• Thirty-Five •

What in the world had I gotten myself into?

Capri

I took a deep breath and let Thatcher’s scent soak in. His hand tightened on my hip, and I glanced up at him to see his focus on the movie. He’d let me choose the movie, but I’d barely seen any of it. Curled up against Thatcher on the sofa with his arm wrapped around my body, like he was holding on to me so that no one could take me from him, was distracting.

When I’d had to get up to use the bathroom, he’d locked his arm down so tightly that I couldn’t move. I’d had to explain what I needed to do, and even then, he had let go of me reluctantly.

This was the end of day four up in the mountain cabin with him, and with each second I spent alone here, I was more attached. The sight of him made my stomach flutter, my pulse quicken. I felt warm all over. I hadn’t forgotten that he’d brought me here against my will, but I couldn’t honestly say if he’d come up to me and asked me to come with him, I would have said no.

He had gone about it a way that was disturbing, but he had done it because he wanted me. He wanted me so badly that he’d snatched me up and run. I didn’t understand his thought process, but I also knew he wasn’t like everyone else. His brain worked differently.

He didn’t scare me anymore. It was me that I was scared of. I was the one who had fallen in love with this man, and I knew that when it ended, when he no longer clung to me like his favorite toy, I would never recover. There wouldn’t be another Thatcher for me. No other man could make me feel like he did. He was one of a kind, and I was the lucky one to get his complete attention … or possibly obsession. I didn’t care what it was. I just cared that I had him.

Under all the crazy and psycho that people loved to label him as was this vulnerable little boy who hadn’t been loved properly. He was different, and because of that, he’d been emotionally neglected. Thinking about it hurt my heart so much that I had to fight back tears. I wanted to weep for the boy who had thought he wasn’t loved. He wasn’t like everyone else, but it made him who he was. It made him Thatcher Shephard. Sexy, mysterious bad boy.

“You’re not watching the movie,” he said in a gravelly tone.

I grinned and tilted my head back to look up at him from where I had laid it on his chest, just below his shoulder. “How do you know that?” I asked.

He flicked his eyes to the screen, then back to me. “What’s happening right now?”

I had no flipping idea. I’d chosen Taken with Liam Neeson as a joke since he’d abducted me. He had smirked and pressed play. I hadn’t watched this in years, but glancing at the screen, I tried to figure out where we were at in the movie.

“He’s gone to find his daughter,” I replied, knowing that was the plot of this movie and what was happening in about eighty percent of it.

“Is that so?” he asked, reaching over with his other hand and running the back of his knuckles across my cheek. “You’re adorable, even when you’re being a smart-ass.”

I started to tell him that I wasn’t so sure I wanted to be adorable when his entire body went rigid and his gaze shot from my face to the back window. Then, he was up, pushing me down on the sofa and reaching under the cushion of the burgundy recliner to my right and pulling out a pistol.

His head snapped around toward the front door, and he moved so damn fast and quietly that I couldn’t even hear his feet on the hardwood.

What was happening? Had they found us?

Dread pooled in my stomach. What would they do to him?

I saw his shoulders relax somewhat as he reached for the door and jerked it open.

“You almost got shot,” he snarled, then turned and walked back to stand in front of me.

I leaned over just enough to see who it was. King walked inside the house, followed by Storm, Sebastian, and a man I had never met.

“It was Sebastian’s idea to check the back first,” King replied. “I told him you’d hear him.”

“Five years?” the man I didn’t know said. “You’ve had this place for five years and told no one?”

“Capri,” King said. “How are you?”

Thatcher’s stance changed completely. His body was once again rigid, and I didn’t trust the gun in his hand. I sat up on my knees and reached for his arm to touch it. Calm him down.

“I’m good,” I replied, keeping my hand on Thatcher’s arm.

“You can’t keep her here any longer,” Sebastian told him.

I wanted to throw a dang book at him. Did he not know his brother? This was a clear sign of him about to snap. I wrapped my hand around his arm and squeezed.

“I think maybe it’s best if you don’t make suggestions,” I told Sebastian.

