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  The bear lets out a frightened snarl and takes off running into the woods away from us. Ford comes up behind me and laughs.

  He sniffs the air and then gives my shoulder a squeeze. “Looks like the bear wasn’t the only asshole hungry.”

  Of course this fucker would be able to smell pussy from a mile away.

  “Yeah, yeah,” I grumble. “This cabin is a little too close-quartered for my liking. We need to research a better location.”

  “Someplace with a fucking shower,” Leo agrees as he approaches. These sponge baths are getting damn old. This asshole sniffs the air too. “Not that I’m complaining about that smell.” He smirks, looking extra devilish in the moonlight.

  We definitely have to get out of here. And soon.

  I stare at the newspaper I bought and shake my head. Last night Seb toyed with the idea of leaving this cabin hellhole and I can’t agree more. Especially now that I’m having doubts about the people after Clove and Jack.

  “Is that Jack?” Seb asks from behind me.

  He snatches the paper and his blue eyes skim over the words. His features, which had been amused turn furious. “What the hell is he doing?”

  “Not hiding and staying out of the limelight, that much is clear,” I grunt.

  Clove giggles from the other room and I can hear Ford teasing her. I love when she laughs. Makes everything not feel so rigid and stressful. She breathes fresh air into our world, that’s for damn sure.

  “He’s giving exclusive interviews about how hard it was after Marlene’s death. About how difficult it was raising Clo. He’s playing the public. What the hell?” Sebastian growls.

  “Certainly not acting like someone who thinks his family’s life is in danger,” I grumble.

  Seb slams the paper down on the table and runs his fingers through his hair. It’s seen better days. This cabin is getting the best of all of us. We’re going stir crazy and despite our sponge baths, we smell ripe as fuck. He paces the small space and then stops, folding his arms across his chest.

  “There’s no fucking breadcrumbs leading us anywhere. I’ve had all of our best resources pulled and they all say the same thing.”

  “Which is?” I ask, my tone low and murderous. “No one had motive and the leads all head home.”

  Acid pours into my joints, solidifying my muscles and grinding my bones.

  “Home as in…Jack?” I shake my head. No way. Her father wouldn’t…

  “It’s a stunt.” His jaw clenches and fire blazes in his eyes. “He played us—his own daughter—in order to further his political agenda.”

  I rise and grab his shoulders, hoping to calm my friend. “You can’t be sure.”

  He looks away. “No, but I know. He’s reenacting what happened with his wife. Sympathy. Look at all of these.” He picks up paper after paper, magazine covers with Jack plastered all over them.

  “And if you’re wrong?” I have to ask, but the clenching of my gut tells me he’s not.

  “My duty to protect her will never wane,” he assures me, his eyes pinning me in place. “But the plan has changed. I want us packed up within the hour. We’re headed up north.”

  I lift a brow at him. “What’s up north?”

  “Indoor plumbing. Electricity. My bed.”

  “Your place?” I ask, shock lacing my tone. “I didn’t even know you still owned that house. You’re never there.”

  Guilt flashes in his eyes. “I still own it.”

  “Out with it, Seb.”

  He scrubs at his face. “Rachel lives there.”

  Rachel lives there.

  Rachel, his ex-fiancée, who cheated on him while he was away just before we took the Sterling detail?

  He sighs, placing his hands on his hips. “I should have told you,” he admits in defeat.

  “It’s been six fucking years, Seb,” I snarl. “Why the fuck is she still there?”

  “It’s complicated.”

  “Going to need more than that.”

  Scratching the back of his head, he scrunches up his features. “I was thinking about retiring.”

  “Retiring?” I scoff. “You’re what? Forty?”

  “Thirty-six,” he grumbles, giving me the middle finger. He knows I know how old he is. We’ve been friends for over a decade. He’s the only reason I came into this job after a tour overseas. He pulled me off a ledge when my death count began to haunt me in my sleep and the only way to shut the ghosts out was with a bottle of Jack and a fistful of sleeping pills. Seb taught me to put my skill set to use. Help people who needed protecting.

