I didn’t have a moment to say anything or figure out a way to get her to explain what she meant about that because Trev was ready to end the conversation.

  “Sax,” Trev called out, and I looked over to see Saxon and Declan standing with some other familiar faces.

  Declan smiled, but had a slight frown when she saw me on Trev’s arm.

  Melanie glanced back and then back at us with a smile. “Go mingle. Have fun. You belong here,” she said, then gave me one last smile before walking away.

  “You looked like you needed saving,” Trev said under his breath, but I wondered if he had thought Melanie was going to say something she shouldn’t.

  I trusted no one anymore. That part of me was damaged, and every day that passed, it seemed to take even more hits. Reminding me that I could only trust myself.

  “How are they part of the family? Or are they?” I asked him bluntly.

  “The Houstons?”

  I nodded.

  “The Houstons have been inside the family and loyal to the Hughes for over eighty years. It goes back to our great-grandfathers. Melanie, however, has too. Her father has been inside of the family since he and my grandfather became friends in high school. Much like Gage and Blaise.”

  We were almost to Saxon and the group with him when Trev beamed a bright smile at them and stopped talking.

  “Wow, you, uh, brought Maddy,” Saxon said, his eyes wide as we approached them. He looked from me to Trev, then back toward where I knew Blaise was standing with his exotic beauty.

  “Dad loves me the most,” he informed Sax and took a long drink.

  “I fucking hope so,” Sax replied, his eyes going back to where Blaise was. I wished he’d stop doing that. “You’re gonna need someone to pay for your funeral.”

  Trev chuckled. “He’ll keep me alive.”

  Saxon’s frown deepened. “You might want to run to him now then. Because death is currently headed this way.”

  I stiffened, but I didn’t turn to look. I glanced at Declan, whose eyes were wide with excitement as she looked behind us.

  “Took longer than I thought,” Trev said and shrugged. “Heads-up, guys. It’s about to get fun. Hughes family drama for your evening entertainment.”

  Saxon cut his eyes at Trev. “You’re crazy.”

  Trev placed his hand on my lower back, and I closed my eyes tightly. This would be okay. I needed to calm down. Blaise was territorial, but I was not his date. His dad had bought the dress, shoes, and diamonds I was wearing. Not Trev. Technically, Trev and I were doing a job for the family.

  “Shiiit,” one of the guys I remembered from the pool party said in a low voice. “You’ve got the biggest balls I’ve ever fucking seen.”

  Trev held up his glass. “Sure do.”

  “Remove your hand.” Blaise’s voice was low and hard.

  I took a deep breath and bit my bottom lip. Saxon looked at me with fear in his gaze, which did not help. Trev, however, left his hand on my back. It suddenly felt like hot coals. I was tempted to take it off myself. For Trev’s safety and mine.

  “Hey, brother. I’m sure you’ll understand that I am doing what our father ordered me to do. Maybe you should take that temper of yours and go talk to dear ol’ Dad,” Trev said, then took a sip of his drink.

  “You stepped into a ring you shouldn’t have.” Blaise’s threat was clear.

  Saxon tensed, and I felt like I might be sick.

  Trev needed to just drop his hand. That was all. Nothing was said, and I didn’t look at them to see what silent communication was happening, but Trev’s hand finally moved away from me, and I let out the breath I’d been holding.

  “Madeline, come,” Blaise ordered me.

  Every eye was on me. What was I to do? Go with Blaise? What, and let him walk me outside and put me in a car to send me home? That was humiliating, and he would do it. I knew he would. I’d defied him, and he didn’t like being defied. I wasn’t sure I would be going back to his house after this. The Houstons weren’t going to let me come back. They’d be too scared. They clearly did what Blaise told them to do. But Garrett had put me in this position, so maybe he’d let me go to the big house or the pool house, like I’d mentioned to Trev.