Thatcher’s arm flexed under my touch.

“Seems like a turn of events,” Storm said, sounding amused. “Might want to let her talk.”

I wanted to flash him a grateful smile, but I was too concerned about how Thatcher would react to that.

“She doesn’t have to say anything,” Thatcher said between clenched teeth.

I patted his arm and let go to stand up. He spun around so quick that it made me jump back. His eyes had that wild look in them. He grabbed the blanket we’d been covered up with and held it out to me. I was in his shirt. Just his shirt. I had forgotten about my lack of clothing. It had gotten to be the norm here. I took it and hurried to wrap it around me. His eyes followed me as I walked around the sofa and over to stand beside him.

I looked at the gun in his hand and wasn’t sure how I felt about being so close to one. He seemed to hesitate, then slipped it into the waist of his jeans before pulling me to his side with one arm. I was still too close to the pistol, but right now, that wasn’t the issue.

“Thatch, she’s being searched for. Everyone is blaming you. People are demanding justice, bringing up shit from the past. We have to make a decision,” the man I didn’t know said.

I placed a hand on his chest, afraid he was going to reach for his gun.

“I will handle that,” I said. “I came of my own free will. I ran off with Thatcher, and I should have told someone, but I was thinking with my heart and didn’t. If I don’t press charges, there was no crime committed.”

Thatcher’s chest rose and fell heavy under my hand.

“You don’t have to explain shit,” he said.

“Well, someone has to explain. The minister is all over the news. This isn’t going to just go away,” Sebastian said.

King held up a hand. “Before you lose it, he’s right. She’s gonna be the only one who keeps you from facing charges.”

I looked up at Thatcher. His jaw clenched up, and I could hear him grinding his teeth.

“I want to. It’s fine. I will handle all of it.”

He dropped his gaze to mine. “I don’t want you near them.”

“Them who?”

“Your parents.”

I frowned. “Why?”

His nostrils flared. “They’ll turn you against me.”

I laughed then. I hadn’t meant to, but I couldn’t help it. My parents had no power at all over me. If he had been stalking me so thoroughly, he would have known that by now. His eyes narrowed.

“My parents will most definitely not be able to do that.”

He didn’t seem convinced.

“If no one else is gonna ask, then I am,” Storm said. “What is this? I mean, Thatcher doesn’t get attached. To anyone. Especially a female. So, explain for the rest of us, so we understand what we are working with.”

King glanced at Storm and gave him a shake of his head, as if to tell him to shut up. I was with King on that, but then I also understood where Storm was coming from. I wasn’t sure what to label this either. We had been in our own little bubble, and it had been easy to let the outside world fade away.

But the outside world was back. Bubble popped.

Thatcher said nothing.

“I don’t think there is a definition for it,” I told him, and Thatcher’s hold on me tightened. I glanced up at him. “I mean, we, uh, um …” I had no idea what it was I should say.

“She stays with me,” Thatcher said. “My house. My bed. With me.”

King nodded. “All right. What about her house? Does she ever get to go back there?”

“No,” Thatcher snarled.

King’s eyes shifted to me. “You think you can handle … this?” I knew by the this, he meant Thatcher’s crazy that they all seemed to pin him with.

I nodded. “Yes.”

“Fucking doubt it,” Sebastian replied.

Thatcher dropped his arm around me and moved toward him so fast that I barely had time to call his name.

King and Storm moved between the two brothers.

“Go the fuck outside, Sebastian,” King barked.

Sebastian started to move, and Thatcher’s eyes followed him to the door. I stood there, afraid to move.

“You got her,” King said to him. “She’s right there. Calm down and let him go.”

He didn’t move.

“Thatcher,” I called out, and finally, he turned his head back to look at me. There was that darkness there. Warring inside him. The one he fought to have control over. “It’s okay. He doesn’t know me. He doesn’t understand. I’m coming with you.”

His eyes searched my face. “Staying with me.”

I nodded.

“My house.”

“If that is where you want me.”

His shoulders eased. His eyes cleared.

What in the world had I gotten myself into?