but the messages were marked as "seen," which was good enough. Meanwhile, I was growing increasingly impatient to hear from Kody. When I'd told him "later," I’d thought he understood that I wanted him to come over after his training session.
When I finished all the work that was due for my classes, my phone finally lit up with Kody's name.
"Hey, I thought you'd forgotten about me," I joked as I picked up the call.
"Never in a million years, babe," he replied. "We just finished, but I got a call from Jase. He needs me to go and talk about some investment shit for a line of sportswear we've been working on. Can we raincheck?"
Disappointment soured my gut, and I groaned. "Jase needs to see you at eight thirty on a Friday night? He's the worst kind of party pooper, I swear to god."
Kody laughed. "I know, I'm sorry. He made it sound really important. Cass is still there with you, right? He said he'd keep a lookout so Steele could work on some security measures."
"My big bad babysitter is keeping me safe, don't stress." I glanced at my phone, noting that I needed to send Cass another message in two minutes. "Call me when you're done. I want to hear all about this sportswear."
"You've got it. I'll come by in the morning, and we can do something fun, just the two of us." He sounded genuinely apologetic, and I actually looked forward to whatever he'd come up with in the morning. It sort of sounded like he wanted to take me on a date.
I sighed. "Fine. Good luck."
"Thanks, babe." He ended the call, and I tossed my phone on the couch, disappointed. But my night didn't need to hinge on my guys being free to hang out. I was a self-sufficient kind of woman, after all.
Picking my phone back up again, I sent my check-in message to Cass, then called Bree.
"Hey girl!" she greeted on answering. "Dallas says hi, too."
I caught the rumble of Dallas's voice saying, "Hey Katie," in the background.
Dammit. There went that plan. "‘Hi back’ to Dallas."
"What's up?" Bree asked, her voice chirpy and enthusiastic.
"Nothing," I replied with a sigh. "Just seeing what you were up to, but I think I already have a fair idea." I gave her a chuckle, and she giggled back.
"Um, yeah. But I can ditch Dallas's ass if you need girl time. Want me to? I can be there in half an hour." She must have been at Dallas's house across the city.
I ruffled my fingers through my hair. "Nah, I'm fine. Enjoy your night, girl. Call me tomorrow."
"Okay." Bree sounded reluctant. "Are you sure? Dallas won't mind."
In the background, Dallas disagreed. I laughed. "Totally sure. I'm going to call it an early night instead."
Bree and I said our farewells, then I ended the call.
I tapped my phone against my lips a couple of times, debating then dismissing the idea of calling Steele. I didn't want to distract him, and I knew he'd have called if he was done.
An early night sounded so much better than hours of endless trash TV, so I packed up my school materials and dropped my empty takeout boxes in the trash.
Heading into my bedroom, I texted Cass to let him know I was going to bed. He replied this time, telling me to check that my door alarm was set and the bolts secure. Pictures or it didn’t happen.
I didn't even argue it with him, just did as he asked. Better safe than sorry, and what had he told me? Make good choices? Well, not pushing back on simple safety measures was probably on that list.
It wasn't until I was tucked up in bed and on the verge of sleep that a thought occurred to me. Steele was sorting out security? What security? Alarms were already in place, and there was a guard at the desk in the foyer. Besides, Steele's area of expertise was more hands-on than tech.
If he was working on my security, I'd bet money that there would be another body to be disposed of by morning.
That thought should have scared me. It should have made me fear for the mental stability of the boys I was involved with. But it didn't.
Instead, I fell asleep feeling safe and protected because Max Steele loved me and he wouldn't stop killing until the threats against me were eliminated. Of that, I was sure.
My phone vibrating and bleeping on the bedside table woke me some hours