Lindsey’s Wolves(67)

“Uh huh,” Alex hissed. “No way are we sleeping without you.”

“You can’t be serious.” Are they always going to be this pigheaded and argumentative?

“Dead serious,” Ryan added.

“Well, in this apartment, we don’t habitually bring home boyfriends to spend the night, and certainly not two of them. Jess has barely begun to accept Kara’s arrangement. And, although I’m sure she’s suspicious of ours, I’ll not torture her with your nighttime antics.” She backed up. Jeez.

Silence filled the room, the afternoon sun waning in the sky, casting the room in shadows. She watched each man’s face as they engaged in their silent conversation that was gradually driving her bonkers.

She clenched her fists as the seconds wore on.

Alex gazed at her first and whispered, “You’d be privy to everything we thought if we could just go somewhere private and finish the claiming, mi amor.”

She clenched her teeth and sputtered through them. “You said you wouldn’t pressure me.”

“And we won’t.” Alex held his hands out, palms up.

A glance at Ryan showed the same serious expression. “We promised.”

Jessica returned from the kitchen, a bowl of ice cream in her hand, the spoon hanging from her lips. She paused and looked around. “Am I interrupting something? You all look like you just had a heated argument.”

“Observant,” Lindsey muttered under her breath. Even her roommate could feel the tension in the room.

“Hey, I don’t want to be the cause of any distress here.”

“You’re not, Jess,” Lindsey reassured her.

“Maybe it would be better if we all went somewhere else tonight? Back to Kara’s?”

The collective exhales of relief from Ryan and Alex made her smile. “I’ll get my stuff.” Jess headed down the hall.

Lindsey was fuming, and the flames only intensified when she saw the looks of triumph on both men’s faces.

She turned on her heel and headed for her own bedroom. Damn men. Bossy. Controlling. High-handed. Jerks.



*

Five minutes later, Alex watched as both women emerged from the hall, duffles in hand. Jess looked worried. Lindsey—infuriated.

“It’s going to be a long night.” Alex reached for the door handle.

“Let’s head to my parent’s house and try to relax. The tension in this room could be cut with a knife.” Ryan put a hand on Alex. “Does that work for you?”

“It’s a plan.” What he really wanted was someplace the three of them could be alone for twelve solid hours. He groaned inwardly, thinking of where they’d been just this morning. If only they could spend the night engaged in heated make-up sex after the last few hours of walking on eggshells around Lindsey and wake up peacefully with her fully claimed in their arms.

Now he groaned aloud.

No one said a word. When Ryan opened the front door, the three Bible-yielding, God-fearing zealots were still praying on the sidewalk. They jumped to attention at the arrival of their prey and began begging Lindsey to reconsider. “Your grandmother would be so disappointed. Your life is heading down the wrong path. Please, consider coming with us instead of these sinners.”

When the cabrón reached for Lindsey and grabbed her arm, Alex lost it. He somehow managed to stifle enough of his indignation to keep from pummeling the guy, and squeezed out enough self-control to merely grab his biceps firmly and growl at him. “Don’t ever touch her again, you satanic mother fucker. And you better not be here when we get back or you’ll regret having been born, got it? Go away, like the lady requested and don’t return.”

He pushed the man back with enough force to emphasize his point, but not enough to send him careening into the street like Alex would have liked.

The hijo de puta simply resumed his praying, his words growing louder with each syllable. Hands in the air, he pleaded with a god that surely didn’t have time to listen to the likes of his kind. “Forgive her, Jesus, for she knows not what she does. Her heart has gone astray—” His words were cut off when Alex had everyone in the truck once again and slammed the door.

He glanced back as Ryan sped away from the curb. All three Bible-thumpers stood in the middle of the street pleading with their hands in the air. He couldn’t get far enough away from that religious hypocrisy.

“I’m sorry,” Lindsey muttered from behind him. “You may have been right.”

When Alex turned to look at her, her gaze was focused out the window in defeat and sorrow.

“It’s not your fault, mi alma. You didn’t ask for this.”

“Neither did you. We just met. Can you believe what a quacked history I have? Bet you never thought you’d encounter skeletons like this in your lifetime.”