the cream cheese.
“Eat.”
“Thank you.” I grinned and didn’t waste any time devouring it. As much as I probably shouldn’t have, I was starving. Rome shifted his weight, and I caught the smug look he sent at Kestrel. The vague movement in the corner of my eye was Kestrel flipping him off.
I had to suppress another laugh because I didn’t know where playful Kestrel had been hiding, but I hoped he never left.
Rome agreed to come with us, and we had to wait for him to go grab his gear. Kestrel walked me out to the car in the main warehouse, holding my hand again, which was only a little weird.
There were rats working out there. Some on cars, some moving boxes. I had no idea what was in the boxes. I mean, their whole place was in a warehouse. Did they steal stuff? Process it?
I mean, they could be drug dealers for all I knew. That was a humbling thought. Freddie had been stoned and drunk the other night. The hurt in his eyes had been clear for everyone to read. It made me ache to think about it.
The Vandals were a gang. It was easier to forget when it was just me and Kestrel or me and Vaughn. Honestly, with all of them, except maybe Liam and Jasper.
Liam was an enigma, and Jasper?
The fact he’d kissed me in the studio before storming out and disappearing for a few days? It seemed to be a habit these guys were forming. Kiss Doc, he disappears. Kiss Jasper, he disappears. Have sex with Vaughn, he takes off.
Okay, admittedly, we’d had really great sex and he was helping with Freddie. At least, that was what Kestrel said.
“Hey,” Kestrel murmured, pulling me back to the present, and I stared at him blankly. “JD is going to the store to shop, is there anything you need?”
The other man fixed more of a dead-eyed stare on my face. It felt kind of slimy. I folded my arms, because at least Kestrel’s oversized sweater gave me a kind of armor. It shielded me from the other man’s eyes.
“No,” I answered because it didn’t matter if I did want something. I didn’t want that man getting anything for me.
“You sure, princess? They’re buying.”
I hadn’t even seen Rome arrive, but the words had barely left JD’s mouth before Rome punched him so hard, the crack of bone echoed through the garage. All activity within the warehouse ceased.
I flinched back, and Kestrel whirled on him. “What the fuck, Rome?”
“Don’t call her princess,” Rome ordered the man now groaning on the ground and clutching at his face. Blood spurted from his nose and soaked his shirt. Glaring around the huge room, Rome pinned every single person in place.
“Do you understand?”
One by one, mutters of assent rippled across the whole warehouse.
“Make sure everyone understands,” Rome continued, then glanced at me. Fire seemed to blaze in those eyes, and my pussy clenched, even as heat rushed through me. He’d done that for me. Because I hated that name.
Couldn’t stand it.
‘Thank you,’ I mouthed, and he gave me a single nod.
Kestrel stared down at JD, then at Rome and finally at me. “Let’s go, kids, before we end up having to take one of these assholes to the hospital.” But he didn’t follow us to his car immediately, instead, he helped JD up and said something to him. The other man nodded, and I kept my eye on them as I climbed into the backseat, despite Rome’s protests. He finally settled in the passenger seat while we both waited for Kestrel.
After Kestrel turned his back and started toward us, JD glared in our direction and then at Kestrel. The thrums of desire gave way to trepidation.
“Don’t worry, Starling,” Rome whispered. “We’ve got this.”
And I wanted to believe him, but that man looked pissed, largely because Rome had just punched him because of me.
Hooking his arm behind the seat, Rome held out his hand to me. I clasped it, and he squeezed my fingers.
“Don’t worry,” he repeated. “Think about what you want painted on the shop.”
“What I want painted?”
“Yes, tell me what would make you happy, and I’ll paint it.”
Kestrel slid into the driver’s seat at that sentence and he snorted, half laughing and half glaring. “You’re a real dick.”
I couldn’t see his face, but I damn well knew Rome smiled because it was audible in his next words. “Bigger than you.”
It was the strangest retort, and at the same time, hilarious. When I laughed,