’s grin was infectious. “I’m still riding high from telling my father off. I even got a text from my brother.” She held out her phone, practically cackled.
What did you say to him? He’s practically foaming at the mouth. Looks like he might have a heart attack. Julian’s message was followed by laughing emojis.
And that surprised Cormac. “What’s their relationship like?” he asked. “I guess I just assumed they were close.” He waited until the garage door shut behind them before getting out. No one had followed them. He’d made sure.
Micah used this house to help women leaving abusive situations. Sometimes with kids, and sometimes they were solo. But he’d offered it as a stopping point to a local group that did a lot of good in helping women find new lives.
Seemed fitting that he was using it with Dani right now.
“I don’t even know if I can answer that.” She seemed surprised by her own words as she slid out of the truck.
He grabbed the bags she’d packed and they stepped into the mudroom where he disarmed the security system. The place had the faint scent of lemon cleaner, but when they stepped into the kitchen it smelled like chocolate chip cookies. “Why not?”
“I don’t think I know what normal is. And I guess I never thought about it.
Julian is…I don’t know. He’s the son. The oldest son—the only one.
My father is a misogynistic asshole on top of being a regular asshole.
I don’t think they have a healthy relationship or anything, but he doesn’t treat me the same way he treats Julian. ”
“I know I brought it up before, but do you think Julian would let you go if your father was dead?” Not because Cormac was thinking of killing her father. Okay, maybe he was, but he wasn’t going to say that part out loud.
“I don’t know,” she murmured, looking around the sparkling kitchen. “This is your place?”
The kitchen was a spacious open concept made for people who liked to cook. “No, it’s a safe house of sorts.”
“Are these cookies safe to eat?” Her tone was light as she stopped at the big marble-topped island, picked up the note next to the plate of stacked chocolate chip cookies. “And oh my god…” She let out a startled laugh and held out the note for him to read as she kept laughing.
“‘Don’t eat all the cookies, fatty, they’re for your friend, not you!’” He read the note out loud in a dry tone. He knew exactly who’d written that note. It was Berkley’s handwriting and she was the only one who ever called him fatty. “One of my sisters.”
“She calls you fatty?” Daniela raised her eyebrows as she lifted one of the cookies.
“Yeah, but only because I deserve it. I did some shitty things in high school and might have called someone that name once upon a time…and my sister has never let me forget it. She says she just wants to remind me that words hurt and I need to be more careful with my language.”
Daniela snickered slightly. “I know you’re not sharing names—”
“Her name is Berkley,” he said. “She already said I could tell you. And she wants to meet you.”
“Oh.” Daniela looked stunned but quickly recovered.
All his siblings wanted to meet her. And to quote Berkley, they were basically foaming at the mouth about it. Especially Krystal, who’d been blowing up his phone today.
He needed to call her back, but right now he wanted to get Daniela settled, make sure she felt safe. “Back to Julian… If you think he might be an ally and let you go, it’ll change things for you. Just want to throw that out there.”
“I’m too afraid to ask him,” she said as she walked to the breakfast nook that looked over the backyard.
The three-bedroom ranch had a privacy fence as well as a bamboo row that had been planted as an extra, natural barrier.
All the homes Micah owned had extra privacy features like that.
It came in handy for moms escaping with their kids, gave them an extra place to run around if they needed to let out their energy.
“Because if I do and he says no, then I put him on alert,” she added as she turned back from the bay of windows. “We’re really safe here?”
“No one followed us and only my family knows about this place.” Technically the women who’d used it knew about it too, but more often than not they were brought here in the middle of the night and weren’t a threat to Daniela anyway.
“I almost feel like I’m doing something wrong even though I know I’m not.” She let out a long breath. “Thank you for this. For everything.”
He stood there for a long moment, almost rooted to the spot, unsure how to respond. He didn’t want her thanks. God, he just wanted her safe. Okay, he wanted more than that. He wanted her naked and underneath him, crying out his name as she climaxed. But that wasn’t happening anytime soon.
Clearing his throat, he picked her bags back up. “I’m going to drop these off in one of the rooms.”
He hurried out of the kitchen, trying to get the chaos in his mind under control for just a few moments. He’d already brought his stuff over here earlier and the place stayed stocked with toiletries.
“Is everything in the fridge up for grabs?” Daniela called out from the kitchen.
“Yeah, it’s all for us.” His siblings had stocked the fridge because of course they had.
Almost as if he’d conjured them, a couple texts came in one after the other.
How are the cookies? You better not have eaten any! From Berkley.
I swear to god I’m going to hunt you down and punch you in the face if you don’t call me back. Yikes. From Krystal.
Then one from Micah. You still coming tonight? We’re leaving soon.
He quickly texted Micah back. I’m in. Pick me up in twenty. I want her to have a vehicle.
After a thumbs-up from Micah, yet another text came in, this one from Apollo. Dude. Call Krystal or at least text her. She needs to talk to you.
I will later, he responded. Then, feeling like a jerk, he did text Krystal. I promise to call soon, taking care of some stuff. I love you.
