Page 50 of Unmask
Josie stepped forward, softening the air with her presence. She rounded the island and pulled me into a hug that pressed something hot against my chest. “Hey,” she said quietly. “Don’t worry. We’re not here to bust you.”
Ainsley and Mads flanked her, both offering comforting squeezes that were too gentle for the guilt in my gut. I hadn’t seen them in months. I swallowed hard, blinking fast.Don’t get emotional now.
Behind them, Micah’s gaze zeroed in on Kreed. “Like this one?” he said, lips pressing around the words.
The Kreed who was in my bed was gone, and in his place was all hardness, his expression masked. “You all throw intervention brunches often?”
No one laughed.
Except Micah. His smile was razor-edged, armed with dimples. “Only when a Corvo is somewhere he isn’t wanted.”
Even Mads looked ready to launch her latte at Kreed.
I winced. “Is there something going on?” I asked quickly, trying to cut through the tension before it exploded.
Josie took another sip of her coffee, nodding. “We wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“All of you?” I arched a brow. “Not that I don’t appreciate seeing you, because I do. Trust me. Living alone isn’t all that glamorous.”
Josie tilted her head, chocolate eyes gleaming. “Sure. That’s why you let someone you hate sleep in your bed.”
My throat dried as Kreed turned to look at me. “Don’t start,” I warned him.
“So that’s why you let him stay?” Fynn leaned on the counter, his voice cool. “You didn’t want to be alone?”
“Not exactly,” I admitted, my shoulder hitting the doorway as I unleashed some of my weight onto the wood.
“Ididn’t want her to be alone,” Kreed piped up, his voice low but unwavering.
Brock glowered at the Corvo in question. “Since when do you make decisions about my cousin’s well-being?”
“Or anything to do with her life?” Fynn added, pinning Kreed with his unrelenting green eyes.
“You never had that privilege to begin with,” Micah said.
They were ganging up on him, and I wasn’t supposed to care, but the way Kreed stood, unmoved and enduring it like he thought he deserved it, itched under my skin.
Kreed’s tone didn’t change. “If I don’t, who will? None of you was here. I know what my father did was fucked up, but I’m not him.”
Brock gave a slow nod of understanding despite his eyes narrowing. If anyone got the I-want-to-be-different-from-the-people-who-raised-me thing, it was my cousin. “Still, you have your own reputation. Your own crew. And that comes with risk.”
Kreed glanced around the room, gaze hard as stone. “They’ll do whatever it takes to make sure she doesn’t get hurt.”
My cousin angled his head. “Believe it or not, I think you mean that. Physically, I think you’d protect her, but what I worry about is what happens after. The emotional shrapnel you leave behind.”
“Brock,” I hissed under my breath. “Could you not act like I’m invisible?”
Kreed leaned against the doorway. “If I have to choose between hurting her feelings and protecting her life, I’ll hurt her feelings every damn time.”
Josie broke the silence. “Does that mean you still think she’s in danger?”
Kreed nodded. “Yeah. I do.”
That single sentence changed the air. Tension dropped into something heavier, more grounded. “Care to tell me what happened last night? I got a notification from the security system,” Brock said.
Kreed’s jaw ticked. “Someone tripped the alarm, but by the time I got outside, they were gone.”
Fynn frowned. “How do we know you didn’t plan it? That it wasn’t one of your crew or your brothers who set it off?”