  I finally turned to look at Blaise. He wasn’t going to hurt me. At least, I didn’t think so. He was just possessive, and although he had a gorgeous date, he didn’t like me being here with Trev. It wasn’t fair, but I was beginning to think Blaise didn’t care about fair.

  “Hello, Blaise,” I said, forcing a smile. “It seems your father wanted me here, and since his oldest son had a date, he asked his younger son to bring me. He even bought the dress.” I tried to keep my voice light, as if this were funny and he should laugh.

  Blaise’s jaw worked as he clenched his teeth. He didn’t think it was funny.

  “She’s not lying. Even the diamonds came from the safe. Dad picked them out,” Trev said beside me.

  “Come. Now,” he said through clenched teeth.

  I glanced over to where I’d seen Garrett last, and he was watching us closely. When my eyes met his, he excused himself from those he was with and started walking in our direction.

  “And here comes Dad,” Trev said beside me.

  The expression on Blaise’s face would terrify most people. However, his brother seemed not at all concerned. I was still trying to decide if I should be worried.

  “Your dad is coming,” I told Blaise. “You have a stunning date.” Saying those words was painful, and I had to swallow the lump in my throat. “I did what I was told. Trev did what he was told. It’s family business, right?” I said with a lift of my shoulders, trying to calm him down.

  “Blaise.” Garrett’s tone, although calm, made it clear that this was his warning.

  Blaise held out his hand to me, ignoring his father. I looked down at it and back at him. What did he want me to do? Defy Garrett? Wasn’t that cause for death or something? I had no idea what all the rules were, but I was sure Blaise was breaking them.

  Garrett smiled at me and stepped between Blaise and me. “There are more people I’d like you to meet, Madeline. If you’ll excuse us,” he said, taking my hand and tucking it in his arm.

  I went because it was Garrett Hughes. He was the most powerful man in this room. I had no choice.

  As we walked away from them, I feared for Trev’s safety.

  “My oldest son is stubborn and hotheaded. He doesn’t obey well, but then he never did. Don’t worry about him. He’ll be fine. He needs to learn a few lessons,” Garrett said as we walked toward another group of people.

  I tried to listen and pay attention as Garrett introduced me. I said the right things and nodded when I was supposed to. The smile on my lips I didn’t feel, and the lump in my throat remained there.

  This was not what I had wanted. I’d just wanted to be loved. I’d wanted Blaise. I had thought I had him. He’d said I was the most important thing in his life. That he would die for me. But those were only words.

  Words I didn’t believe anymore.

  Twelve

  Blaise

  The fucking rage inside of me was more intense than anything I’d ever felt. Seeing Trev’s hand on Madeline had made me feel unhinged. Garrett walking around with what was mine, introducing her to people, was sending me into such a crazed madness that I wasn’t sure anyone was safe.

  I couldn’t concentrate. All I could see was Madeline in that silver dress that showed off too much of her body. Men’s eyes followed her around the room, and I despised it. She’d shown up on Trev’s arm. The weak brother. To the other men in this room, that made her available.

  “Blaise, are you okay? You left and didn’t come back,” my date for his damn thing, Helena asked. “It looked like you and your father were having words.” She touched my arm.

  I flinched. She couldn’t touch me. Madeline had seen it, and the look in her eyes had made me physically ill. She was hurt. Garrett had brought her here so she could see this and think it was something it wasn’t. He was pissed because I had refused to bring her with me. I was trying to protect her. No one needed to know where she was. That put her in danger. I needed her safe. If they thought I was with other women, they wouldn’t find her.

  Damn him and his fucking ego. Thinking she was safe because she was with us. That hadn’t made her safe at the theater when they took her. They had hurt her. He didn’t see it my way. He had said that was my mistake and that I should have told her sooner about the danger she was in. Because of me.

  “Blaise?”

  Helena was still there. What had she asked me? Fuck, I didn’t care. She grabbed my arm again, and in the same moment, Madeline looked back over her shoulder in my direction. Her eyes immediately dropped to Helena’s hand on my arm.

