Page 28 of Lost in the Light

“Thanks for coming. I might have over reacted but we need to make sure Addy stays safe, and Kane, my head of security, was injured yesterday,” Asher explained.

“Standing right here,” Kane grumbled as he looked to Ash with a glare. “And I already told you, I’m fine now.”

“The doctor said you need to take it easy until the dizzy spells and headaches pass. You already have a damned head injury Kane. We’re not making it worse!” Asher snapped. He and Kane had been having this same argument earlier on, and Kane had stood no chance of winning it that time either.

“He’s right, Kane. You need to rest,” Addy spoke up quietly, her voice trembling as hard as her hands were.

“Not happening. Someone is threatening this family and it’s my job to find out who,” Kane growled. I saw the way Addy flinched a little at his sharp tone, and I turned to glare at the dipshit in warning. She was scared enough. We didn’t need him making it worse for her.

“We’d appreciate your help with what we found already, if you’re up to it?” Harris said as he looked to Kane with question, diffusing some of the tension in the room.

“What did you find?” Eli asked.

“Maybe we should sit down,” Harris suggested.

“I need to plug my laptop in. It’s dead from the flight,” The shortest of the four spoke up, pushing his glasses up his nose as he spoke. He was the toughest looking geek I had ever seen. Quite the juxtaposition.

Asher led the way into the kitchen. The geeky guy – Alex, I thought his name was? – sat at the counter in the corner and set to work pulling two computers from his bag. The others took seats beside him as Eli set to work making a pot of coffee.

“You okay, baby?” I asked as I moved over to where Jordan and Addy still stood in the same spot.

“Just…I guess they make me nervous,” she whispered as her eyes darted behind me to the kitchen and then back to me.

“Of course they do. They’re fucking huge. They make me nervous too, princess,” Jordan tried to soothe her.

“Asher wouldn’t have them here if he didn’t trust them completely,” I reminded her, and she nodded.

“We should head in. I want to know what they found.” Addy nodded to the kitchen, but didn’t start moving until Jordan moved with her, keeping his arms tightly around her.

“She okay?” Kane asked from where he stood just inside the kitchen as I passed him, following after Jordan and Addy.

“No, but she’s trying to be, as always,” I sighed. I was just so sick and tired of seeing the woman I was falling for ridiculously fast, trying to push down her fears and anxieties in order to make the rest of us feel better. She wasn’t okay. It was obvious. None of us needed her to keep pretending she was.

“Go easy on her. Sometimes pretending to be okay is the only way you can keep going,” he told me quietly. Knowingly. Then he strode into the kitchen and stopped behind Alex to look over his shoulder at the laptop screen.

Eli was handing out cups of coffee to everyone as I walked into the kitchen. Asher was leant on the island opposite the guys he’d brought in, waiting to hear what they had to say, and Kane was over their shoulders looking at every screen and paper document they pulled out.

Jordan had taken Addy to the back corner of the kitchen, furthest from the strangers. He sat on the counter with Addy sat sideways in his lap. She had a handful of the bottom of his t-shirt in one hand, and was clutching his hand with the other. I wasn’t jealous of how she cuddled into him. I was more just relieved to see her looking slightly less petrified. Did I wish I were the one holding her? Hell yes, I did, but Jord had her and I was good with that.

The thoughts I’d been having all morning, about Jordan talking to her about poly relationships, flitted through my mind again.I had been questioning whether that was something Addy had raised, or something Jordan was trying to push.

I knew he had feelings for her, and so did I, but both of us dating her? Could that really work? I would love to think it could, since it seemed to be the perfect solution to the fact Jordan and I were falling for the same woman, but I had my doubts. And concerns. Like Asher. What would he think of the two of us trying to date his traumatized, innocent, little sister? I wanted Addy desperately, but I couldn’t go there if it would mean losing the bond Ash and I shared. He was more than my best friend. He was my brother and I owed him everything. I’d be completely lost without him in my life.

Addy would feel the same, I was sure. She had gotten so close to her brothers since they rescued her. I knew she would never choose Jord and I over them, nor should she have to. It was a messy situation I didn’t think any of us should really get into until things were resolved and Addy was safe again.

“Fuck!” Kane cursed. I turned my gaze from where I’d been staring at Addy and looked to where Kane was flicking through some printed pages.

“What? What did you find?” Asher asked.

Harris, who seemed to be the leader of their team, looked from Asher to Addy, who was behind Ash, across the kitchen. He looked worried and I instantly feared what they were about to tell the people I cared about to hurt the three of them next.

“It’s okay. Just tell us,” Addy said softly, but I could already see how tense she was, readying herself for whatever came next.

I looked to Eli, worried about him too. He, like Addy, had been trying to put on a brave face since the day Addy told them theirfather had been involved in those parties and had hurt her. But, also like Addy, he was a shitty actor. I knew how badly it had shattered him to know the man he always thought an asshole, was actually a true monster. I’d seen how red his eyes were every time he came out of his room and knew he had likely taken the guilt, of that poor girl in the basements death, on himself.

I knew him pretty well too, and I was sure he was tearing himself apart with guilt for not knowing what Joseph fucking Lyle was up to in the very house they all shared. Asher was doing the same but he was better at hiding his feelings. Eli wore every emotion on his face, and felt it so deeply it worried me often. I really wasn’t sure if he, Ash, or Addy were strong enough in that moment to face whatever bomb was dropped next.

“We…well, Aleks actually, started following the money to try and get names of other ‘guests’ at these parties. We looked into the accounts of Williams and Dartford first. We lined up the dates for the parties - which the FBI found evidence of - with some bank transactions and we found a pattern of payments from both accounts. Five thousand dollars a few days before each party, paid to a subsidiary,” Harris began. I stepped forward, opting to be closer to Ash and Eli for what I was sure was coming, knowing Jordan had Addy.

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