Come Back to Me

Chapter 44: Present Day

"I will lock you in your fucking room if I have to!" Mark bellowed.

"I'm done hiding!" I yelled back at him. "You can't stop me."

"Watch me." He moved to grab at me.

"Back off, Mark," Thad warned, surprising us both. "Before you say something you regret."

"Stay out of this, old man. You have no hat in this ring."

"No?" Thad arched a brow.

Such a simple word followed by an even simpler expression set Mark off faster than anything I had ever seen. I jumped in his path as he lunged at Thad, and he almost didn't stop from knocking me down. He looked down at me, incredulous.

"I could have hurt you!"

"Maybe then you'd stop and listen to me."

"Are you fucking crazy?"

"According to you all, yes, I am!"

Mark grabbed my shoulders, ready to yank me to him, and growled over my shoulder. "You even try to touch her, and I'll rip your hand off and shove up your ass."

Thad smirked and waved his fingers in a 'come here' motion.

I pushed Mark off of me, stepping back towards Thad. "Knock it off!"

Pausing his argument with Beth, Noah wrapped a hand around my wrist and turned me from Mark, knowing that he would explode any second. "Reggie, there's no way in hell we're using you as bait."

"She doesn't need your permission," Beth rolled her eyes at Noah.

"Did you talk her into this?" He angrily rounded back on Beth.

"Watch your tone," she warned. She had that crazy glint in her eyes we all knew a little too well.

"You think you two can actually stop her?" Out of all of us, Joshua was the only one smiling. He was absolutely dumbfounded at Noah and Mark. He had stayed quiet for most of this fight, watching with his arms crossed, waiting for them to realize they'd already lost.

"Yes!" They yelled at the same time.

"Go ahead and try. And I'll laugh the whole time she's making you regret it."

I peeled Noah's fingers from my wrist. "You can't keep me here. I'm going back to the Brownstone and putting an end to this. You can either come with me or stay the hell out of my way."

"You can't -"

The glare I shot at Mark made him shut his mouth. "I'll be safer if you come with me, but I'll do this alone if I have to."

"You won't be alone, agapi mou. I'll go with you." That was the second time Thad called me that. I'd have to ask what it meant and finally find out what language he spoke. His accent was still a mystery to me.

"You motherfucker."

Noah and Mark both moved toward Thad, equally pissed off and ready for a fight. Thad simply took my hand in his, nodded at Joshua, and started walking toward the stairs.

A shrill, ear-splitting whistle cut through the chaos, all of our hands slapping over our ears as we winced.

Walker removed his fingers from between his lips and crossed his arms. "Now that I have your attention, shut up and sit down."

None of us moved.

He let out a dramatic sigh and sat down at the head of the dining room table. "Regan's idea might work."

"No fucking way."

Walker pointed at Mark. "You can shut the fuck up and let me finish."

Beth laughed until Walker looked at her. "I will gag that pretty mouth if you don't do the same."