Page 29

chapter

twenty-eight

Olivier

“ Y ou know what’s at stake,” Seven said, arms folded as he glared at me. “Still you showed up to, what? Bring her home to just get laid? What happened to bro code?”

I’d grabbed a shower and a change of clothes. Now I was attempting to relax before I crashed. I did have a junket the next day, and I wasn’t remotely interested in any of it, not when I was waiting for confirmation that Stella was home safe and sound. My glance at the phone went unrewarded.

Knowing my luck, Gem was just going to spend the night there. Lucky bastard. I’d be stuck here with Sev and his bitching.

“Are you even listening to me?” Seven demanded.

“You’re going to have a heart attack before forty if you don’t find some Zen.” I decided to get a drink if I had to listen to him bitch much longer. “No one saw us. She’s with Gem, which is the same as being with you right now, as far as the press is concerned, and I’m not a complete moron. I do know how to keep my personal life out of the press.”

Seven’s expression tightened. Good, that meant he understood the dig. Our careers were important to us. I loved acting. I loved the art of filmmaking. Playing the media game and walking the tightrope between public and private personas was also the job.

I’d controlled that narrative, thank you very much, and cultivated the playboy image. It meant no long-term commitments on display even when I’d had them. Seven couldn’t take a shit without it making Page Six. That was never going to be me.

The alarm let out a warning beep to let us know Gem was back. Good. I swapped the unopened beer out for water and turned to the door from the garage.

“Hey,” I said as she came through the door. “Snow, baby, I wasn’t expecting you back so soon! I am, however, not all sad to see Gem persuaded you to stay here tonight.”

“I’m not sad,” Seven added as he joined us. “I’m pissed. So much for not being on the clock.”

“Sev,” Gem snapped. The warning in his tone suggested Seven had pushed his twin about as far as Gem was willing to let him. Better he figured it out now before he ended up with a broken nose. “I insisted she come back after what we found at her apartment.”

“What did you find?” I crossed to where Stella stood, arms wrapped loosely around herself. For the first time since I’d met her—and that included when that prick had been strangling her—she seemed fragile and lost. “Hey,” I murmured, rubbing my hands against her biceps. “You’re freezing.”

Her hair was also still damp. They couldn’t have been gone more than ninety minutes.

“Someone broke into her place,” Gem said as he started some coffee. “Trashed it. Tore everything up. Someone dumped all the chemicals and it smelled like cat piss everywhere.”

“What the fuck?” I glanced at Snow. “Does this have anything to do with that prick…?”

“Maybe, but Gem doesn’t think so.” She shuddered. “Even though he was lurking nearby to gloat about it.”

I wrapped her up, sharing body heat, and she didn’t pull away.

“One of the dirtier tabloid sites got your name and address somehow and published it online.” Seven actually sounded disturbed as he scrolled angrily through his phone. “Fuck.”

He locked gazes with his twin, but it wasn’t one of their usual silent battles. If anything, it only lasted a beat of time before he shifted his attention to Stella.

“You need to stay here,” he said, shocking the shit out of me, and if Gem’s little jerk was any indication, him too. “We’ll get you set up and I’ll replace anything destroyed.”

“You don’t have to do that,” she said, sounding so weary, it made my bones ache. “Really, I can go stay with my dad. It’s not ideal, but I need to check on him too.”

“As much as I’d like to say that would be fine, if they found your apartment, how long will it take them to track you to your father’s place? Someone probably gave them your info, and who’s to say they won’t hand over your dad’s address too?”

Instead of answering, Stella banged her head lightly against my chest. I only knew a little about her dad, but what I knew was he was sick and took a lot of care. “We have security here,” I said. “You even heard it, remember? You staying here is totally reasonable, especially for selling the dating story.”

“Though we may want to get you two broken up sooner,” Gem said, “rather than later. Might take the target off her.”

Could be. It would also clear the way for me to officially date her. I could keep her shielded, then we’d have all the time we wanted.

“You can definitely stay with me,” I said. “It’d be a fun sleepover, and I have plenty of room for you.”

“She’s sleeping with me, dickhead,” Gem informed me. The coffee was ready and he poured her some. I nudged her over to the counter, so she could drink it. “Already decided that before we came back.”

“Fine, you can swap back and forth.” I was willing to make that concession. “It’ll be no trouble at all.”

“Excuse me,” Seven interjected into the silence. “Is Stella staying here as a guest to be protected or just a bedwarmer and fuck buddy for you two assholes?”

I frowned and I wasn’t alone.

“Hey,” Gem said. “I would never treat Slick like some one-night stand or easy lay.”

“Good, then we’ll set her up in her own room and suite. It’s not like we don’t have the space. Then if she doesn’t want to fuck one of you two losers, she can say no and not have to worry about where she sleeps.”

Yeah, it might not be Gem who punched Seven at this rate.

Stella cleared her throat, pulling all our gazes like a magnet. “Look, I don’t want to be any trouble or cause for strife…”

“Stray, shut it. You’re here now. Gem was right to make you come back. We should probably make arrangements to get your car and anything else salvageable.”

“She’s already here,” Gem said. “I brought her bike, and she drove her car. They’re both in the garage. I’ll get a ride back for my car later.”

