Page 26 of Control Freak

I stood up to leave. “This still doesn’t guarantee they won’t find me,” I said quietly. “Your brothers…”

“It’s a small risk, but I’ll make sure they’re aware of what’s going on, if you’re comfortable with that. I had to tell them a little already, to explain your bruising.”

I lifted my hand to my jaw, caressing the tender flesh. I’d almost forgotten about that. “It’s only fair they know what you’re bringing into their house.”

“Okay, then. I’ll tell them and their boyfriends. Dalton is a sheriff. If those creeps do come for you, you won’t be alone, Shiloh. My brothers know how to fight,” he said dryly. “Sometimes too well. And if it comes to it, Dalton can throw those assholes in a jail cell.”

“He can’t arrest them until after they hurt someone, though…”

“Oh, he can. He wouldn’t arrest them for nothing, but there are other charges. Stalking, maybe? Hell, I don’t care. We’ll get them for trespassing. The law is on our side, okay? This isn’t a big city like St. Louis. Dalton is one of us, and we take care of our own.”

I nodded, my chest loosening. “Okay. Yeah. I, uh, need to message a couple of my friends that I’m okay before we get rid of my phone.”

“All right. I’ll get dressed while you do that.”

I let my gaze slide over Holden once more, a little more boldly this time, and winked at him. “It’s a shame more people can’t appreciate this view.”

Red spread across his chest and climbed up his throat. Damn, but I’d love to trace it with my lips, my tongue.

Down, boy. He’s not yours to touch.

“Just so you know,” I murmured, “that blush only makes you hotter.”

“What? I’m not—” He huffed a breath. “I don’tblush.”

I laughed as I went out the door, Banshee on my heels.

Holden hadn’t really told me anything I didn’t know. But he’d listened, took my fears seriously, and suggested a small measure of safety.

It was amazing just how much it reassured me to know I wasn’t alone in this anymore.

I texted Sheila and Nate.

Went out of town. Getting a new phone, so don’t worry if you don’t hear from me for a while. I’m safe.

For the first time in a long time, it actually felt true.

CHAPTER 7

Holden

I squirmed on the couch,more exhausted than when I’d finally gotten tired enough to let down my guard and sleep around three in the morning. Out here in the open, I was hyperaware of every noise in the house. When Bailey ventured out of his bedroom to root through the refrigerator. When Gray and Emory crept down the stairs to use the shower, whispering and giggling. The adorable lovers’ routine was more charming when I didn’t want to crawl out of my skin.

Every creak, every cough, every little noise unsettled me.

My bedroom was my safe place. An area I controlled. With a door I could lock. Out here, I was exposed and vulnerable. It caught me off guard, just how uneasy it made me. I hadn’t felt this way since I’d had to share a dorm room in college.

I rolled off the couch at 5:00 a.m., when it was still too dark for sunlight, and started a pot of coffee. My hands trembled a little, and dark thoughts kept battering at my walls.

Hard voices. Harder hands. My mother?—

No. I clenched my eyes and gritted my teeth as I pushed the images away. My skin was tight and crackly—as if maybe it remembered better even than I did.

But Shiloh is safe.

The thought soothed me almost as much as the coffee I sipped from a mug that had chipped when Bailey dropped it years ago. I ran my thumb over the uneven ceramic, a reminder of the family I had now.

My brothers weren’t perfect. Far from it. But they had my back. They’d barely even blinked an eye when I brought Shiloh here with less than twenty-four hours’ warning. They’d agreed, unanimously, that he should stay after learning of the dangerous men who might want to hurt him.