Page 77 of Between Never and Forever

“But we don’t talk about it, and we don’t discuss Keelani or her family, which is a whole other issue in and of itself.”

“What’s wrong with her—”

“I’m not here to give you a damn summary of her life, Dex. She can do that when she’s ready. Maybe try asking her.”

“Maybe I should hack her records,” I grumbled, irritated that he wanted to protect her privacy over helping me.

“I’m actually surprised you haven’t,” he threw back, but the fear of falling into an obsession over her was real, and I didn’t want to go down into that black hole, unsure of if I’d be able to get out.

“Whatever. What else do you want?” I asked.

He took a deep breath, as if he was trying to cool down. “Look, she needs security all around that fucking concert, okay? Not just normal security. I want them crawling up the damn walls. Cameras everywhere. The last guy wrote her letters, enclosed her own panties in the envelope, and he was found in her hotel room.”

“What do you mean he was in her goddamn hotel room?”

“Police got there before she did. She was fine, but we need to be vigilant.”

“Now wait. What the fuck? How had he sent her her own panties?” I bellowed.

Dimitri stared at me like I was born yesterday. “If you got a girl’s panties, you either were given them or—”

“He was in her home before that and was searching for them?”

“Bingo.”

“Fuck me.” This is why I couldn’t have her blurring lines. It fucked with how I managed my resort and infected my mind with something I thought might be love. If I wasn’t focused, I’d lose her in a much more permanent way. I grumbled and then I grabbed my laptop. “She’s got a security team, right?”

“One Mitchell assigns every tour. She doesn’t trust them, and I don’t either. Your eyes had better be on her at all times during performance nights. Mine will be.”

I opened my laptop and typed away, pulling up camera after camera until I saw her in our apartment. I breathed a sigh of relief. My system’s technology was state of the art and innovative. We tracked the rate of a heartbeat, could decipher the difference in fear and pain and pleasure just from the room-monitoring capabilities.

Our watches also alerted us to information on each of our clients. They’d all signed off on us tracking their every single movement. Being a HEAT member meant safety, security, and protection. Not intrusion.

At least not in the past. But fuck if I wasn’t going to cross that line with her. “I can take care of her.”

“I don’t give a shit what you think you can do. That’s my girl out there.”

I couldn’t help that my eyes cut to his fast. “Your girl?”

“She’s been mine all the years you were too much of a coward to get over your feelings and do what you should have done long ago.”

“What the fuck did you just say?” I stood up.

Dimitri knew not to go down this road with me. He never did. It was a line he wasn’t supposed to cross. Still, he stood up too. “You heard me.”

“What is it, exactly, that you think I should have done?”

“You should have wifed her up years ago. She should be my sister-in-law.” He said it so matter-of-factly. Like I had a choice.

“She left me,” I clarified, even though it sounded like a weak excuse at this point.

“Oh, grow the fuck up. She never actually left. She would have done long-distance had you given her the chance, and we all know it. She even came back and nearly begged for you to get back together.Youleft her.”

“You don’t know,” I whispered, but my voice almost cracked. I almost gave into the pain I felt as I crumbled back into my chair, not willing to fight my brother over a girl we both loved but in different ways.

“Fine. Maybe I don’t. But I know she’s been through enough hell. You get me? So, don’t fuck it up this time.”

“Or what?”