  “Awfully young to throw in the towel and what? You’re going to go back to Rachel? She fucking cheated on your ass.” I sound pissed because I am.

  “Fuck no. Rachel has nothing to do with it. I let her stay at my place because she was knocked up.”

  His words nearly knock the breath from my lungs.

  “Yours?” I wheeze.

  He shakes his head. “No.”

  Fuck.

  “Mine?” I ask, terrified of the answer. My head swims with the memories of all the times we shared her in the bedroom. I always used a condom. Didn’t I?

  “No, asshole,” he grumbles. “You think I’d keep that shit from you?”

  No. But it would appear he does keep fucking secrets.

  “The prick she…” He trails off and his jaw clenches. “The prick she fucked while I was working.” The blacks of his pupils swallow the color, making him appear beastly.

  “You soft cunt,” I bark out, my tone mocking. “You let her live in your place with the kid of some town rat she was banging. Does he live there too?”

  Folding my arms over my chest, I glare at him. Rachel was a bitch who did a number on him. She was insatiable and that’s when he brought me into their bedroom, but it didn’t matter how much he fucked her or how many men he brought into their bed, she was always going to cheat. She was a manipulative bitch who couldn’t get over her ex, Joey. She was using Seb at first, to make her then ex Joey jealous, but Seb had blinders on when it came to her. He couldn’t see that she was using him. Took him finding Clove to finally forget Rachel existed. Clove was like a breath of fresh air, an angel sent to us to heal our broken fucking souls, shattered black hearts.

  “Casey Roberts.” Seb smirks.

  “What?”

  “Rachel’s ex and baby fucking daddy. He ran off with Casey Roberts.”

  No way.

  “Fat Casey?” I scoff. She wasn’t just fat, she had a bug eye and put her ass all over town to whoever would ride it.

  Seb is chuckling now, holding his gut from the effort. It’s a sight rarely seen on him and causes a contagious reaction in me. Tears stream from my eyes and our laughter echoes in the open space.

  When I get myself under control, the atmosphere thickens as we both grow serious again. “So why retirement?”

  Furling his brows, he looks at the ground, kicking at the dirt. “I just…Clo was going to marry that fucker one day and I didn’t want to stick around for it. I couldn’t stand to see her married to a jumped-up prick. Could you? Being around her knowing she would never be ours?” He looks toward the cabin.

  “She will always be ours, brother,” I tell him, because it’s true.

  “And Jack…” he trails off. “I was just tired of wanting, watching, waiting. One day I’d like to settle the fuck down. Get married maybe. Have a kid. Enjoy my life rather than protecting someone else’s. I have land, property, money. This was never supposed to be permanent for me. I would promote your ass and sit mine on a couch.”

  My eyes widen at his candid words. “When were you going to tell me?”

  He flashes me an apologetic look. “It wasn’t decided yet, Leo. Get your panties out of a wad and let the others know we’re going to roll out.” Subject officially closed according to Seb.

  “Right, boss,” I concede as I push past him. “But we’re not done. As soon as I get a proper shower and a hot meal in my stoma
ch, we’re going to talk about this.”

  “Yeah, fine,” he grunts.

  Sit his ass on a couch? Yeah fucking right. Seb can’t sit still. He’ll drive himself insane without us there to piss him off. He needs us and we need him. He’s the cement in our very stable wall. Without him, we tumble.

  I walk into the other room to find Clove sitting on the couch between Ford and Zac. Her head is resting in Ford’s lap where he strokes his fingers through her hair while Zac rubs her feet. It makes me want to pluck her up and toss hers over my shoulder. To carry her far away from them, so I can keep her to myself for a little while. I can do unspeakable things to her before I have to share her with the rest.

  “You’re growling,” she says, grinning. God, even roughing it out in the middle of nowhere, she is beautiful. The guys are all dirty and unshaven and starting to stink, but Clove is supple and pretty and completely kissable.

  “Can we talk?” I ask her. “Alone.”

  She takes note of my seriousness and jumps up, a frown marring her features. Her hand grabs onto mine and she guides me over to the bed. Zac and Ford grumble, but leave us be, shutting the door behind them. I pinch the bridge of my nose when we’re alone.

