we had a plan, and Ian kept her wrapped up close. There was an itch between my shoulder blades urging me to pull her away. I wanted to run my hands over her and make sure she was in one piece. But at the same time, she had that distant look in her eyes and leaned into Ian like she needed to be there.
In the lobby, I took point, with Ian and Frankie just behind me, and Coop and Jake just behind them. We’d parked side by side in a parking lot across the street. Call it instinct, but we wanted to park away from the attorney’s office if Maddy was going to be there. Force of habit had me scanning for Edward’s car.
After his ambush of Frankie at Standish and his offer to testify on her behalf at the emancipation hearing, every warning alarm I possessed kept ringing. We were all missing something. Some key piece of information. I wouldn’t relax until I knew what it was.
The air had a distinct bitter bite to it, and the darkness seemed almost smothering. “You riding with me, babe? Or you want to go with the guys?”
She squeezed Bubba, then curled her arms around Jake. They each held her carefully as hell, though Jake picked her up off the ground and whispered something into her ear before he settled her back on her feet. Coop tugged her to him and kissed her. I actually glanced away from the sweetness in that.
When she headed toward me, I got the passenger door open for her, but Frankie just wrapped her arms around me. I pulled her close and locked her up to me tightly.
“We’re going,” Jake said quietly with a nod toward his SUV. “We’ll grab something.”
I nodded to him and just stroked a hand over Frankie’s hair while keeping a wary eye on the lawyer’s building. We weren’t directly across from it but we weren’t that far, and the wind was getting colder the longer we stood there.
“C’mon,” I murmured against her hair. “Before I have to take you back and put you in the hot tub to warm you up.”
“I wish we had a hot tub at our place.” The muffled words against my throat made me smile.
“Might take a little finessing, but I bet I can get one installed. We’d have to gut one of the bathrooms out.”
The rough choke of wet laughter just added another log to the pyre of anger at that selfish cunt. “You’d do it for me, wouldn’t you?”
“In a heartbeat,” I promised. “I could take you back to my place, too. Whatever you want, babe. Seriously…but can I get you in the car so you don’t freeze?”
She let out a little sigh and lifted her head. The passing lights on the road flashed against the dampness beneath her eyes. “I’m being melodramatic,” she confessed. At my snort, she sniffed and wiped at her eyes before she added, “I could be. You know, I can be girly and emotional.”
“Absolutely,” I agreed. “Car, babe. C’mon.” With care, I steered her into the seat and then closed her inside. She was rubbing her face with her hands as I climbed into the driver’s seat. I should have warmed the fucking car up while we were waiting. Engine started, I glanced over to find her staring out the window. “Do you want to tell me about it?”
“She said I have a trust or something. She’s going to give the details to Wittaker. She pitched a fit in there, but Wittaker shut her down.” She sniffed and shook her head. “I adore him, by the way. He is worth every penny you paid for him. I feel like I should get him a fruit basket or something.”
“Noted,” I said, enormously pleased he’d shut that bitch down.
Frankie cleared her throat. “Anyway, she’s not going to contest the emancipation, and the court date is set for the first week of March. So it looks like I’m gonna get an early birthday present. She did try to say she’d get me kicked out of the apartment and repossess my car, but Wittaker didn’t think she’d be able to do it. I just need to pull some money out of my savings and pay her off and make sure that part is done.”
“How much do you owe?”
She glanced at me. “I don’t want you to have to pay for it. I have it. I mean, it’s college money, but I have the internship and I’ve