“We all bought her rings. Commitment rings,” Bastion said. He didn’t tell Ruby the ring Tess was wearing first belonged to him.
“Tess, is that what you want?” Ruby asked. “Don’t let these boys push you into something that makes you uncomfortable. Not even my Warrick, if he’s forgotten his manners.”
“War is a gentleman. They’re all respectful,” Tess quickly defended.
Her face turned hot, but she hoped Ruby would mistake it from the crying-jag earlier if she caught sight of the red cheeks Tess was suddenly sporting.
The guys were gentleman outside the bedroom.
Except for Keir.
Naturally, Keir laughed as soon as she thought it. The bugger knew he was Trouble. That nickname had been well earned.
“So when you boys say you want to get ready for Maddy to come home, do you mean to plan for how to ask her permission for all of you to date her daughter?” Ruby asked.
“Uh, she already knows, kind of,” Tess confessed.
It had been told to her when she was sicker. Hopefully, Mom wasn’t going to throw a protective fit when she found out Tess hadn’t been exaggerating at the hospital about the multiple boyfriends.
Tess would just remind her that each one of them was better than her college-ex that Mom had hated.
The guys made her feel in control, while Greg and Rachel had done everything to steal that confidence from her, trying to use her like they had Maddy.
War had hired the best for their protection. He ensured Tess was involved in planning how she could work together with her bodyguard.
Bastion was all about control but he never went about establishing it by stealing the control from her. He set boundaries and he respected hers.
Kade and Keir knew how to be protective without asking her to give up her own right to fight. They had her back just like they had each other’s backs.
“I suppose you’re right about Maddy knowing something is up between you and the boys. She did mention it to me when we were talking about your father. Seems she thought the boys would discourage your father and his girlfriend from trying anything else,” Ruby said.
“Tess’s mom talked to you about her father?” Kade asked.
Tess didn't let Ruby answer. “Yes, after her talk with Bastion. It turns out that Greg and Rachel were the ones that scratched up my mom's back. Rachel blackmailed her into becoming the go-between for new druggies looking for something to score. Greg was the supplier. When Mom didn't want to keep on providing them with new addicts, Rachel threatened to sic Greg on us kids.”
It was easier telling it to the guys than hearing it for the first time from Ruby. Perhaps it was because she knew they were there to support her while she revealed the terrible details. No judgement, just understanding.
Ruby had been the same, but Tess wasn’t as close to her. The guys and Tess had shared more between them to strengthen their bonds.
Ruby sighed, like hearing Tess confess what they had talked about took a weight off her shoulders, too.
“It’s important you respect Maddy’s wishes to stay safe. Don’t be looking to talk to your father about this or his girlfriend. What they’re doing is illegal. I didn’t report any of it to Doc Mike, or even write the details down in my clinical notes. Maddy doesn’t deserve to get into trouble when she meant well. A mother always chooses her children first.”
How much did Ruby know about what had happened between Greg, Tess, and the guys at the townhouse?
“That’s why the protection we hired is so important, Mum.”
War gave Tess a hug, pulling her closer against his chest as he cuddled her on his lap.
“Please, let the professionals do their job. That includes bringing people like Greg and Rachel to justice,” War said, and Tess didn’t think it was just aimed at her.
Bastion cleared his throat behind them. “Seconded.”
“Pumpkin, this sucks. I know you would do anything for your mom, but Ruby and the guys are right. It’s too dangerous,” Keir said.
He sounded truly sympathetic to her conflicted feelings. She was hurt and angry and wanted to do something so bad it hurt even more.
“I want to punch Greg in the nose. Rachel already got humiliated when War, uh—” Tess cut herself off. “He told her she wasn’t a nice woman and that he didn’t want to catch her fighting with me again.”
Ruby snorted.
So his mom wasn’t fooled. Hopefully, she hadn't just gotten War into a bunch of trouble.
“Well, we could always take you down to the boxing-gym. Not that you're going to have a chance to practice your moves on your father’s nose, but wouldn’t it be nice to let off a little steam in the ring with one of your boyfriends?” Kade asked.
“Yeah, maybe,” Tess said. “I’d give it a try.”
She’d never boxed before in her life. Short girls weren't picked for things like boxing.
“It’s a date,” Kade said before she could change her mind.
“If any of you boys want to go on a date, you better be getting Tess and her brother and sister home soon. It’s late,” Ruby reminded them. “I’m going to go have a talk with Jacobson about where our new help will be residing, if you don’t need me?”
“We’re good, Mum. Thanks,” War said.
They all waited until Ruby left before talking further.
“We have to get home, too,” Kade admitted.
They had snuck out on their motorcycles to stop Tess from running. She wondered if they had told their father where they were going at all or simply disappeared.
“Do you need a ride?” War asked.
“Yes,” Keir replied. “Some ear-plugs, too, if you have ‘em.”
That answered Tess’s question of whether their father knew where they had gone. He must be frantic!
“Didn’t you say anything to your dad?” Tess asked in disbelief.
The strict Mr. Saxton she had met wouldn't suffer fools. The twins were going to be lectured severely if they really had run off without a word. Worse, if Mr. Saxton found out it was her fault, he might stop them from seeing her.
