furrowed as he looked from me to Rafe. “Is amnesia normal?”
To the left, Rafe shrugged. “By your own admission, you just want her gone. We’ll be going now. Thanks for the assist.” He dipped his head and pulled my hand from Ryker’s. “Come on, Will. It seems your knight in shining armor has dismounted. We’re gone.”
“Uh. Okaaay.” I waited for Ryker to look at me. “Thanks again.”
He nodded, a scowl on his face. “Stay out of hospitals if you can manage it.”
I growled at him. “It wasn’t my choice to go, but I’ll keep that in mind.” Asshole. Who willingly went to hospitals?
He lifted a mostly empty beer bottle in my direction.
I turned and followed Rafe to the elevator. “What’s his deal?” I asked as the doors slid shut behind us.
Rafe shrugged. “No idea. He was all kinds of determined to keep you with him until you could tell him yourself that you wanted to leave. But he was quick to call Nico when you stopped breathing.”
My eyes widened as the elevator car zipped to the basement at what felt like Mach one. Something about Ryker was niggling at the back of my brain, but I couldn’t figure it out. I shrugged. Oh well. The man seemed like an asshole who was too used to getting his way. Since I had the Amatucci brothers to deal with for the same things, I just let it drop. I had enough on my plate as it was.
Two Amatucci soldiers were standing at the elevator doors in the garage. They turned, hands on their hips under their jackets. When they saw who it was, they stood upright, their hands back at their sides.
“Home. Now,” Rafe commanded. He helped load me into the SUV that was illegally parked in the loading zone.
I settled back against the heated seats and rested my eyes. “So what happened with Ryker?”
He gave me a brief rundown. “Then as soon as I asked him for some food for you, he invited us to leave.” He shot me a wry smile.
I laughed around my shock. “You mean he kicked me out.” I crossed my arms. I don’t know why I was expecting human decency from a powerful man like Ryker Penn. But I was a little insulted by his rudeness.
Rafe patted my leg softly. “We’ll get you some food, Will. I won’t even make you beg for it.” He shot me a wink in the low light.
I intertwined my fingers with his. “My hero.”
Rafe snorted. “You called Penn ‘Thor.’”
I jerked back. “No, I did not.” No way. I wasn’t a dumb little girl who believed in fairytales or superheroes. I knew exactly what this world held and it wasn’t anything that brilliant and happy.
Rafe chuckled. “Yeah. You did. Your voice was all weak and scared. Very melodramatic. Probably gave Penn a stiffy just thinking about being your superhero.”
I slapped his shoulder. “Gross.” I shuddered. Sex was so far down my priority list as to be nonexistent. Even with a sexy specimen like Ryker Penn…I just wasn’t interested. He probably thought flowers and chocolates were the way into a woman’s heart.
That wasn’t me. Hell, that hadn’t been me even before I’d married the spawn of the devil. After living with said devil for five years…I brushed the thoughts away. What I liked wasn’t really accepted. Better to have a trusty vibrator than deal with the real-life version.
At least my vibrator didn’t make me feel like a freak.
The car came to a gentle stop at the corner the Amatuccis ruled from. They’d bought up the entire block over the years. One of the abandoned warehouses was retrofitted into a set of exclusive apartments. I was lucky enough to live in one of them.
Rafe came around and opened the door for me. Handed me out. “Let’s get you home. I’ll have Nico or Turo scrounge up some dinner. I think Mama still has some lasagna if you want.”
I moaned. “That’s a stupid statement. I’ll always want Mama’s lasagna.”
He smirked as he unlocked the door for me and allowed me to pass in front of him. He caught up with me at the stairs and helped me climb them. Tali and I shared the second floor although we had two separate spaces.
We were also sandwiched between the brothers’ floors. “You can live anywhere you want. But your brothers will be living there, too. It’s not up for discussion. You will be safe. Especially in my neighborhood.” Arturo Amatucci wasn’t a man you wanted to