Page 54 of Psycho

“Why wasn’t I notified she left?” I repeated with a lethal tone in my voice as the door opened again, and Chris walked out with two other guards who were on perimeter duty today.

She shrugged nonchalantly, crossing her arms over her chest, “I didn’t think—”

“It’s not your job to think.” I barked, “Your job is to protect her and notify me immediately of anything that goes on when I’m not here!”

“Why didn’t she notify you?” She cocked her head to the side, “Trouble in paradise, Ren?”

“Fuck you!” I sneered as the other guards got near, turning my attention to them. “If Liv leaves this building, I am notified immediately. Got it?”

“Got it.” Chris replied with a nod, eyeing Mack.

“What’s the big deal, Ren?” Mack put her hand on my arm, and I shook her off with a growl.

“It’s your fucking job, that’s what! You were hired to do a job and you’re to do it the way I tell you to, or you can get the fuck out. Period. That’s how it goes!”

“We got it.” Chris stepped in again, “It won’t happen again.”

I glared at Mack again as I ripped open my truck door and got in. When I got to Liv, I was going to redden her ass for leaving like she did.

And then I was going to get to the bottom of why she did it in the first place.

Itried using the drive to calm down, but it only took about ten minutes in the truck to realize that my anger wasn’t anger at all, but fear.

Fear of coming home and finding Liv gone.

Fear of not knowing where she was at that very moment.

Fear of not knowing what made her leave without telling me in the first place.

Fear.

A fucking foreign four-letter word for me.

I feared nothing before I met Liv, yet now, I was nearly crippled with it when I thought of all the ways the world could harm her.

And our baby.

Jesus, fuck. The world was cruel to grown adults, let alone, defenseless little babies.

By the time I walked in Dane’s front door, I was nearly vibrating with the need to wrap Storm up into my arms and smother her with my love. But when I found her, sitting on the floor of Peyton’s closet surrounded by a massive pile of ball gowns, laughing her ass off, as P strutted around in a bright pink fluff ball, I paused.

Dane stood at my side, leaning his shoulder into the door frame with a huff. “They’ve been at this for a while now.” Peytondid some Rockette’s style high kick and Liv cackled, clapping her hands as tears of laughter rolled down her cheeks. “What the fuck did you do, man?” He hissed.

“I. Don’t. Know.”

“Well, I’m no expert, but in the last few years being with P, I’ve learned two things.” He turned to look at me as Liv picked up a lime green frock and tossed it at P, demanding she put that one on next. “One,” he lifted one finger, “Everett women are notorious for keeping their feelings to themselves, but when they’re mad, they like to yell.” He rounded his eyes and raised his eyebrows, “But two, is that when they go silent, they’re past the point of mad and have hit a full raging inferno inside and there’s only two ways to put the fire out.” Dane dropped his hands and looked back over at the girls, “Groveling and sex. But the sex can’t be just normal sex, it must be one hundred and fifty percent all about her sex.”

“Isn’t that the only kind of sex to have?” I deadpanned at him, and he pursed his lips and rolled his eyes.

“Youwouldbe a pleasure Dom.”

Liv heard him and looked over her shoulder, finally aware of my presence in the room and her smile faded as did her giggles.

Something in my chest ached, knowing whatever happened today was my fault.

“Hi.” I tried, feeling like I was balancing on a tiny piece of ice in the middle of the freezing cold ocean. One small move in the wrong direction and I was a fucking goner.

“Hi.” She replied, looking back over at P who in her own right glared at me. “Help me up, Pey.”

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