could haul them back inside and barricade them behind a door locked with common sense. He wasn’t my friend. None of them were my friends. Granted, they were better than my family…
That uncharitable thought ignited guilt in the pit of my stomach, and I drew back a step. Why had I come down here again?
Tugging the knit cap he often wore off his head, Vaughn stepped farther out of the kitchen and into the hall. The conversation in the other room was just a din of masculine voices. It sounded almost like an argument, but I withdrew another step.
“Hey,” Vaughn said, and the soft, melodious nature of his voice beckoned to me. “What’s wrong?”
“Are you really asking me that question?” I quirked a brow. Because seriously? “Did you forget why I’m here?”
“No,” he answered, his tone cautious, but his eyes… Fuck, they just stared right inside me like he could see all the way to my soul. Nothing about Vaughn said gentle, trustworthy, or safe.
So why the fuck did he make me feel that way?
From his colorful tattoos to his bulging muscles to his blunt expressions and huge hands, he was the picture of a gang member. He was one of my kidnappers. He was…
He was someone I wished was my friend.
And I knew better.
God, did I know better.
Lifting my chin, I forced myself to meet and hold his gaze. “I just haven’t seen you in a few days. But I don’t suppose you have to check in with me. It’s kind of the other way around.” Clearing my throat, I nodded more to myself. “Speaking of which…”
I walked past him, but I didn’t even make a full step before he clasped my upper arm in a gentle grasp and pulled me closer, even as he moved us farther from the kitchen. “You’re mad at me.”
The hint of wonder in his voice made me frown. “Don’t pretend with me.”
“What?”
I blew out a breath. “Look, you were great the other night. Got me back here and kept me compliant and cooperative. You’re like the good cop to Jasper’s bad cop.”
Honestly, the fact that he blinked and then started laughing at me annoyed me more than the rest. I tugged my arm. It took two times before he finally let me go.
“Dove…”
“I have a name, and that’s not it.” Folding my arms, I walked away from him and headed into the kitchen. He was right behind me though, still chuckling. Glad I could provide some amusement.
The kitchen was full.
Fuller, I thought, than I’d ever seen it. Rome and Liam were both present, so apparently, like Vaughn, they’d crawled out of wherever they’d gone to hide. Jasper stood by the counter, his own arms folded and facing Kestrel, who glared at him. Doc was also there, sitting at the table with a cup of coffee in hand, while Freddie gestured wildly.
“You guys are blowing this all out of proportion,” Freddie said, flicking a look at me. “Back me up here, Boo-Boo. If a woman tells you she needs your cock, it would be rude to tell her no, right?”
I stared at him a beat, and the corner of my mouth curled almost involuntarily. It was really hard not to laugh at just how outrageous Freddie could be. I honestly never knew what would come out of his mouth. “If a woman told me she needed my cock, I’d have to apologize because I don’t have a strap-on.”
He opened his mouth, then closed it with a pop that the sudden silence made audible. Behind me, Vaughn’s soft chuckles turned into very real laughter. Kestrel crossed the kitchen and slapped Freddie right upside the head. I flinched.
I tried to suppress it, but it happened anyway. Freddie didn’t seem remotely disturbed as he laughed. Liam just gave him a baleful look as Rome groaned. Rome seemed paler than the last time I’d seen him, and I tried to look anywhere but at Kestrel hauling Freddie up out of his chair.
“You have got to learn to think with something that isn’t your dick,” Kestrel scolded him. “Now move so Sparrow can sit.”
“That’s not her name,” Vaughn announced from right behind me. “She has one.”
Kestrel pivoted to stare past me, and Jasper raised his brows. In my attempt to find somewhere else to look, I locked gazes with Doc. The thoughtful patience in his eyes trapped me until he nodded to the chair. “Join us?”
Arms still folded, I moved over to the chair and sat down.
“What crawled up