“I guess you were part of all of this, weren’t you?” Angel asks Josephine with just as angry of a glare.
“Why do you guys look so pissed. She is a grown woman. Leave her alone,” Josephine is now glaring as well.
Me? Well, if I didn’t have my little girl in my arms right now, I’d put my fist through a wall. Actually, I want to run out there and find her. Drag her back to our busand make sure she knows she’s mine. She just doesn’t know it yet.
“You guys can’t protect her from everything. And you damn sure can’t stop her from having sex if she wants,” Cami says. “Youhave to let go and let her find herself again, big brother.”
Dane grips his hair by the roots hard.Probably so he doesn’t wrap his hand around Camilla.“I love you, Muñeca, but your matchmaking and meddling went too far this time.”
Angel stands up and moves away from Josephine. She looks at him in total shock.“Are you seriously angry right now?” she demands.
“Josie, have neither of you noticed that Jake likes her?” Angel nearly yells.
“This has nothing to do with being an overprotective big brother. It has everything to do with my friend getting his heart broken,” Danespits.
“What are you talking about?” Cami demands, her own temper flaring. “I know we talked aboutJake having a thing for her, but he would’ve made a move by now.”
They all discuss me like I’m not standing right there. And I’m getting more and more pissed by the second.The thought of anyone else touching her is enough to make me commit murder.I feel my blood pressure rising by the second. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’m having a stroke.
“Daddy mad?” Lyra places her chubby little hands on my face, bringing meback to my senses.
I kiss her forehead then set her on the floor. “I’m not mad at you, baby girl.”
“Good.” She walks toward the back of the bus, and the buffer for my anger is gone.
“Jake, if you like her, why haven’t you told her?” Cami asks me softly. I’ve missed whatever has been saidfor her tone to change. I look at Josephine, who looks guilt-ridden as well.
“Because she’s been avoiding me,” I tell them with my teeth clenched, so I don’t say anything stupid.
“How can she avoid you when you’re sharing the same space?”
“It’s not as hard as it seems. Turns out she can just hide out with you guys then get told to goget laid,” I hiss.
They both flinch. “She never said anything earlier. Maybe she doesn’t know how you feel.”
“She knows. I may not have said it, but she at least knows I’m attracted to her.”
“If you didn’t tell her….”
“Cami, I promise sheknows. After last night, she definitely knows.”
Dane snaps his head in my direction. His eyes telling me to not finish that story.
“Look, we just thought we were helping her. She’s wound too tight. The stress isn’t good for her,and she’s going to crack. She said she hasn’t had sex since Daniel back in New York and….” Josephine stops her sentence when I growl.
“I keep forgetting to kill that kid,” Dane grunts.
“No,” Cami’s hands land on his chest, but her eyes don’t leave mine. “He’s just her friend, and she’s comfortable with him.”
The door to the bus swings open. Maddox steps in and Ryder behind him. “Time to – whoa, what did we walk in on?” Maddox asks as he takes all of us in.
“Just Lucy and Ethel here who thought it would be a good idea to encourage my sister to ‘go get laid’,” Dane tells them with air quotes.
“That’s a horrible idea,” Maddox declares with a hard glare at the girls.
“We know. I mean,we know it’s a bad idea. We didn’t know Jake liked Cara. Or we thought we were wrong because it’s been months, and he still hasn’tasked her out. We were just trying to help,” Josephine rambles on. “We didn’t mean to cause any problems. We just wanted Cara to have some fun.”
“It’s not a bad idea because Jake likes her. It’s a bad idea because she likes him. And she’s not ready for that.” Ryder tells them with his arms crossed.
