Page 31 of Royally Bad

In wonderment, she looked my way. “Here. He was one of the guys serving drinks at the dinner party.”

All muscle and fury, my father pushed out of his chair. “Call your brothers,” he snapped, pulling out his cell phone. “Tell them to get their asses here.”

He didn’t say who he was going to call instead, and I didn’t ask. I had other things to worry about. “What should I tell them?”

“That we need to find out the name and face of every single person that was here yesterday.” Leveling his fierce blues on me—eyes so unlike my mother’s—he loomed closer. His voice came out softer than it had any right to be. “A rat in our kitchen can be handled, but it sounds like this one has brass balls and rabies both.”

I’d started to dial, but the sight of Sammy stopped me. In my oversize jacket and no shoes, she was the epitome of vulnerable. Yet there she was, standing right in front of my hulking father, her face daring him to knock her aside.

What the hell was she doing?

Her hands fisted by her hips. “Listen,” she said, like she wouldn’t consider letting anyone interrupt her. “I know the face of the man who attacked me. Maybe he’s even the one who got me arrested. But the more I think it over, the more I want to call the police so they can handle it.”

“Sammy,” I started.

Maverick held up a hand, not looking away from her. “My gut says the reason someone went after you tonight had to do with us. I owe it to you to keep you safe.”

She was already shaking her head. “The police can keep me safe.”

His laugh was a bellow, it made his shoulders shake. “That’s what you think? Do you have anyideawhat the police care about? Here’s a hint: it isn’t bystanders like you.” Leaning down so they were eye-to-eye, he said, “Money. It all comes back to money.”

Sammy thought we were all scum, but the cops were more corrupt than my family could ever hope to be. They also sucked at doing their jobs. If she went back with them, they’d do nothing to keep this mystery man from getting his hands on her again.

The cops around here were dirty.

I knew too well that promises from dirty cops meant shit.

Sammy didn’t break their staring contest. She didn’t even twitch. “You want to act like my bodyguard until, what, you find the guy who’s after me?” she asked.

Lowering his brows, he considered her as if seeing her for the first time. I had to smile; I knew he was recognizing what I had. He said, “I’m not going to be guarding you.” His attention jumped to me. “Kain is.”

Her mouth quivered: the first sign of her uncertainty. Sammy watched me with such wide, emotive eyes that I thought I could stare hard enough—long enough—and eventually peek right into her soul.

She spoke to me, but she was addressing Maverick. “I’m flattered. But I seriously don’t need anyone to watch over me.”

He was halfway to the door, his phone to his ear and my mother at his side. “You don’t have a choice. No one leaves these grounds until I know what’s going on.”

“I—what?” She looked so small; had she always been like that? Turning, she took two steps after him. “I can’t stay here! I’ve got a business to run, and my mother ...”

Her mother?

Maverick slowed in the doorway. “Tell Kain about anything you need. My family will take care of you, Sammy.” His hand braced on the frame. “We’re not your enemies,” he said firmly. “We can keep you safer than anyone.”

She watched him go, his broad back tight as he vanished. I could hear him murmuring into the phone, my mother whispering as she hung on his arm. Then we were alone, just me and the girl I’d whisked away from danger like a hero from a fireside story.

Except the way she was glaring at me ...

I didn’t feel like I was her hero at all.

“Sammy,” I said.

Slipping my jacket off, she dropped it on the floor. I winced at the sound it made, a gentle rustle that rang as loud as funeral bells in my heart.

“Sammy, listen. This is only temporary, my father just wants—”

“Did you know he’d do this?” Sammy had barely moved. Every fraction of the air that she touched, I felt it resonate with me. I was hyperaware of her, and I had no idea how to turn it off.

My arms came up; her eyes went down. “No. I did plan to guard you until this was figured out, but I didn’t think he’d forbid you from leaving.”

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