For once Ezra’s point made sense. There was a reason he took after our dad with law, he was logical when need be.
“If you don’t need me for anything else, I have a separate case I need to take care of,” Emmet cut in. My youngest brother was always so quiet that at times I forgot he was there. He looked toward Ezra. “I’m gonna find out about the two cousins so we can take care of them.”
Ezra nodded. “I gotta head to the office and meet with a new client anyway. Can you two get over your shit?” He looked between me and Lucas.
The two of us stood in a stare off.
“I’m picking up a shift at the hospital tonight. Try not to get yourself killed by your wife in the meantime.” Lucas waved Ezra off before turning to leave.
I gritted my teeth. While I understood Lucas’s point, I didn’t like being questioned.
“Let me know when you two take care of everything. Emmet, send me some cases that’s been submitted.” Since I was in charge now it was up to me to choose the jobs we took on. Business didn’t stop because someone was dumb enough to come after us. My dad, his dad, and my great grandfather had built The Bloodline to what it was today and I didn’t plan on ruining the legacy they’d created.
I turned and headed for my car. When I opened the door and climbed in, I looked over at Cashlynn seeing her head rested against the window while she snored lowly. I took a second to study her, the way her body curled into itself, yet her face was relaxed.
Today, as well as the other night, I’d seen true fear in Cashlynn’s eyes. It was the only time she seemed human to me and allowed herself to be vulnerable enough to show her emotions. While I liked her fire, I realized Ilovedseeing that needy state within her more. She didn’t need it, but it caused an urgency inside me to protect her because she wasmine. Every time she showed a crack in that hard exterior, I found myself being more drawn to her. Her problems and fears became my own and that was what my brother failed to realize.
____
I studied the recent drawing I had done of Cashlynn while tapping my charcoal pencil against my sketchpad. A lot of the time when I pulled my sketchpad out, I let my imagination run wild, but Cashlynn had been my muse and my obsession. No matter how much I attempted to draw something new. I cocked my head and tucked my bottom lip between my teeth. The tears that were running down her face took me back to the other day at the barn. It had been three days since then and Cashlynn had been keeping her distance from me. She stayed locked in her room and didn’t even come to my bed to sleep anymore. I let her wallow in her feelings for now while staying alert. My wife was spiteful. I knew that much, but she had yet to strike or counter what I did.
I checked the time and realized I had been lost in my sketch for the past hour. It wasn’t finished. No, it seemed like every sketch I made of Cashlynn was missing something I couldn’t pinpoint, but was determined to complete.
Closing my book, I set it and my pencil on my nightstand before kicking my feet over the bed and walking over to my closet to get dressed. Today I was taking Carson out for another training session. We were working on self-defense techniques. Eventually I wanted to take him to the range at my other house and get some shooting practice in. Carson might not be a killer like his sister, but his instincts were there, and he was smart too.
I looked around my walk-in closet, walking to the side that housed my lounging clothes. Grabbing the olive-green sweatsuit, I quickly changed and grabbed my black and green tennis shoes off the back wall before heading out.
Taking the elevator to the second floor, I first entered the room Cashlynn was staying in. I wasn’t even sure if she noticed but I had been slowly moving her things upstairs into my room. After sleeping next to her there was no way I was gonna keep allowing her out of my bed. She had accumulated a nice amount of things at my expense since being here.
When I opened the door, I saw she was laying with her eyes closed on her bed and her wireless headphones over her ears. I knew she was meditating. It made me wonder if this is what she’d been locked in her room doing the past three days.
Deciding to leave her alone, I left and walked down to where I knew Carson would be, in the game room.
“You ready to go?” I called out, causing him to pause his game. He turned his head toward the door and faced me.
He blinked slowly. “Oh, yeah. I just gotta save this game.” He faced the TV on the wall.
“Meet me downstairs.” I turned to leave.
Pulling my phone out, I texted Devin to make sure he was waiting at the door for us then shot a text to Jackson to be on standby if my wife decided to leave. As much as I didn’t want to agree with him, Lucas wasn’t wrong, Cashlynn could be reckless, especially when her emotions were running high. My tracker could only do so much; I needed eyes on her at all times.
“What are we doing today?” Carson questioned when we got downstairs.
I glanced at him and smirked. “You’ll see.”
____
“Ow!” Carson cried out as I applied pressure to his wrist.
“C’mon, remember what I taught you. What do you do if someone grabs you like this? Focus!”
“You’re grabbing me too tight,” he gritted.
“You think someone coming after you is gonna give a fuck about grabbing you too tight? Their main objective is to hurt you. Now what do you do in this position?”
He glared at me and pinched his lips together. “Ah!” he yelled, rotating his wrist, then yanking his arm toward him. Pressure formed on my thumb causing me to release him. I lifted one corner of my mouth.
“Good, that was good. Now.” I hurried around him and grabbed him in a chokehold. “What about now?”
