Total pages in book: 180
Estimated words: 182075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 182075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
“Stop,” Rock told her.
He was just as bossy as the rest of them. Just because he told her to stop worrying didn’t mean that she could.
“Be fine.”
God. She hoped so.
“Sleep.”
Yep. Totally bossy.
She leaned her face against his chest. She was going to get off his lap soon. Just as soon as she could take her thumb from her mouth and find the energy to move.
Rock felt her slump against him.
He wasn’t going to let her sleep like this all night, of course. It wasn’t good for her poor, damaged body.
Anger filled him.
Fucking Billy.
Shepherd better find him. Because Rock didn’t think he was going to feel better until he could break every fucking bone in that bastard’s body.
He had to force himself to remain calm. He didn’t want to wake his girl up. Glancing down at her, he wondered why she was wearing a hat. And . . . he was certain that he’d lost that jumper years ago. Had she taken it?
He’d looked at the book and photo when he’d taken it off her. The book was Treasure Island. Quaid’s favorite. And the photo was of her and Spencer on Santa’s lap.
Hmm. Interesting.
He hated how worried she still was. And that she was trying to keep all that worry to herself. She needed to share with them. So they could help take it away.
Rock didn’t want her stressing over anything.
The baby moved again. It wasn’t a strong movement. Just a flutter against his hand. But it was there.
This baby needed his protection too. He didn’t care that Billy was the biological father. That bastard didn’t deserve a baby. Rock was going to be this baby’s father.
Rock and his three best friends.
And, yeah, he was including Quaid. Because eventually that dick would get his head out of his ass. At the moment, he was avoiding Indie. Rock understood why. It hurt to look at her and think that she’d never be yours.
However, Rock couldn’t stay away. He might have trouble looking at her because every time he did, he’d remember how he had treated her.
But he was going to have to push past that. Because she needed him. What if he hadn’t been sitting outside her door, watching over her tonight?
Where would she have gone? What would she have done?
It had been clear that she’d slipped into Little headspace. When she was younger she’d always felt safer in a small space. And it seemed she still felt that way. At least when she was Little.
After a while, he stood with her in his arms, careful not to jostle her too much. Her gargoyle slid onto the floor. He’d come back for her things later.
As he stepped out of the wardrobe, he found Quaid sitting on the floor in the room. The other man rose to his feet. Rock paused and stared down at him questioningly.
“She wasn’t in her bed and you weren’t in yours. So I went looking.”
How often did Quaid check in on her? He’d never seen him do that before now.
“Don’t look at me like that. She’s a guest in our house. I’m just checking that she’s well.”
“Not guest,” Rock told him in his husky, broken voice. He’d hated the way his voice sounded after his grandfather hurt him. It was only due to Spencer’s parents and a good therapist that he’d started to speak again.
But he still preferred not to.
He didn’t know how he would have survived without his friends. Which is why he needed to make sure they all stuck together.
There was no way anyone was getting left behind in this relationship with Indie.
Not even if they thought they wanted to.
Quaid had always been a self-sacrificing bastard. Rock could see him trying to step back with Indie. Rock got it. He preferred the shadows to being in the spotlight. But he couldn’t do that with Indie.
He’d thought about it. About just trying to be her friend. To just being her protector.
But as he’d held her in his arms tonight, he’d realized that he couldn’t live that way. That he didn’t want to become a jealous bastard like his grandfather.
Slade and Spencer made much more sense for her on paper. But eventually, they’d have to go back to their jobs. They’d get pulled away from her. Rock could work from anywhere. He could take care of her when the others couldn’t.
Her and Button.
Yeah, he figured she would need all of them.
Including the stubborn bastard who was standing and watching him coolly. As if daring Rock to say anything about the fact that he’d been sitting there and waiting for them.
Would he have waited there all night?
“Is she all right?” Quaid asked, staring down at Indie briefly.
There was a look of such naked longing in his face that it caught Rock by surprise. Quaid never let down his mask.
Then he noticed how tired the other man looked. His shoulders were slumped. There were dark marks under his eyes.