He and Patrick groaned and felt a little sick at the thought.
Beck put his hand on Chloe’s shoulder and said, “I can never thank you enough, Chloe. You were pretty fearless, and a little stupid, to go into a situation that dangerous.”
Chloe swallowed as she glanced back at the house and then pointed out at the farm to market road. “I got the weirdest feeling going down the road here. I just happened to see Emily Anne behind the wheel of this vehicle. I could see two other people but I couldn’t make them out. But as clear as day, I saw her mouth the word ‘help.’ If my intuition hadn’t sharpened my senses, I might not have seen her at all.”
Beck nodded, recalling times long since past, when her intuition had guided her. It made sense to him.
“And okay, it was a little stupid, too,” Chloe added with a grin. “But I have a feeling your woman would’ve done the same thing for her best friend.”
Beck and Patrick both nodded and Beck said, “Hell yeah. She’d have done the same for Jayne or any of the girls.”
“The girls? Oh, I’m sorry,” Chloe said with a red face as she held her hand out to Patrick. “I’m assuming you’re Patrick. I’m Chloe Rhodes.”
Patrick bypassed her outstretched hand and gave her a solid hug instead. “I’m damned pleased to meet you, Chloe Rhodes.” They all chuckled over the late and rather unnecessary introduction. “The girls Beck mentioned are the wives and girlfriends of our friends in Divine. Grace Warner, Rachel Wolf, Summer Webster…”
Chloe nodded. “I definitely remember Grace. I used to do her nails at Madeleine’s…before I…left.” She glanced at Beck but he smiled to reassure her. “And I may have met Summer, too. I’m not sure.”
The sound of a vehicle screeching to a dramatic halt out on the road drew their attention.
“What the hell?” Lucy asked. “Do they have traffic blocked off on the road?”
Chloe gave them a lame chuckle and a blush colored her cheeks as she rose from her seat beside Lucy. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and stuck her hands in the back pockets of her jeans again. “Uh-oh. I bet I know who that—”
Beck’s attention was suddenly on the two fucking huge men who broke through the crowd at the gate, down at the driveway. Both men looked supremely pissed as they searched the crowd. Beck wondered if Hank had let these strangers through the gate or if the blond giants had pummeled their way through with their bare fists.
Chloe turned and the sound she made spoke volumes to Beck. It wasn’t a moan, or a panicked cry, or fear. It was the vocalization of pure need.
Yes, she’d found her soul mates in two men. Those men.
Chloe had been right to leave him because she’d never reacted to him the way she did to them. And that was okay. It really was, as Lucy slid her hand into his from behind.
Chloe flew across the yard, aiming straight for those men. The relief and the love in their eyes as they finally saw her was evident across the distance. Still a few feet away from them, she flung herself into the air.
The more serious-looking of the two men, his face all hard angles and intense lines, snatched her out of the air and wrapped his arms around her as her long blonde hair flew all around them. Beck actually heard the sound of their bodies impacting. She’d thrown herself at him with utter assurance he’d catch her.
The other blond giant, who was smiling and pale with relief, gathered her hair from her face and moved it as he pressed against her back and kissed her cheek. His shoulders slumped as though he could finally relax. She was squeezed tight between them, her legs wrapped around the waist of the man who’d caught her, one man’s face to either side of hers, bookending her in love and safety.
Anyone who thought she was meant for any other man would be a fool. Lucy slid an arm around Beck and the other around Patrick. Beck looked down at her and saw the tears tracking through the dust on her cheeks. She looked up at him and pure tenderness and love radiated in her blue eyes.
You were right, Chloe.
Mel and Connor, along with Emily Anne, joined them and from the looks of it, Chloe was in a bit of trouble with her men. Beck chuckled when the man holding her pulled her loose and held her out in front of him as if she weighed no more than a bag of sugar. He said something to her as he dangled her above the grass that made her cheeks blush an even deeper pink before she started sweet-talking him to get herself out of the doghouse.
Lucy wiped her tears and sniffled as she looked up at them. “I’m still confused. Why did Baxter come to the spa? Why take me? He only took Emily Anne because she was there with me. He thought we were all hookers. He said so.”