“Do you want to go?” she asked, turning her head to look at him.
“No.”
“What if I went with you?”
He contemplated it for a moment before letting out a sigh and leaning his chin on her shoulder.
“You offering to hold my hand?”
“No, well… yes, but I meant going as your partner to support you.”
We’d spent the past couple of days removing all the fucking trackers on our cars, making sure our security was increased further and acknowledging no matter what we did, Stuart was coming for us. We’d finalised the plan between us. It was a question of enacting it. Drake wanted Scarlett home before we did anything. She was just as much in this as we were. It was all together or nothing.
“And before you say no because of the danger of me leaving Fortuity poses, may I remind you of the three men you killed to protect me? You won’t let anything happen to me.”
I almost laughed. Drake would never allow anyone to take Scarlett again. Not after Mason kidnapped her from under our noses. He took it personally as he was the last person to see her that night, even if he didn’t like to show it. I swear losing her a second time had cracked the ice casing around his emotions and brought them all out to the forefront. At least around us and Scarlett.
“I won’t.”
“Well then.” She twisted in my lap and took a hold of his hand, pressing a kiss to his palm. “You don’t have to deal with your family alone. You have me now.”
“She’s right, you know,” I said, earning me a hard stare from Drake.
“She’s always right when it comes to you, Drake,” Prescott put in.
Drake sat up and looked at West as if he was going to add something. West’s amber eyes glinted with amusement as if seeing us give Drake a hard time was the highlight of his day.
“What they said.”
“I hate all of you,” Drake ground out, which only made Scarlett laugh.
“You do not. Don’t be such a big baby. I’ve already met your step-uncle once. What’s the worst that could happen this time, huh?”
I swear his eyes practically popped out of his sockets at her words. Then he crossed his arms over his chest.
“Fine. I’ll let him know to expect both of us.”
Scarlett leant over and pressed her lips to his cheek.
“See, that wasn’t so difficult.”
“You’re walking on very thin ice, Scarlett.”
She sat back against me and grinned. I put an arm around her waist, holding her closer.
“I think I earned myself a punishment,” she whispered to me.
“Do you think he’s going to do it in front of us?”
“Maybe… if we provoke him enough.”
“That’s it,” Drake announced before he grabbed a hold of Scarlett, tugged her out of my arms and put her face down across his lap. “You asked for this, brat.”
She turned her head up to look at him.
“Oh, I know. Punish me so I can get my reward, sir.”
Drake ran his palm across her bare behind.
“And what reward might that be?”
“You, me, them and the playroom.”
I bit my lip as Drake smiled.
“I see someone has been missing her horsemen a little too much. We can’t have that, can we?”
He looked at the rest of us. I was certainly not going to complain, and neither was Prescott nor West. When he got our approval, he turned back to Scarlett.
“Well, let’s begin.”
Fuck did the night take a rather unexpected but pleasant turn for all five of us. Scarlett might have needed the ropes to calm her down, but us together, locked in ecstasy, was the very best way to celebrate her coming home.
Soon, things were going to get dicey. And it would be life or death for all of us in the end.
Thirty
Drake
Scarlett had been right last night. I would protect her if anyone tried to take her. And forcing her to hide out was taking a toll on her. The whole incident with Prescott and her had only proven it was fucking futile. No matter what we did, Stuart would come after her. So we were going to bring the fucking pain to him. No more waiting. No more biding our time.
Well, we would go after him once I’d dealt with what Fletcher wanted. If Stuart’s men saw us out and about without a care in the world after what happened a few days ago, it would piss the man off. Flaunting it in his face was better than keeping my girl locked up in an ivory tower. Rattle his cage to force him into making more mistakes. His biggest one was yet to come. Thinking we wouldn’t have the balls to kill the motherfucker. Idiot. We killed his children when we were sixteen. What made him think he wouldn’t be next after everything he’d done to us? To Scarlett? The cunt was far too secure in his position. Not any longer.