Fuck. He didn’t want to do this with them. “Is this about Hannah?” Why had he even asked? He knew. His brothers had been sniffing around her since the day Gavin had reluctantly hired her almost a year ago. Somehow, they’d zeroed in on the fact that he wanted her, as well.
“What we want isn’t going to change, Gavin,” Dex said, his mouth a stubborn, flat line. “No matter how much you want it to.”
“She’s an adult.” Slade’s voice was cajoling where Dex went straight to the fight. “She’s smart and capable of making her own decisions. She’ll be fine.”
“She’s what? Twenty-two or something.” Practically a child. At least he kept telling himself that.
Dex leaned forward as if ready to fight if need be. “Gavin, you were running this company at twenty-two, don’t forget. Besides, Hannah is twenty-five.”
A chill raced across Gavin’s skin, and suddenly the room seemed way too small. Hannah was twenty-five. They had just celebrated her birthday not a month before. He’d brought in a cake, and Dex and Slade had thrown her a party. Gavin remembered the jealousy he’d felt as his brothers had led her out of the office. He’d wanted to be there beside her, too, celebrating with Hannah. Holding her.
“If you’re being at all honest with yourself, Gavin, you want what we want. Hannah is not Nikki, and you’re not the same person you were then. You have to let it go and live again,” Slade said. “I’ll be there in ten minutes. We’ll talk more then.”
“Regardless of her actual age, she’s naïve. She’s not ready to take on multiple men or play your games.” Gavin was pleased with how stable his voice sounded when all he could see in his mind’s eye was Nikki’s body laid out on the impersonal slab at the morgue.
Lately in his dreams, Nikki’s body turned into Hannah’s. The image seared itself in his head.
He managed to breathe, barely. He had to focus or he would lose it. And he needed to find another job for Hannah. If he kept her this close… No, he just couldn’t.
“Damn it, Gavin,” Slade growled. “When it comes to Hannah, these aren’t games, and we’re not playing.”
Gavin’s heart stuttered. “Give the girl time to grow up.”
He upended the large envelope in his hand and let the contents drift to his desk, hoping Dex didn’t notice his shaking hands.
“Don’t act like it’s all just Slade and me. You’re not fooling anyone,” Dex said. For once, the big cowboy almost looked reluctant to speak. “I see how you look at her. You want her. You care. That’s nothing to be ashamed of. Hell, if there’s one thing both Slade and I understand, it’s how a man can be crazy about Hannah.”
Slade’s voice came over the speaker. “Dex and I have given this a lot of thought. We think it’s time, and all of us need to be on board.”
“Exactly.” Dex leaned forward. “We have a plan.”
“What the f**k?” Anything else they were about to say got lost as Gavin saw what spilled out of the envelope. Photographs of Hannah. He frowned. Ten pictures, all of them of her gorgeous body wearing lovely, lacy creations in soft colors that showcased her plump br**sts and gorgeous ass. In one, a shot of her backside, she wore nothing at all. Gavin’s breath fled, and his c**k stiffened at the sight.
Dex stood, peering down at the pictures on the desk. “What’s that?” Gavin had a sudden desire to hide the provocative images. Instead, he glared. At times, Dex had been known to think way outside the box when he solved a problem. Dex had said he a plan.
Was taking these pictures a part of it? Or Dex’s immature way of reeling him into their twisted little arrangement?
“Do you want to explain this?” He shoved the least seductive image in Dex’s face.
“That’s Hannah. What the hell?” Dex grabbed the picture.
“What’s going on?” Slade asked, his voice rising in alarm over the phone. “What do you mean by ‘that’s Hannah?’”
Dex stared at Gavin, his face taking on that same blank expression he’d had for the first two years after Gavin and Slade had found him in a foster home. Dex had been the child their father hadn’t planned on or wanted. It had been pure chance that Gavin and Slade even discovered that Dex existed. “You think I would do this?”
His half brother’s indignant tone registered in Gavin’s head, but rage rode him hard. “Do you know what Hannah could do to you if she found out about this? She could call in the cops, and I would let her. And your sick ploy won’t work. You might be able to pull Slade into your perversions, but don’t think you can do the same with me.”
“Goddamn it, Gavin. Why would you say that?” Slade slammed a door, and Gavin knew that his brother was on his way.
Dex practically radiated fury. He was a huge bull of a man, and Gavin thought they were about to have the throw down he’d always suspected was coming. Dex loomed over Gavin, his fists clenched and ready, but then he shut down. Dex’s shoulders relaxed, and his face became a mask of bland politeness. “Listen up, Gavin. The only reason I am not walking out the door right this second is that I want Hannah safe. After I figure out who’s stalking her and make sure he can’t do it again, I’m leaving. You won’t have to deal with this perverse bastard ever again. But next time your rich-boy conscience takes over, don’t you dare come looking for me.” Gavin looked at the pictures again and realized he’d made several terrible errors. He’d been so concerned about the photos that he hadn’t taken time to really look at the envelope. It hadn’t been addressed to him, but to Hannah herself. There was no stamp on the front. Some bastard had walked right into her office, stood at her desk, and made sure she would receive his “gift”.
Dex flipped over one of the photographs and slapped it on Gavin’s desk with a resounding thud.
You’re mine.
The menacing words had been written in blood-red marker, the color a stark contrast to the white of the photo paper.
“This is not some prank I cooked up to trick you into joining us. You’re really accusing me of becoming a stalker and trying to terrify the woman I love? And yes, I love Hannah. I won’t not say it because you’re too much of a pu**y to handle it. I’m going to figure out what’s going on, and when I leave, I intend to take her with me. And you, big brother, can go to hell for all I care.” Dex turned on his boots and strode out the door.