“Fine, then let’s get the green room ready.”

“Green room?” She was still way paler than I cared for, but she seemed to be rallying.

“It’s the color palette for the room. Our decorator decided to do the rooms in color themes because, and I quote, ‘we are impossible to work for and don’t seem to know what we want.’” The woman had been very talented but not remotely patient.

Seven shrugged. “It works. Anyway, come on. Bring the coffee with you if you want.”

I don’t know who was more surprised by the active role Seven took in leading Stella upstairs to the guest room with us trailing after. Having her own room was nice, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t sleep in one of ours or I couldn’t go sleep with her. Right?

Gem had gotten a night with her sleeping in his bed already. That meant I had dibs on next.

The green room was not on the same side where my room or Gem’s was. Seven’s room was closer, but at least it wasn’t in the same hall.

She put her coffee cup down as she turned in a slow circle. “This seems like a little too much and…”

“It’s not enough,” Gem said, and I was inclined to agree. “But for now it will have to be. Just…promise you’ll stay here until we figure all of this out?”

You could practically feel the exhaustion rolling off of her. “Fine,” she said, raising her hands in surrender. “I’ll stay. But the moment it becomes too much, I go. Agreed?”

“As long as it’s safe for you,” Seven said, “I have no problems kicking you to the curb.”

“Thank you.” She sounded so dry.

Seven shrugged. “Don’t mention it. Seriously. For now, we’ll let you get some sleep.”

“Does this mean I get hazard pay?” The question was so wry and deadpan, I damn near laughed aloud.

Looking less amused, Seven just said, “Don’t push it.”

Gem and I both looked at Stella for the invitation to stay. When she pressed a kiss to the corner of Gem’s mouth, I took the hint. Not tonight.

“Go on,” I said to Gem. “I just want a couple of minutes, then I’ll head for my own bed. Promise. Scout’s honor.” I held my fingers up in the Vulcan blessing of live long and prosper and smiled wide.

Rolling his eyes, Seven dragged his twin out and the door closed behind them. I faced Stella who looked at me with those hypnotic emerald eyes. Dressed in borrowed clothing, she looked damn good even if the sweatshirt was too big and the shorts hit below her knees.

“Disheveled kind of suits you, Snow.”

A flash of amusement softened her darker mood. “That’s what you wanted to stay to talk about?”

“No,” I said, closing the distance and cupping her face in my hands. “I wanted to say I’m sorry. I know how slimy it feels when someone invades your privacy, how vulnerable that can make you. I’m even more sorry that helping us landed you in that position.”

Was she dating Seven for me? No. She was doing it for Gem more than his twin. Yet her actions helped them both out, and they were my family. Helping them meant helping me.

“That makes you one of us,” I said. “Make a list so we can replace anything you need. We’ll take care of getting that place cleaned. Maybe get you moved into a building with better security?”

She tilted her head back with a groan, and I made some kind of soothing sound.

“I know, it all costs money. We’ll figure it out. Bright Starz paid real well, didn’t they?” We’d put a call in and I’d personally volunteered to write a check for anything she brought them, if they didn’t want it. Stella was proud as hell and would never just take the money directly, no matter how much she needed it.

“Yeah…most of the stuff in the apartment was just stuff…”

“But?” The past few weeks had given me some insight into the stubborn, gorgeous woman who wouldn’t let us spoil her the way I wanted to, so I just made sure she never had to worry about food.

“There were personal things that were in there.”

“They can’t be replaced.” I rubbed her biceps again. “Give me a little time to chew on this. I bet I can find a way to make it up to you.”

Another laugh escaped her, and when she wrapped her arms around my neck, I lifted her for a real hug.

“It’s going to be all right,” I promised. Then, because I was saintly, I asked, “Do you want company or would you rather sleep alone? I know what I would prefer, but I think in this case Seven is right: you get to decide.”

She squeezed me once and then eased back, and I let her go. “I’m just…wrecked. I need to sleep. Honestly, I think I need to go into a coma for a few hours. Then I need to check on my dad. Can I have a rain check?”

“Anytime,” I promised. A knock on the door interrupted anything else I would have said, so I answered it.

Seven stood there with a stack of T-shirts and leggings in hand. The look he gave me was bored. “I have these. They’re not going to be much but they will be closer to you in size.”

Stella eyed him, then the stack and finally crossed to us and took it. “Thank you.”

“Not going to ask me who owned them?”

“Nope. Clara Belle wouldn’t be caught dead in these and there’s no other woman’s underwear to ick me out. Beggars are definitely not choosers. Good night, Ollie…Demon Spawn.”

The fact she shut him up so efficiently amused the hell out of me, but I nudged him into the hallway and let her close the door behind us.

Studying Seven, I tilted my head to keep an eye on him as we headed away from her bedroom.

“What?” he demanded.

“Nothing, just trying to figure out where you found that unexpected scrap of humanity.”

“Fuck off, Ollie,” he said without heat. “I’ll take care of arming the security system. Get some sleep.”

“Yep,” I said, then headed to my room.

Alone.

While the very beautiful, curvaceous, and hot-tongued Stella slept a few doors away.

Life could be cruel and kind.