  “Your dad is splashed all over the news. Doing interviews and shit,” I utter. I’ve always been a straight shooter.

  “What? He’s supposed to be lying low.” She bites on her pink bottom lip and shifts nervously on her feet.

  “Well, he’s not.” I run my fingers through my hair and pin her with a hard stare. “It’s possible that this was all a ploy.”

  “For publicity?” she scoffs. “You think someone tried to have me killed to get him to do interviews?”

  “Not killed. Just appear to be targeted, Clove.”

  Her eyes widen as she shakes her head vehemently. “No. Who would that benefit?”

  Girls will always believe the best in their daddies. But she didn’t read the articles. I did. I saw right through that shit as did Seb. She’s pacing now, swiping panicked hands through her hair.

  “So, it was all fake? I’m not in danger?” she asks, tears welling in her pretty brown eyes. “We can just go home now?”

  I grab her narrow hips and pull her to me to stop her frantic movements. “We can’t be for sure and we won’t jeopardize your safety for one second. Especially not on a hunch.” I hug her tight and kiss her hair. “We’re just going to relocate. Someplace safe but with better tools at our disposal. Like the fucking Internet.”

  She laughs, but it’s tearful. “I could use a hot bath.”

  “I could use a real bed and not a lumpy-ass couch.”

  Her head tilts and she regards me with a sweet smile. The lines have been blurred for all five of us since we’ve been here. Definitely crossed. I’ll be damned if I toe the line based on professionalism. Not when the most gorgeous woman I know is staring up at me with her lips parted just begging for a kiss.

  I slide my palm to her throat and grip her jaw. She gasps when I pull her chin down to expose her supple mouth to me. A small moan of anticipation escapes her and I steal it. I lean down, press my lips to hers, and suck away that need. My eager girl thrusts her tongue against mine, desperate for the kiss every bit as much as me. Her palms roam up my shirt and settle at my neck. Turning her toward the wall, I back her into it. Our kiss becomes more frantic. My hands grip her ass and I lift her. She wraps her legs around my waist and we both groan in unison when my cock rubs against her center through our clothes.

  “God, Clove,” I murmur against her mouth. “The things I want to do to you.”

  “So, do them,” she challenges, breathless.

  I pull away and smirk at her. “I’m not the only one who wants to do them. You’re poking a hornet’s nest, babe. We’re all about to swarm.”

  “You say this like it’s a bad thing,” she says and then bites on her bottom lip. “Four gorgeous men wanting to do dirty things to me. Can’t see what’s so bad about that.”

  Her teasing words only make me harder. I grind against her. “Maybe I don’t like to share,” I grumble. “At least Seb’s old ass will be gone and out of my way. Less dicks to lure you away from me.”

  “You can share me.” She laughs, but then her brows crash together. “Wait…Sebastian gone? What do you mean?”

  Oh, shit.

  “Nothing.”

  “Leo,” she hisses. “Don’t you dare nothing me. I’m not just some client anymore, I never have been, and I’m not a child. Tell me what that meant.”

  I let out a huff. “You’re right, you were never just a client, Clove.”

  “Tell me,” she demands.

  “He wants to retire or some shit.”

  “Oh, hell no.”

  Fuck.

  Sebastian is retiring? Since when? He’s like in his thirties. And he’s mine. He can’t retire. Sliding to my feet, I push Leo away from me.

  “Fuck,” he groans. “Don’t say anything.”

  “Screw that,” I screech. “He can’t leave us like that!”

  Storming from the room into the sitting area, I find him discussing something with Ford and Zac. As soon as he catches my furious stare, he holds his hands up in defense. Hands that just last night roamed my body. The fucker led me on, knowing he was going to leave.

  “You don’t get to retire,” I spit out, shoving his stone-hard chest. He goes nowhere. “You don’t get to leave me.”

  Shame has him looking at the other guys. “Clo…” He clenches his jaw and flashes me a hard stare. “We need to pack up and leave. We’ll discuss this later.”

