Page 51 of Mask and the Magnolia

”Do I really need a reason to stop by to see my baby sister, and mate?”

My stomach rolls at his words, bile creeping up my throat from that one simple term.

One he doesn’t get to use yet because it hasn’t happened, and I’m still trying to find a way out of mating him.

“Camden,” Evie grunts. “It’s too early for you and your bullshit.”

“Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

”No,” she deadpans. “But I know you’re going to come in anyway.”

My heart starts pounding in my chest and my palms go clammy as he looks directly at me. It’s like he knows he’s sendingme into a panic. He probably does and I wouldn’t put it past him to get off on it. I don’t want him to come in. I don’t want Camden anywhere near me or our apartment. I want him to go away and never come back but that’s not an option.

Not yet.

“Actually, I’m not. Not this morning.” His muted hazel eyes never leave my face as he grins. “I came to give you a ride into the quad.”

I swallow hard as that grin turns into something sinister, something scary, and I send up a thank you to whatever force is out there because Evie is with me so this can’t be all bad.

My best friend tosses the frying pan onto the couch then grabs our bags, shoving mine at me before tugging me out the door and past her brother.

“We already have a ride, Cam. The twins are taking us.”

They aren’t, that wasn’t actually the plan, but all Eve needs to do is let them know her needle dick brother is here harassing us and Maddox and Hendrix will be waiting downstairs before we clear the elevator doors.

She locks up and turns, pushing her brother toward said elevator before he digs his heels in and stops her.

“Evelyn,” he growls as he narrows his eyes. “I don’t appreciate your behavior right now.”

“And I don’t appreciate unannounced visits at eight in the morning.”

Camden looks past her to me and I can see the second he realizes how scared I actually am.

A slow smile curves his lips. “The twins won’t mind if I snatch you away for myself, will they?”

Evie pops her hip out as she crosses her arms against her chest. “We have a meeting.”

“Even better. I was talking about Magnolia.”

My hands start to shake as I sling my bag over my shoulder, trying to keep my cool despite how badly I want to run back into our apartment and hide.

If I didn’t have to be at work, I would.

I do, though.

Today is kind of a big day for the residents.

Nothing monumental, not when you look at the big picture, but today they all get to be out in the common areas without any restraints, and without our constant supervision.

We’ll be there, obviously, and so will the guards, but no one is going to be sitting in the thick of what they’re doing. Nurses will be at their stations, guards at their posts, and Isaak and I will run things like we do when they’re in their apartments.

The residents can roam the entire ward without a babysitter. We don’t even have cameras anywhere except the med closet sobig brotherwon’t be watching either.

It’s a big deal.

It’s a big day for me, too, actually.

Since it’s Wednesday, we have two therapy sessions, and Isaak is letting me run one of them completely on my own. I get to use the adjoining office, the one that would be used if he had a secretary. He’ll be one button push away but I get to run Lochlan’s session solo and I’m really excited.