Page 39 of Lost In The Dark

“No one knows where you are, Addy. No one knows you’re linked to Eli and Ash, except the lawyer and family, and none of those people will talk. You’re safe here,” I tried to tell her, but she shook her head.

“I can’t just hide out here forever, Kane. What h-happens when I feel ready to get a job, or move to my own place? What happens if I meet my brothers for dinner one day in the future and someone gets a photo of us? At some point it will come out that I’m here,” she cried breathlessly.

“None of us will ever let anyone hurt you. We can and will protect you.”

“You can’t pr-promise that,” she said with a vigorous shake of her head. “I…I have to choose. If I stay here with Asher and Eli I’ll always be at risk, but if I go, maybe I could disappear. Maybe I could be safe that way?” she looked up at me with so much pain and confusion.

“Maybe,” I nodded. “But you’d be alone, and if those monsters did find you, no one could protect you. Here you’re safe and you have your brothers to help you through whatever comes. Not just them either. You have Adam and Jordan. They’re good guys and they want to be there for you.”

“A-and you?” she looked up at me with those wide eyes and my heart just about broke.

“I will protect you with my life, Addy. Nothing will ever happen to you as long as I’m still breathing,” I promised her as I met her eyes and became lost in them. That pull I felt to her was so strong and I was having to fight hard not to lean in and kiss her pouty lips.

“Why do I feel safe with you?” she asked breathlessly.

“You see my broken,” I admitted to her. “Just like I see yours. You know, deep down, that I understand what you’re going through, just the way I know you get my fucked up too.”

“You don’t even know me?”

“I know enough. I see you Addy, all of you,” I told her. I was even closer to leaning in and kissing her, which was insane, because I knew it would likely terrify her. Only I couldn’t stop myself. I was being pulled to her and there seemed to be nothing I could do to stop it. She just fit with me so perfectly and I didn’t even fully understand why.

“ADDY?” The loud shout from around the front of the house jolted me back to reality and I sat up and took a deep breath. What the fuck was wrong with me? I barely even knew this woman and I was professing she was made for me? It was insanity!

Addy jolted too and turned to look behind her as Asher came jogging around the house, Adam right behind him. Neither of them were dressed for the cold and I guessed they had just realized she wasn’t inside the house.

“I’m here!” she called back, then she turned to me, still looking massively confused and a little bewildered.

“Thank you…f-for telling me the truth. I know I freaked out, but I needed to know,” she told me. I nodded just once, then helped her to clamber off of my lap. “I should go.” She started to pull off my coat, but I stood and stopped her by placing my hand over her uninjured one.

“Keep it until you have your own, and don’t come out here without it again, okay?”

“I won’t.” She gave me a nervous smile then turned to walk away, just as Adam and Ash made it to the pergola.

“There you are,” Asher sighed. “We were worried when we couldn’t find you.”

“Sorry. I just needed some fresh air,” she replied.

“Everything okay?” Adam asked as he looked between Addy and me. I ran a hand through my hair nervously as Addy nodded.

“It’s freezing out here, sweetheart,” Asher told her as he focused solely on her and how much she was shivering.

“She’s too cold. You should take her back inside,” I grumbled as I backed away from them all. “And get her some damned snow boots!”

I heard Asher and Adam laughing at the fact she was trudging around in Eli’s boots and telling her they would order her a pair of her own once they got inside, but that was it because I strode as fast as I could back to the office and away from them all.

I had almost kissed her! What a monumental fuck up that would have been! I had no idea why I couldn’t control myself around her. It wasn’t like me at all and I hated it. Not her. I definitely didn’t hate her, but what she did to me was so confusing and I was a mess. What the fuck was wrong with me? I needed to stayaway from her, but how could I do that when I had been assigned with her personal security? I would never let Asher down after all he had done for me, so I couldn’t refuse the job. I was totally fucked and I knew it.

CHAPTER 13

ADDY

“Okay in here, shortcake?” Eli asked as he appeared at the foot of the stairs and walked towards where I sat in the living room, watching my favorite cooking show.

I had been at the house for two full days now, and I was feeling a little more comfortable there. I was less jumpy around Adam and Jordan – though I had barely seen Jordan except for at dinner in the evening. He always seemed to be working. I was still nervous around the both of them, and I usually made sure there was at least one item of furniture between us if we were alone, but I could talk to them without panicking.

Eli and Asher had both been amazing. Neither of them had returned to their jobs in the days I had been there, no matter how much I insisted I would be fine. They just told me they wanted to spend some time with me, and they did. We’d watched movies together and they’d shown me around their vast house. Eli had taken me to his art studio and I had marveled at how talented he was. His art was beautiful, the images he painted seeming to spring from the canvas and into life.

At night, one, or sometimes both of them, had stayed with me, refusing to leave me alone to sleep until my nightmares got better, and theyweregetting a little better. No more memories had returned to me, and the nightmares I had, while stillterrifying, were fewer and I woke screaming less frequently, knowing one of my brothers was right there with me.

---