  “No! We’re discussing this right now!” I slap at his chest, letting all my fury and betrayal aim their way at him until he’s had enough.

  “Fine,” he bellows. “We’ll talk about it now. Outside.”

  I scream when he bends and tosses me over his shoulder. My fists pummel his muscled ass until I hear the other three guys sniggering. I trade my fists for shooting them the middle finger on the way out the door. As soon as we’re outside, Seb stalks away from the cabin through the thicket of trees. Once we’re alone, he sets me to my feet.

  “Calm down,” he snarls.

  “No,” I hiss, my heart in my throat. “I need you. You can’t leave me. I don’t even know who I am without you guys.” I choke on my truth.

  “Come here,” he grumbles, pulling me to him. He holds me as I let the emotion overtake me and cry against him. I’ve never really thought about any of them ever leaving me. It’s too unbearable to ever imagine.

  “Is it Dad? Did you have a falling out about what happened? Is it me?” My heart sinks at that prospect. Was it because he saw me pleasuring myself and we crossed a line? Oh God. Him pleasuring me…

  “It’s not you,” he says fiercely. “Well, not in the way you may think.”

  My body stiffens. I look up at him through my lashes, heat flooding my cheeks and sorrow gripping my heart at the thought of losing him. “What?” A chill races up my spine, the air frigid with a sense of fragility. Is this all over before we’ve even had a chance to explore it?

  “Before we came out here…” he trails off and scowls. “I was having a hard time watching you with William. He didn’t deserve you.” He lifts a hand and strokes his knuckle along my cheek, swiping off a tear that dropped there without permission. “I wanted you and it was unprofessional and unethical.”

  He wanted me?

  “But then?” I ask, hope in my voice.

  “Then we crossed some lines and I don’t want to go back over them. My plans have been derailed,” he admits in defeat. “Now…now you’re not with that fucking idiot William. I’m left with the three men I trust more than anything all falling head over fucking heels for the girl I want. The girl I’ve wanted for a long ass time, Clove.”

  “So, share me,” I say on a desperate breath. Choosing or singling one of them out to date would be impossible. Greed, lust, need, my stupid heart has me wanting them all.

  “It’s not comp
eting if you share.” I try to convince not just him but myself. Why can’t they share me? It’s no one else’s business and it’s what I want.

  He dips down and kisses my lips, causing a glimmer of hope to inflate my chest. “I’m still figuring things out.”

  “We’ll figure them out together,” I assure him, deepening the kiss. “But you don’t just get to leave me. Not after all this time. After everything we’ve been together. Not after you finally notice me.” I groan through kisses.

  He scoffs, pulling away slightly. “Finally notice you? I’ve been aching for you long before it was morally acceptable, baby. You’ve starred in one too many of my fantasies. Now my fantasies are getting more complicated.”

  I lift a brow. “Oh? How so?”

  His gaze drifts off. “Last night, having Zac in there with us, I thought I’d need you to myself. But, it was…”

  “Hotter. It was hotter having him tell us what to do and watch,” I whisper, my pussy pulsing with just the memory of it.

  He darts his gaze back to mine. “It was.”

  “I’m all for exploring your complicated fantasies,” I tell him with a sly grin. “I have a few of my own.”

  “Oh yeah?” he challenges as he grips my hips and twists me so I’m facing a thick tree. “Hold on.” It’s spoken deep and commanding, sending excitement coursing through my blood. They’ve intoxicated me and I’m riding the high, hoping never to come down from it.

  I dig my fingers into the bark and smile when I feel him working at my jeans. He shoves them down, roughly scraping the flesh of my thighs as he does. It’s needy and rushed and I fucking love it. Pushing them to my ankles, he then palms my ass.

  “Look at you,” he growls as he squeezes my butt cheek. “So long I’ve thought about getting you alone like this.”

  My heartrate races in my chest. “What are you going to do now that you have me?”

  “You know what I’m going to do. What I’ve been thinking about every goddamned night for years.” He slides my panties down and pushes them to where my jeans sit. “I’m going to finally know what it feels like to be inside you, Clo. And once I’m there, I may never want to leave.”