Page 71 of Deadlier Obsessions

“Alright,” he says, “I can wait a few days, but not much more.”

I knew his argument would be about time. Mav has wanted this for a while, certainly before I did. Hell, I had planned on killing them. That was then. Things are different now. As I’ve proven, I will do anything to protect them. Do I regret taking them the way we did? I’d like to say I’m a good enough man to say yes to that, but I can’t. If we hadn’t resorted to drastic measures like kidnapping, I don’t think we’d be here now and fuck, it’s good. I can’t possibly regret something that brought us together.

Sebastian glances at me. “So, we’re talking about proposals and everything?”

I nod slowly, but don’t speak until he asks the stupidest question I’ve ever heard.

“What if they say no?”

I chuckle as I wrap my arm around him. “There’s only one acceptable answer, baby. But they won’t.”

The fact is, I would’ve never allowed them to leave before. But now? There’s no fucking way they are leaving us and taking our children with them.

STELLA

A hand wraps around my throat. Squeezing. I try to breathe through my nose, but he closes off my air supply there too. I writhe, trying to get away, but there’s no use. The pain. My head throbs as white spots dance in my vision. I’m going to die here.

Tears spring to my eyes as the white spots turn to black.

He chuckles viciously, but off somewhere in the distance I hear someone screaming, “Help! She won’t wake up. Help!”

I gasp repeatedly while warm arms pull me in.Sebastian.I know it’s him. The scent of cedar and orange surrounds me, and I come unglued.

Sobbing into his bare chest, he holds me tighter. “Let it out, baby. You’re safe. I’ll protect you.”

That’s the problem with nightmares, no one can save you from them. Once you’re there, you’re trapped. There’s no way out until somehow you wake from them.

“We never should’ve left her,” he says to someone angrily.

The bed dips with someone's weight, and I hear Gage. “Little mama, look at me.”

I blink my eyes open, finding Gage beside us on the bed, staring at me with a concerned expression. “I’m sorry.”

Gage wipes my tears on one cheek away with the pad of his thumb. “I’m sorry.”

What is he apologizing for? Mav stands behind him with the same worried look, and I sit up because this isn’t right. I shouldn’t be making them all anxious. I’m fine. I didn’t get seriously hurt. I’m still alive.

Wiping my tears away, I sigh loudly. “I’m sorry. It was just a nightmare. No big deal.”

Gage's expression turns from concern to pure anger, although I don’t think it’s directed at me. “That’s what you think, Stella? You think it doesn’t matter? What you two went through, no big deal? Wrong, baby. It’s a very big fucking deal.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, he narrows his gaze directly at me. “You will not do any more of this book shit without us right there. You will never again be in danger like that.”

Kneeling on the bed in front of me, with Sebastian's legs between us, he cups my face. “Never again, Stella. We almost lost you, and that is not something I can tolerate.”

MAV

Both the other guys are worried about Stella, rightfully so, but they’re missing an important piece here. As I stare at Lucy, she’s huddled in the corner of the bed, arms wrapped around her legs, and she’s not okay. She didn’t get beaten by that asshole, nor did she nearly get raped, but she has also been traumatized. And if I know her at all, she’s beside herself with worry about her best friend, while simultaneously berating herself for not saving her. Any of us could tell her there was nothing she could’ve done. That doesn’t change how she feels. I know when we walked into the house, we heard Stella screaming. It was painful to hear. How long was Lucy listening to that very same thing?

I walk around to the other side of the bed and sit next to Lucy. “Are you okay?”

She nods, but I know she isn’t being honest. I’ve paid close attention to her for so long now. I know her expressions, her body language, I fucking know her like the back of my hand.

Pulling her into my arms, I hold her against my chest and whisper in her ear, “You’re such a beautiful liar.”

She giggles against my chest. “You have a way of making an insult sound nice, Mav.”

I shrug my shoulders. “It’s a gift.”

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