  FUCK!

  I jerked my arm free of Helena.

  “This was a mistake,” I said to her.

  She frowned. “What was?”

  I shook my head but kept my gaze locked on Madeline’s back. She was so fucking stiff. I wanted to go grab her and take her out of here. Back home, and we’d never leave my goddamn room again. Just us. No fucking enemies, no damn sex traffickers, where no one could get to her. Safe with me.

  “Who is she?” Helena asked casually.

  She wasn’t jealous because she knew full well we were not a couple. She had no desire to be a part of my world. She was also in love with a girl that her father didn’t approve of. That was why I’d brought her with me. She wouldn’t get any attachments.

  “She’s mine,” I said, not taking my eyes off her.

  “Looks like your daddy is trying to make you angry. I know that feeling all too well,” she replied.

  I didn’t respond. I watched Madeline, waiting for her to need me. Right now, I knew she was hurting, and if I could kill my father, I would. He’d orchestrated this to piss me off.

  “Go get her. I’ll claim a headache and leave. It will be fine. Most everyone here knows we’re just friends. You’re not my type,” she said, then nudged my arm for me to go.

  I didn’t look back at her, afraid if I took my eyes off Madeline, something would happen to her.

  Garrett had wanted to force my hand. Well, he’d fucking won. He’d forced it with the only thing that could get to me.

  Damn him.

  “Thanks,” I replied, still keeping my eyes locked on Madeline.

  “No problem. Go remind your dad who the next boss is,” she said with a teasing sound in her voice.

  He didn’t need reminding. This was just another one of his power plays. He knew the day was coming soon, and he also fucking knew that he had the only person I gave a shit about on his arm.

  I walked up behind them and placed my hand on Madeline’s back. Everyone in the group shifted their attention to me. I turned on the Hughes charm I rarely used but was there if I needed to pull it out.

  “I’m sorry, but it seems my father has stolen something of mine, and I’m here to retrieve her,” I told them with a smile.

  I shifted my gaze to my father, holding the smile, but my eyes gave him the answers he wanted.

  He nodded and released Madeline’s hand. “Took you long enough. I was about to marry her off to Presley here. He is rather enamored with our girl.”

  “Mine. Just mine,” I corrected him, feeling the pulse at my neck beating so hard that I could hear it. I slid my hand around to grip her waist, needing to hold on to her.

  She was upset, and she was going to fight me. I’d had a taste of her temper enough to know what was coming next. The little flash of rebellion she’d displayed at the house before I left made me so damn hard that I was afraid to kiss her. I hadn’t been certain I could kiss her, then walk away.

  Dad smirked. “Very well.”

  I pressed Madeline’s back, still not looking at her, and led her toward the back entrance leading out toward the greens. She went with me, but her body was strung so damn tight that she didn’t need to say anything. I knew she was angry or nervous or both. I was going to fix it, whatever it was.

  Taking her out into the night, I kept walking until I had her to the empty clubhouse. Opening the door, I gently pushed on her back to get her to go inside the dark building. She went and crossed her arms over her chest defensively when we were finally away from the view of others. Putting space between us, like she couldn’t stand to be close to me. We both knew that was bullshit, but right now, she was upset.

  “What are you doing?” she snapped at me.

  Her gorgeous eyes were full of anger, hurt, and pain. I hated it.

  “I needed you alone.”

  “Why? Where’s your date? The one you aren’t ashamed to show up with?”

  Her voice cracked on the last question, and my chest felt like it might explode.

  Jesus, did Garrett not understand this woman was my kryptonite? She made me so damn weak. He’d had to let her come here and make herself more of a target than she already had been to begin with. I had to protect her, and she clearly did not get that.

