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Me:There’s a tornado. I’m in the basement.

Bastard:Come to the lobby. I need to talk to you.

The malicious “or else”hung unwritten in the text.

“I need to go,” I said, pocketing my phone.

“Why?”

“In the middle of a damned tornado?”

“Don’t be stupid.”

“It’s my father,” I said, as if that would explain everything. For me, at least, it did. No one left D.O.D. waiting.

“Screw the bastard,” Ronan said.

I snorted. “Easier said than done. You’re not his daughter.” And you don’t have to face his wrath. I didn’t say those words aloud, but I could tell from the guys’ frowning faces they understood the unspoken words.

“Is he trying to get you killed?” Calax exploded, his hand clenching into fists.

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” I muttered. Louder, I said, “I’ll be right back. Besides, the tornado probably missed the resort, if it is even still, you know, tornadoing.”

“Tornadoing?” Ryder asked in disbelief. He really needed to stop doing that. I didn’t know how this friendship would work if he constantly questioned my word choices.

“She’s right, though,” Asher said quietly. “It was a tornado warning, yes, but from the weather projection, there was only a slim chance that it would hit the resort.”

“Still-” Calax began, but I held up a hand to stop him.

“No, Calax. You don’t get to tell me what to do. I don’t need you to always protect me.” I met his eyes over the top of Asher’s head. In his gaze, I could see a swarm of emotions, some I couldn’t entirely understand. One thing I knew for certain was that there was no hate in his gaze. I knew hate; I saw hate in the leering gaze of business partners and my parents regularly. This...I didn’t know what this was, but it wasn’t something I was familiar with.

“Fine,” Calax said at last. With surprising agility given his immense size, he lumbered to his feet. “I’m coming with you.”

“No,” I hurried to respond. “My parents-”

“Your parents are no longer just your problem. They’reourproblem now. I should’ve come earlier, I should’ve realized earlier, and I didn’t. That’s on me. But that doesn’t mean that I won’t help you now. I’ll be damned if I let anything happen to you when I could’ve prevented it.”

I knew the resolve in his gaze mirrored of my own. There was no changing his mind.

“Fine, but only you. The rest of you-” I leveled my glare on the rest of the boys, “-will stay here.”

Before anyone could protest, Declan nodded stiffly.

“Fine. But you better come straight back.”

We exchanged a long look. I could tell that he didn’t agree with my decision to only bring Calax, but he respected it. We may not have been friends, he may have hated me, but we understood each other at that moment. My decision was for my own sake as much as theirs.

I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to my new friends because of me. I was already putting Calax at risk, though there was nothing I could do about that. The bastard was more stubborn than I was.

And yes, he was still a bastard, even if he did look at me as if we were lovers instead of enemies.

Even if he did want to protect me.

It was safer that way, both for him and me. I didn’t do feelings or emotions; I didn’t let people in. It was easier.

“Come on, Callie. Let’s go see what my lovely parents want.”