“I sent him a text from the car,” Kade said. “And I called him from the island.”
Keir turned his head to face her from where he was sitting against her legs.
“Dad doesn’t know about the Harleys yet. He’s so busy with work, he never notices that kind of stuff. He thinks we were just taking a weekend vacay with War.”
“Your bodyguards are going to do a stakeout anyway,” War said. “Let them drive you home.”
“Are you going to tell your father about the bodyguards?”
“No,” Kade said. “It’s complicated.”
“You know we don’t know yet if our dad is involved in anything. If he was covering something for Jensen... those drugs?” Keir said.
“If dad is the reason our mother was killed,” Kade stated.
He said it cold, almost emotionless. Tess knew that wasn’t how he felt. It was as if feeling it would push him past his breaking point. Keeping emotions out of it was the only way for Kade to cope right now.
Tess shivered to imagine how they must really be feeling. To even contemplate that the blame for the death of their mother could lie at their father’s feet.
Again, she didn’t want to push them to make a decision that was theirs.
She bent down, reaching for Keir’s head and kissing him on the forehead. He had to push up to help her connect with their awkward position. Instead of straightening all the way back up, she reached an arm out towards Kade and tugged him down beside her and his twin. She turned her head and gave Kade a kiss on his lips. It was soft and chaste.
“Don’t cry,” Kade told her.
She hadn’t realized she’d teared up again. With a big sniffle, she tried to give him a wobbly smile.
“Pumpkin-berry? Tears and smiles don’t mix, just like strawberry syrup in a pumpkin-spice latte,” Keir teased her.
“Get up and give the twins a prop
er kiss good-bye,” Bastion ordered.
Of course, he demanded she stop crying without saying it exactly, but still, it was an order in that tone.
“He means a sandwich,” Keir said.
“With pickles on the side?” Tess asked, finding her humour with a bit of absurdity.
“Is pickle a euphemism?” Kade asked.
“Depends on if Tess likes pickles,” War said.
“The crunchy ones. I like to bite—”
“No. It’s not a euphemism,” Kade interrupted. “I take it back.”
“Yeah, Bastard meant a dick sandwich,” Keir said. “Preferably naked.”
War nibbled one of her ears, catching her by surprise.
“You better get up, Tess-girl. I’m no longer in the sweet, cuddling mood. Mum is home, so we can’t indulge in anything half as fun as I think Keir’s imagining.”
“Are your bedrooms soundproofed well?” Tess asked, thinking about earlier with Bastion.
“The walls aren’t thin, if that’s what you’re asking,” War replied.
Thank goodness Ruby had been out earlier when she and Bastion had been having loud sex.
War helped her off his obvious erection by lifting her up under the arms. The hardness that had been nestled underneath her without notice earlier stirred as soon as she provided the slightest friction with her movement.
As soon as War was standing and put her on her feet, one of the other guys grabbed her from behind.
“Pumpkin, you still going to school with us tomorrow?” Kade asked, pulling her back into his chest.
War stepped away, more like he was given a good-natured shove, and Keir stepped in his place in front of her.
The twins were sandwiching her already. They looked like they weren’t ready to say goodbye yet even though they’d had all weekend with her.
Tess looked over at War. He was the one arranging all their security.
“Don’t the bodyguards have their own vehicles? I have to go with mine to school, right? The kids too, I guess?”
“The bodyguards can follow in their vehicles if you want to go with Kade and Keir in the morning. Your younger siblings can still do what they normally do to get to school as well. Hang out with their friends and do their usual after-school activities,” War explained.
“We don’t want to make the bodyguards stand out. Changing our routines will make it more obvious, get Jensen looking harder at us,” Kade said.
“Better to scare him off so that he doesn’t make an attempt at all,” Bastion muttered.
The guys sounded like they had a disagreement about how they should all be working with the bodyguards. She had barely heard Bastion, he’d kept his voice low, but he sounded disgruntled.
“So are we going to have a third-wheel with us or not?” Keir asked.
“The bodyguards are not a third-wheel,” War said, sounding a bit exasperated.
“We don’t need them at school,” Kade said. “They would stand out, obviously. Tess has one of us at least in each of her classes. There’s no reason we can’t take turns watching over her ourselves inside the school. She only needs a bodyguard when she isn’t with one of us.”
Keir was done with this conversation. He shifted even closer to her. Bent his head and caught her lips with his, ending her participation in the talk as well.
It wasn’t soft and sweet. Keir had a roughness to his kiss, a desperation that was out of keeping with the moment. They were safe in War’s house, simply talking. It was just goodbye for the night and the twins were going to pick her up tomorrow.
Keir kissed her like tomorrow might not come.
He licked her lips and dove in, quickly sucking her tongue into his mouth and trapping it. His hands cupped her face, holding her captive for his mouth. Her body was equally captured by Kade from behind, his hands tightening on her arms. She wasn’t sure if Kade was holding her from escaping Keir or to stop her from throwing herself onto him.
“Don’t forget my kiss goodbye,” Kade whispered into her ear. “I’m timing this.”
That sounded more like something Keir would say. Twin competition was still healthy and thriving.
