Page 40 of Shamelessly Loyal

“Yeah? I’ve never had a sibling before.”

“You can’t tell,” I promised her. “Just—can you think about it for me? As I said, if you want somewhere else, we can do that too. Not going to make you go anywhere.”

“I can think about it.” Although she wasn’t making any promises. I got that.

“Thank you. Can I ask about the Sharpes?”

Her abrupt flinch set off alarms throughout my system,

“You really didn’t want to go back to them.”

She stared at me for a moment, then dragged her gaze away with a quick shake of her head. “We should probably go see the guys now.”

She didn’t want to talk about it.

“Yeah, about that—” I grimaced. “Before we go inside…”

“You just said you weren’t going to ask me to go.” Her defiance turned to real anger. She would never be shuttled aside again. Not without a damn good reason, and she’d probably fight every step of the way.

“I’m not. Just—there’s something you need to know, and it would probably be easier to show you.” Someone she needed to see.

“What?”

“Just—we had a little help in figuring out where you were.” After that flinch, I needed to see her safe with Mayhem. Just to reassure myself, if nothing else.

“How?”

“C’mon,” I said, gesturing to the door. Inside, Liam was waiting along with Kellan and the others. They made no pretense of having set up shop to give us time but were visibly ready for us to come in. “Really, guys? Subtle.”

“Not trying to be subtle.” Vaughn nodded to Ivy. “Actually, we were just talking about food, Dove.”

“Save it for a minute,” I asked, holding up my hand.

They shot me a look, but they didn’t take long to figure it out. Ivy came with me as I headed upstairs then down the hall to my suite. The guys made a bit of a parade behind us. Pulling the keys from my pocket, I unlocked the door and pushed it open.

“Oh, you’re back. Be still my heart…” Mayhem practically drawled. I could hear the fight edging each word, even as my attention stayed on Ivy.

“Lainey?”

A moment later, she rushed the room and collided with Mayhem, and they both burst into tears. Tears that set fire to my own eyes. I dipped my chin as I soaked up the way they clung to each other.

Now… she was home.

ChapterThirteen

LAINEY

My eyes were sore, irritated, and a little swollen. We’d shed more tears in the last few days than I had during the previous five years. I thought my loathing for her family could not grow more intense.

I was wrong.

Adam had always despised her family, particularly her uncle. Had he known? That thought settled into the back of my brain not long after she confessed to some of the horrors. Confessed to years of abuse suffered at her uncle’s hands. Abuse Adam must have suspected because he asked Em to marry him.

That…I put that information away. I didn’t quite know what to do with it at the moment. Em was the important one. She was hurting on so many levels. I’d sat with her for hours in her studio. Watched her work out. She hadn’t been this shaky after we’d had to go to that woman’s clinic.

I hated her uncle so much. The first thing I planned to do when I went home was speak to my grandfather. There were a lot of different ways to go after someone with the Sharpes’ level of influence. Fortunately, I was a Benedict, and we had our own wealth and influence to wield as a weapon.

The days following Emersyn’s return had been marked by time with her and time with Pretty Boy. He seemed so uncertain around her, which puzzled me at first. Em was a delight, tough as steel, but far more likely to smooth the way than cause drama or engage in a battle of personalities.