Page 114 of Three

“You left Lori with the wicked trio again?” My voice is filled with incredulity. He knows that Gremlin plus wicked trio means chaos.

“That was yesterday. He came to help at the pet shelter. I didn’t know he’d spent the night.”

“It’s like putting Dracula in charge of a blood bank.” I finish dressing in a pair of tight jeans and athermal shirt.

He sighs. “Opal went there this morning, and when she heard what the boys were about to do, she tried to stop them, with no success, obviously.”

His cousin has been very busy after she got ananonymoustip with a list of names of dirty cops in her precinct—like her captain, who took her off Malcom’s case because Jasper paid him off. We have seen her only once in the last three weeks, when she announced she’d be leaving the force. She said she will help clean up her precinct and then take some time off to rethink her life and spend more time with her family. Hunter is trying to persuade her to work with him at his P.I. agency, and I think she’ll do it. Eventually.

“Just so you know, Lori could easily turn Opal to the dark side.”

“Well, she said that he’s still sleeping…in my fucking bed. So, he didn’t do anything this time.”

I doubt it.

“I need cake and coffee, Hunter Bear,” I let him know, opening the cabinet in my kitchen to choose from my tumblers.

“We can stop somewhere on the way.” He’s so fucking good to me.

When I’m ready, I walk over to the girls to check they have enough water. Then I grab my black duffle bag and start putting things inside.

“You know, your tortoises would enjoy a bigger space,” Hunter suddenly says.

I stop to look at him. “They would?” The garden outside is pretty big, but maybe when I get Kylie, I might need to expand.

“Yeah, they could move more and meet new friends.”Friends?“At my place, I’d build them a bigger house, and a smaller one only for Khloe. Can even make a pond and plant more flowers, so you can see those butterflies drink theirtears?—”

I cut him off again. “Are you asking me to move in with you?” I slowly walk toward him, tossing my bag on the sofa behind him.

I follow his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. It’s easy to see how he feels about me now. I’ve learned how to interpret all his expressions, the little tics and breath hitches. But it’s more than that. I can sense it. Sense the way his body, words, actions…his beautifully intricate soul reach out to me. Sometimes, I can almost touch it.

“We’re always together, and when we aren’t…I now know you spy on me through the security cams in my house.”

I huff, but my smirk stays. “Like you don’t ask Serena to check my location every hour or send me a hundred texts.”

“You’re right. I shouldn’t have asked you to move in with me.”

I frown, the corners of my lips drop.

“Because that’s not how we do things, eh Red?” His thumb brushes my eyebrow. “You are moving in with me…and the boys. And that’s fucking final.” His hands grab my ass, yanking me roughly against him.

“Well, since youorderedme so gently,” I sarcastically retort, but I’m so fucking happy, rainbows could come out of my ass.

“We can still keep my place as a fuck den,” I suggest, and his half-hard cock seems to agree. I bite his chin hard, and when he hisses, I kiss the pain away. “Are you sure?” I taunt him.

He grabs my hair and tilts my head up, pulling me onto my tiptoes before smashing our lips together in an unforgiving, ruthless kiss.

I take that as abearyes.

We are ten minutes from his house, Hunter driving my new Jeep Wrangler, when Serena informs us that the wicked trio boosted my Porsche, which I left at Hunter’s yesterday.

“Ash,” Hunter snarls. “I thought he stopped doing that.”

“I’m actually impressed. My Porsche has a state-of-the-art car alarm. But also, a tracker and a cam.”

I push a button on my phone, and the map shows us where they are going. They are five minutes away from us. I push another button, and I can see Ash and Ren inside my car, arguing of course.

“Where’s Dare?” My voice booms inside the Porsche, making them jump in their seats. It sends me into a fit of laughter while Hunter tries to hide his with a cough.