Page 34 of Craving Francesca

I didn’t look away as I pulled my wallet out and threw some cash on the table.

She wasn’t there for them. I hadn’t imagined she would be—that wasn’t her style. Still, I almost wished she had been because as soon as she realized what they were doing, her entire body visibly stiffened.

I shoved out of the booth, my eyes still on the window as Frankie’s shoulders straightened, and she barked something at the woman in front of her. The lady bristled, taking a step back, but another one took her place.

I watched the windows as I headed toward the front door.

As I stepped outside, Frankie shoved a guy out of her way. I couldn’t tell what she was saying, but by the expression on her face, it wasn’texcuse me. The group crowded her, and the noise from across the street grew louder.

I’d just taken a step off the curb when the front door of the building opened, and a security guard waded into the melee and herded Frankie inside with him.

My stomach pitched as the door closed behind them.

There were a thousand reasons she could be at that clinic. They did all kinds of testing. Even yearly checkups. She wasn’t necessarily there for anything big.

But the way she’d engaged with those protesters didn’t sit right. I’d seen Frankie in a hundred different scenarios, and for the most part she ignored people who were being assholes. It wasn’t unless they were directly targeting her or the people closest to her that she felt the need to put them in their place. If she’d been there for a checkup, she would’ve laughed in their faces and sailed right through them,accidentallystomping on a few feet.

Whatever she was doing in that clinic wasn’t any of my business, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to stand by and watch her get hassled by those protesters again when she left.

I made a few calls.

Fifteen minutes later, I was striding across the street with my cousin Draco, Brody, Mick, Otto, Cian, and Bas. It wasn’t a large group of us by any means, just the few who were at a point in their work where they could take a break to help out.

It was enough.

“Where’s your cape?” Draco joked as we reached the opposite sidewalk.

“Left it in my saddlebags,” I deadpanned.

“I’m always down for some menacing, but is there a reason for this particular group?” Otto asked.

“I don’t like them.”

Otto grinned.

As we moved inward, crowding them into a smaller and smaller area, I tried not to laugh. The protesters who’d felt so righteous that they’d been yelling things at Frankie were too timid to say a goddamn word when they were faced with a group more intimidating than they were.

“What are you doing?” one of the men asked gruffly, puffing out his chest with his thumbs caught in his front belt loops. Ah, so one of them had a backbone.

“You got a permit to protest here?” Bas asked with mock seriousness.

I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Frankie.

Stay inside until I tell you to come out.

“This is a public sidewalk,” one of the women called out shrilly. “We have every right to be here.”

“Feelin’ pretty proud of yourself?” I asked as I stuck the phone back in my pocket. “Out here harassin’ girls for seein’ a doctor.”

“This clinic kills babies,” the man spat, taking a step backward. “Anyone who utilizes it deserves to be harassed.”

“Anybody here agree with a woman’s right to choose?” Mick asked in amusement.

The seven of us raised our hands.

The man scoffed.

“You’re going to round up your little group,” I said quietly, leaning in. “And you’re going to get the fuck outta here.”

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