Page 79 of The Saviors: Part One

“How did you come to that conclusion from a shared look?” Cole asks.

“Because it wasn’t just in the kitchen. At the fair, Tiny over there was looking at Sean the same way he looks at Chelsea. Like he wants to eat him for breakfast.”

I shrink further down in the chair, feeling my neck turning red now. “Nice poker face, Gorgeous,” Sean whispers, still laughing.

“Shut up,” I hiss. “I can’t help it.”

Kai sits up in his chair, leveling a glare at Tyler. “And? What if we did?” My mouth hits the floor, and Sean’s head snaps up.

Cole looks between the three of us. “There’s no fucking way.” He looks closer at me. “Holy shit. Look at her face.” I tuck my face in my shirt so just my eyes are peeking out.

“We didn’t fuck,” Sean says, and I watch Kai frown. “We just…played around.”

“I knew it!” Tyler pumps his fist in the air and flops back on the couch. “Nothing wrong with it,” he assures my flaming red face. “I just put the connection together.”

Keon looks at me curiously. “That doesn’t bother you?”

“She was there,” Sean announces proudly.

“Oh. My. God. Fucking kill me now,” I groan, popping my head back out. No use hiding now.

Keon chuckles. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to embarrass you. It’s just that, in my experience, girls don’t like that.”

“You’re?” I leave the question open because I don’t want to assume anything.

“Bi? Yeah.” He looks at me again. “You really don’t care?”

I shrug. “No. Stuff like that has never bothered me. You like who you like and love who you love. I have two boyfriends. Who am I to judge?”

“Damn,” Keon says, looking at Sean and Kai. “You better hold onto her. She might get snatched up. Quick.”

Ari sits up in his chair. “Okay. Quit embarrassing the poor girl. Let’s get back to the shooting.”

I bite my lip to keep my comments in because this isn’t my business. I’m not even sure I should be sitting down here. Cole’s brows furrow when he looks at me. “What’s on your mind, Ladybug?”

I jerk back, surprised. “Me?”

“Yeah. You had your thinking face on,” he answers.

“Oh,” I say lamely. “I was just thinking upstairs that they weren’t aiming to kill, just scare us. And I think there were only two shooters.”

“Why do you think that, Dragonfly?”

“I think one was in the fair pushing us to the parking lot, and the other was there to keep us separated.”

“She has a point,” Ari says. “We need to go back tomorrow and search the area. If they were professionals, they wouldn’t have left anything behind.”

They launch back into shop talk while I sit back and listen. I know I’m in for a long night because they’ll want to get to the bottom of this. I catch Cole’s eyes on me a few times, and I can’t help but be drawn to them. He softly smiles, and my heart flips in my chest.

Lord, help me.

Chapter25

Cole

It’s after two in the morning, and my head is still reeling. Someone shot at us very publicly while Chelsea was there. That thought makes me see red. She never wanted this life, and here she is, buried deep in it again. My only solace is this house’s security rivals the fucking White House, and Sean plus Kai will protect her with their lives. After tonight, they’ll be even more vigilant. My only thought was to get her out of there; Sean’s panic spurred me on. I just grabbed her and ran. Her arms were clutched around my neck, her nose buried in my shirt. She didn't utter a sound the whole time.

I half expected a full breakdown in the car, which I wouldn’t have blamed her for. She was shaking so hard it was like she was vibrating on a different frequency, but not a tear in sight until Sean’s name popped up on her phone. The relief with both of us was palpable. I hate being away from Axel, but I’m sticking to my guns about this. He sounded different on the phone, though, so here’s to hoping he got the message.