Page 4

Chapter four

I typed the same boring budget request into the same boring system, something I’d been doing for years. For the thousandth time, I wondered how much of my adult life had been wasted approving conference registration fees and hotel accommodations.

Too much. Way too much.

I sighed, shifting in my ergonomic chair, stretching my neck.

Other than the faint hum of florescent lights and the occasional shuffle of students passing by in the hallway, my office was quiet.

Bored stiff, I stared out my window, which overlooked the main quad.

It made me feel wistful. I never spent much time on the quad in undergrad. I was too busy studying.

That was the safe option. Not sororities, or frat parties, or step shows.

No, it was safer in my dorm or in the library, clicking away on my laptop, books and papers spread out around me.

But that’s me. That’s always been me. The safe, reliable one, playing by all the rules, double-checking policies, making sure everything was in order.

I never took risks. Never stepped outside the lines.

Which made Revere all the more confusing to me. We had the same parents. Same upbringing. I thought he was safe, too, until he told me his secret.

A secret life with his closest frat brothers. Coincidentally, I now had a secret life with his closest frat brothers, and it was one he’d never approve of in a million lifetimes. It still felt surreal. Storm. Cruz. Titan.

I leaned back in my chair, my fingers pausing over the keyboard. A slow, sneaky smile curled my lips.

Those three were anything but safe .

It was so messy. Beyond complicated. The fact that there was no social media status for what I was doing was a flashing neon sign that it was out of pocket.

But I loved it.

For the first time in my life, I wasn’t making decisions based on what other people expected of me. I wasn’t playing it safe. Following the rules. I wasn’t the dependable friend, the good employee, or the responsible daughter.

I was just Santari.

And apparently, Santari gets down.

Evidently, Santari gets railed by the three finest men in all of Miami.

At the same damn time.

I exhaled, shaking my head at myself. I had reports to file, emails to answer, spreadsheets to update…but instead, I grabbed my phone and sent a single text to the group chat.

Thinking about y’all. Fyi, it’s distracting me from some very important administrative tasks

A response came immediately

Cruz

I got some important non-administrative tasks for you baby girl

Then another

Titan

Be careful, Goddess. Sounds like an invitation. You know we’ll RSVP

And finally, after a longer pause…

Storm

I’m distracted, too. There hasn’t been a time recently where I’m not thinking about you, Princess

I quirked an eyebrow.

Princess?

I swallowed hard, heat curling in my stomach. These men sure knew how to wind me up.

I blew out a breath and tucked my phone away in my drawer before I spent the rest of the day rereading their messages. Three men, three different flavors of danger. And somehow, all mine.

Cruz was my first. I suppose you could say he introduced me to this life. Broke me in. And the speed with which I got comfortable shocked even me. It just felt…right. Now, I was living it every day .

I’d barely refocused on my screen when my phone buzzed again. It wasn’t a text this time, though.

Mama

A pit formed in my stomach as I picked up. “Hey, Mama.”

“Hi, sweetheart,” she said, her voice thin and reedy. She sounded tired. She always sounded tired now. “I just wanted to check in.”

Which meant she really wanted to talk about Revere.

I sat back in my chair, rubbing my temple. “How are you feeling?”

She sighed. “Rough week, to be honest.”

“What happened?”

“I just keep thinking,” she said, her voice breaking. “Why? Why didn't they just take the car and let him go? Why'd they have to shoot him?”

I closed my eyes, feeling a headache coming on. “I don’t know, Mama. Nobody knows why criminals do what they do.”

Guilt twisted sharply in my chest. I could never tell her the truth, but I also couldn’t let her live the rest of her life in the dark. It would eat at her every day until I lost her , too.

That's if I even had the whole story. Cruz had told me what happened, but part of me still wondered how deep it all went. They liked to protect me from things, so it wouldn't have surprised me to learn he held back on some of the gritty details.

“I know you miss him,” I said softly. “I miss him, too. But you can’t dwell on it like this. It’s not healthy.”

“That’s what your daddy says.”

“How’s he doing?” I asked, not sure I wanted the answer.

“A little better than me,” Mama admitted. “Every day is a struggle. That’s all I can say.”

“I know.”

We let the silence linger between us before we said our I-love-yous and goodbyes, her voice raw with grief and exhaustion by the time she hung up.

I sat there, frozen, staring at my cluttered desk.

Cluttered like my mind. I felt her pain acutely, molding itself to mine, spreading through my body like a virus.

Only there was no remedy that I could see. Not even knowing the truth .

Still, I wanted to know. I needed to know. What happened that night? Why did they do it? Did they… enjoy it?

A disturbing realization settled over me.

This wasn’t just grief anymore. It wasn’t even anger.

It was curiosity.

The thought was deeply unsettling.

I shuddered at the vision in my head, of my men in some dark, abandoned building with guns and a mission, rolling through like a SWAT team, barking commands at each other through their headsets.

I imagined their pulses racing, adrenaline coursing through them as they hunted their prey.

I saw them with the power of life and death in their hands, and lord help me, something about it was so sexy .

But then I pictured my brother next to them, and it was like a splash of ice cold water dousing the pleasure center of my brain.

He died on their mission. I needed to know how. And why.

A knock at my door jolted me back to the present .

Storm stood in my doorway, leaning against the frame, his overwhelming presence filling the small space.

His cologne entered ahead of him, lingering in the air, dark and rich, wrapping around me like an unspoken invitation.

The sharp lines of his perfectly tailored gray suit sculpted his masculine frame.

His eyes locked onto mine, hungry and searching.

Seeing him there at my door looking so delicious was like wish fulfillment for me.

I'd been working on the same campus as him for years, but when Revere was alive, Storm never made a point to visit me.

All of the Omegas kept a safe distance from me, in fact.

Now, three of them had me in a chokehold.

“We need to talk.” His deep baritone caressed my eardrums, making me shiver. “Can I come in?”

Too thrown to speak, I simply nodded, watching as he swaggered into my office, closing the door behind him.

I wasn’t sure what he had in mind, but whatever it was, I was game.