  “You think I’m ashamed to be seen with you?” I asked her, trying to figure out where in the hell that idea had come from. “Did you look in a motherfucking mirror before you left the house? There wasn’t one heterosexual male in that goddamn building not salivating over you. And Garrett fucking knew it.”

  I closed the space between us, and she backed up until she hit the wall behind her.

  “I don’t believe you. Words mean nothing. It’s actions that count. And you chose to bring someone else. I can see why. She’s exotic and stunning. She belongs in your world. She’s everything I’m not.”

  Her eyes were glistening with unshed tears, and I had never detested anyone as much as I did myself in this moment.

  “Helena is beautiful, yes. But she has nothing on you. Nothing,” I said, lowering my voice and touching the side of her cheek.

  “I don’t believe you,” she said again. “You chose to bring her. Not me. And Garrett wanted me here. It was YOU who was embarrassed by me. This was not about my safety. Garrett didn’t think it was dangerous.”

  I grabbed her waist and tugged her against me. “I was protecting you. I don’t want you to be a fucking target. If my enemies see me with you, they will know that you are the one weakness that can destroy me. I didn’t want another woman on my fucking arm. But I did it because you would be safe. Garrett believes the family is enough to keep you safe, but it isn’t. I want you to have some chance at normalcy. Not parading you around in front of everyone was the only way I could think to do it. As for my date, I chose Helena because she’d rather lick pussy than touch a dick.”

  Madeline’s surprised face almost made me want to laugh.

  “She’s … she’s …”

  “She’s a lesbian, yes. She’s a friend, and she knows how to play the part,” I explained.

  Madeline’s arms slowly uncrossed, and she let them fall to her sides. Her gaze dropped to my chest, and I let her soak in what I should have just fucking told her to begin with. Then, she’d have been safely tucked in my house, waiting on me to get home. But after the way I had just acted in there, like a caveman beating on his chest, there was no question as to who was in my bed.

  “Trev came to get me after you left. Garrett wanted me to come. I was hurt,” she said, not looking up at me.

  “I know,” I said, sliding my hand over her hip. “He also dressed you in something he knew would turn me into a raging lunatic.”

  She lifted her eyes to me finally. “I didn’t like her touching you. I don’t care if she prefers women.”

  “I’d never visualized ripping my brother’s arm from his body before tonight,” I replied.

  A soft smile touched her lips. “He was doing what he had been told to do. Don’t be mad at him. I think he was secretly scared.”

  “He should be. He enjoyed it. Don’t let that fucker fool you.”

  She laughed softly.

  I ran my hand down over her thigh and pulled the dress up until I could get my hand inside the crotch of her panties. “Open your legs,” I told her.

  Her eyes went wide. “We can’t do this here.”

  “The hell we can’t,” I said, shoving her legs open. “You show up in a dress that barely covers your ass and heels that make your legs look like they go on for fucking days, then, yes, baby, I’m getting a taste right here.”

  She inhaled sharply, causing her tits to bounce under the fabric. Slowly, she opened her legs and looked down as I slipped my entire hand down the front of her panties.

  “Madeline, your pussy is already wet,” I said as my fingers slid into her with ease.

  “Yes,” she breathed. “You were being possessive.”

  I grinned. “But you were mad at me when I was being possessive.”

  She closed her eyes tightly as I began to pump my fingers in and out of her. “My body doesn’t care when I’m mad at you. Even when I thought I hated you, it didn’t care.”

  My dick throbbed in my pants. “You’re telling me this pussy got wet for me, even back when I was mean to you?”

  She nodded her head.

  “If I’d known that, I’d have fucked you in the damn pantry at Garrett’s house and sent Trev upstairs with his snacks alone.”

  She let out a laugh and opened her eyes.

  “Can you fuck me now?” she asked.

  I’d planned on just getting her off, then tasting her, but not now. My girl wanted my dick, then she was going to get it.

  I grabbed the edges of her panties and pulled them down until they fell to her ankles. “Kick them off, but leave those heels on,” I told her.