She responded immediately. I have teens. I know you’re brushing me off! But fine. Stay safe and make smart choices. Love you.
He smiled at that, sent her back a couple hearts. Then he glanced at the group text he’d muted, saw it was just normal stuff.
Back in the kitchen, he found Daniela pulling a pie and whipped cream out of the fridge.
“Don’t judge.” She gave him a pointed look. “This is my dinner.”
He laughed lightly. “I see some things haven’t changed.”
She shrugged, but her mouth curved up. “This says it’s strawberry. You want some?”
“I will later. I have to go.” He didn’t want to, but it was necessary. He’d rather stay and make out with her—not that she was offering, but still. A man could hope.
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” He paused, debating how much to tell her.
“Just tell me what you’re doing. If you think keeping things from me will help anything, you’re wrong.”
Damn, she was right. “My brother is picking me up soon. We’re doing some recon on Logan. I want him behind bars.” Truthfully, he wanted the guy six feet under, but before he resorted to flat-out murder, he was going to try to bring the guy down the right way. Ish.
“He’s dangerous.” She paused, then pulled her phone out, unlocked it. “And he’s sent me a few weird texts since the party. I know he’s pissed that you went off with Julian. What did you guys talk about anyway? You still haven’t told me.”
“He talked about doing business with me,” he murmured as he read the last couple texts.
You looked beautiful today.
Call me.
Then, We need to talk. Call me now.
There were only five-minute gaps in between the texts, and she didn’t respond to any of them. “You’re never to be alone with him,” he growled, knowing how high-handed he sounded. But he didn’t care.
“Not gonna argue,” she muttered as she slid out a piece of the pie.
“He just texted you again.” Cormac had to set her phone down when he realized he was gripping it too tight. He wanted to wrap his hands around Logan’s throat, not break her phone.
“What did he say?” She scooped a dollop of the whipped cream onto her pie.
“‘Why aren’t you home? Where are you?’” Cormac shook his head, cursed under his breath. “This guy is a predator. And I know you’re not arguing. I just…” He felt helpless, could only imagine how she felt. “Can I hug you?” he blurted, then felt like a weirdo but whatever.
He came from a family of huggers, and she’d been all alone dealing with this bullshit. And that was on top of all the other shit from her family.
She blinked at him in surprise. After a short hesitation, she nodded and came around the island top, slid into his arms as if she’d been made for him. He was pretty sure that he’d been made for her anyway.
“What’s this about?” she murmured against his chest.
For a long moment, he just inhaled her sweet scent and ordered himself not to squeeze too tight. “I thought this hug was for you, but it’s for me too.”
Holding her like this felt like a dream. Reminded him of what they’d shared together. All they could have had if he hadn’t walked away.
He kissed the top of her head, hoped she didn’t pull back.
“I was thinking about how helpless I feel right now, and then it hit me that it’s so much worse for you,” he rasped out.
“That you’ve been living with this bullshit for a while.
I want to burn down everyone for you.” The truth ripped from his throat.
Because he did. He wanted to destroy her family’s whole organization, just burn everything to the ground.
Literally.
He’d never been violent. Even his brief time in the military, he’d never enjoyed it. The training, he’d liked. But everything else… It had been a job. Now, he wanted to use all his training and make anyone who’d ever hurt her, or who wanted to hurt her, pay.
She squeezed him back. “Apparently I needed this too,” she whispered against his chest. “And I know you don’t want any thanks, but for the first time I don’t feel so alone.
” She leaned back slightly to look up at him.
“I don’t know if I’d have had the courage to talk to my father the way I did today without knowing you had my back. It was liberating.”
He swallowed hard, his gaze falling to her lips for a moment. But then he looked away, not wanting to ruin this.
Taking him by surprise, she pressed her face to his chest again and held on tight.
If he could have, he’d have frozen that moment in time, held her forever. As they stood there in the weirdly comfortable silence, his phone buzzed and he knew who it was.
Micah.
Sighing, he let his hands drop, hated that she did the same.
“Your ride?” she murmured, stepping away from him. And it felt like she was putting walls back between them.
Or maybe she’d never let them down at all and this was just a single moment she’d given him.
He glanced at his phone. “Yeah. Listen, I know you know this, but don’t respond to Logan.”
She gave him a dry look. “I do know that. I’m done with him. I think I’m going to send some screenshots to Julian because this is ridiculous.”
“Good.” Cormac still didn’t have a solid read on her brother, but he didn’t think the man wanted his sister hurt.
Julian had seemed to try to protect her in some of the stories she’d told him.
“You’re safe here, I swear. I wouldn’t leave you alone otherwise.
I’m texting you the code to the security system.
Set it as soon as I leave. And everything here is for you to use. If you have an emergency—”
“Cormac. It’s fine, go… How long will you be gone?”
“I don’t know. This is more or less recon, so I could be gone all night.” He was thinking of calling his cousin Cleo to ask her to come watch the house as extra backup even though he didn’t think it was actually necessary.
“Then go. I’ll be here when you get back,” she added, her tone soft.
And he would be coming back. He wasn’t ever walking away from her again.