Come Back to Me

Chapter 44: Present Day

She snapped her mouth shut so fast her teeth clicked together.

I was positive she obeyed out of shock, not fright. Now I was dying to ask her if his comment about gagging her or that he called her mouth pretty was what had her turning red.

She looked over at me and mouthed, "Hot."

At this rate, she was collecting just as many men as I had.

I glanced at Thad, still standing next to me, my eyes soaking in his slightly tousled hair, muscled chest, and cut abs. His body was one of the most chiseled I'd ever seen. I'd like to know what he thought of Walker's comments to Beth. He appeared unbothered, as usual. He had to be the most aloof person on the planet. Beth caught me looking at him and pointed to us, then made the 'having sex' hand gesture while wiggling her eyebrows, followed by a thumbs up.

Noah sighed from my other side. "Whatever the two of you are doing, stop it."

Joshua was laughing. He had seen the whole thing.

"What?" Beth was wide-eyed, feigning innocence. "I was just letting my girl know that if she wanted to tap that, I am okay with it."

There was no question what 'that' was when she jabbed a thumb in Thad's direction.

Mark growled.

Thad looked down at me, eyebrows raised and a slight tilt to his lips.

"Jesus Christ." Walker slammed his hands down on the table to recapture our attention. "Do you take anything seriously?"

"I am very serious," Beth nodded. "She should totally climb that tree."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Beth, please, stop."

She held up her hands in surrender. "Fine, fine. Continue mansplaining to us why Regan's plan is brilliant and the only smart thing to do."

Walker gritted his teeth when she waved him on.

"As I was saying - "

"If one more person says we use her to draw this psychopath out, I'm going to murder them."

"Calm down, big guy," Walker leaned back in his chair. "We're not really going to give her to him. We just need to make him think it's her."

Mark pulled out a chair, suddenly very interested. "Use a decoy? Who do you have in mind?"

And just like that, the rest of us were forgotten.

Watching the two of them work was fascinating. Mark had completely taken over the conversation, pulling in some of the guys still meandering around Thad's living room. He grabbed a placemat and started scribbling on it with a marker that one of them had thrown to him. Walker pointed, nodded, shook his head, took the marker from him, and scribbled his own stuff down. Mark's brow creased as he studied whatever he'd suggested.

As interesting as it was to watch them do whatever it was they were doing, I had no patience to stand around and wait for them. It wasn't that complicated. Take me back to the Brownstone, let me actually leave the house - with an escort, obviously - and Stephen was bound to make an appearance. Like I had told them before, he seemed to show up whenever I did something that upset him. Easy peasy. They could sit down there, coming up with complicated plans with decoys and kindergarten renderings on Thad's expensive placemats. I was going to actually act.

I just needed to find some keys.

Rummaging through one of the bedside tables, the only thing I found was a bottle of lube, a box of extra large condoms - congratulations, Thad - and a huge dildo that made me simultaneously wet and wince.