Tess tried to twist but the sandwiching had left them all melded together. The guys were moving their hands, so now she had one of Kade’s thumbs brushing over the hollow of her throat as he gently clasped her upper chest, holding her flush, back to his chest. One of Keir’s hands had slipped down her arm, slowly, so slowly. It was resting on her hip, fingers clenching as his brother tugged her back half an inch from his kiss, enough to part their lips for a moment.
A knock on the door accomplished what Kade couldn’t, getting Keir to let her mouth go. Not that Keir did it any quicker because of the risk of getting caught locking lips.
He pulled up slowly like he was awakening from a sweet, warm dream and holding onto the last few seconds with lazy tenacity. Those lips that separated Kade and Keir by a lack of a piercing, pulled up from hers displaying the same rebellious attitude that didn’t need a punk lip-ring to prove it.
“You gonna kiss my brother goodbye?” Keir asked, ignoring the second knock at the door.
Jacobson’s polite inquiry about arranging cars to drive them home was met with War’s request to give them a minute.
“Yeah, I want to kiss Kade,” Tess answered. “You gonna sandwich me while I do it?”
Keir smiled, making it dirty when it was matched with the look in his eyes.
“You know I like to give it to you from behind,” he reminded her.
“Sandwich kisses?” Tess asked.
“There seems to be a time limit, so this time, just kisses,” Keir agreed.
Kade moved his hand on her chest up to her neck, encouraging her to look back and up at him. An upside down, pierced grin looked at his brother over her.
“Close your eyes,” Kade told her.
She did as he asked. The kiss had started on her closed eyes. Soft butterfly brushes. His lip piercing tickled over her sensitive eyelids.
Keir slowly turned her around between them. Each inch she moved was accompanied with a kiss on another part of her face, until finally, she was positioned perfectly for Kade to kiss her squarely on the mouth.
Kade made up for the make-out session that had been cut short earlier by Ashley's interruption. He cupped her face and she gripped his shoulders, sealing themselves together. His tongue explored her mouth more carefully than Keir, mindful of his piercing and the nuances of kissing when their differences in height affected the angle more so while standing.
She loved how each of them kissed her in a unique way. Sweet, cautious Kade was a perfect kisser for her anxious heart. He made her feel like everything really would be better tomorrow, even if he definitely was in no rush to get there.
War finally cleared his throat. Then he flicked Kade on the temple. Tess felt Kade wince reflexively.
“That’s a minor foul of play,” Keir accused, although he stepped back.
Kade raised his mouth, a satisfied smile on his face.
“Why say ‘goodbye’ now? Can’t we all go in the bodyguard’s van together? We have to give Tess her rings,” Kade said.
“Jacobson got them? Wow, he’s efficient,” Tess remarked, looking over at War.
He was the guy in charge right now. She wasn’t one for jewelry, but she was curious because the guys had all taken their time talking to Jacobson about exactly what they wanted to get for her. She had also put in a special request for the guys’ rings.
They were bands, but she’d asked if a special engraving was possible. She’d secretly asked it of Jacobson when he’d come over to measure her fingers with the paper tape. A hastily whispered request that he’d promised was possible. She’d sketched out the design with a few pen strokes.
A phoenix bracketed by each guy’s initials.
Bastion opened the door to the room, revealing the butler.
“I anticipated you may want the passenger van. There won’t be enough room for all of y
ou and the bodyguards as well. They need extra vehicles for when they split up, so they’ll follow and we can all go on the van. I’ll drive,” Jacobson said.
War nodded.
Tess blushed and walked out from between the twins, although they’d given her a bit more space than their sandwich kisses had allowed earlier. War had either lied about how thin his walls were or Jacobson was an expert eavesdropper.
“If you would fetch the rings, we’ll try them on before leaving,” War added.
Jacobson made a smart turn to the side, seeming to pull small leather jewelry-boxes out of thin air. Tess remembered there being a little side table and a vase by the entrance of the room.
Anticipating everything. Jacobson was amazing. Tess really was going to have difficulty getting the kids to adjust to not having someone like Jacobson around to spoil them at the townhouse. Even she had to admit it was nice.
More so because Jacobson seemed truly happy to please. He was beaming at them all as he handed War the tiny boxes.
“I will wait for you in the vehicle. The children are in the kitchen having a small bite to eat,” Jacobson said.
The kids had cookies with them earlier. Tess was afraid they were going to have to roll them out the door.
She smiled back at Jacobson. “Thank you,” she told him before he could take off.
“It’s my pleasure, Miss Tess.” Then he bowed and took his leave.
“May I have the first honours?” War asked, approaching with the boxes.
He handed a box to each of the twins and put the four boxes that probably had the guys rings on the seat of an empty chair. She was going first.
War dropped to one knee in front of her and opened the box.
“Showoff,” Keir said.
Tess blushed, but reached out a hand to trace her fingers over the fine engraving.
“Celtic knot?” she asked.
“Yes. It’s simple but common in Scottish engagement and promise rings. A symbol of commitment, of friendship, and love. Can I put them on?” War asked.
“There’s more than one?”
Duplicity (Victory Lap Book 2) Page 33
