He shook his head. “Are you kidding? I’d have been furious if you hadn’t woken me. You’re my girl. I need to be there for you when you need me. And this is scary shit.” He clicked on the phone. “I’m forwarding this to security people. We’re going to get your roommate, and we’re going to see to it that nothing burns ever again.”
“Banyan.” I had to voice the question that had made no sense to me from the second I’d discovered it was Molly setting the fires. “Why me? She’s obsessed with me? I don’t understand.”
He pushed my hair off my forehead. “I don’t know either. I don’t understand the psychological need of the pyromaniac. I… I can’t explain it. All we can do is protect you until it goes away.”
“I love you, Banyan.” I couldn’t say it to all of them enough.
“I love you, too. Come lie down. Go to sleep.”
That was a good idea. “I think I’d better go back to Chance’s bed. He had a hard night, and he might take it the wrong way if I’m not there when he wakes up.”
Banyan nodded and rose, taking my hand. “I’ll come with you. Chance okay?”
“His father is dying and wants to get back in touch.”
Banyan hissed in a long breath. “Fuck.”
“Yes, exactly.” We walked in silence back to Chance’s room, and I got in next to my sleeping boyfriend. Banyan climbed in the other side. The room was dark. I was warm in between two of my guys, and Banyan told me I was safe. He wouldn’t lie to me. It was going to be okay.
Somewhere in the next few minutes, sleep took me under. It was welcoming and I was glad to greet it.
* * *
I woke up when Chance’s alarm went off. Unlike the rest of us, he had to get up for work. He groaned and rolled over to stop it. I wrenched open my eyes as Banyan made a fussing noise and rolled in the other direction.
“You okay?” My voice sounded hoarse and I cleared my throat.
He leaned over to kiss me. “Yes. Thanks to you. I slept like the dead. My head is clearer. You okay? You just tired? I see we got company. Banyan’s snoring keep you up?”
Banyan laughed. “Only when I sleep on my stomach. She was up in the middle of the night. Molly has appeared. Our girl got scared.”
“What?” Chance yelled and then spoke softer when he continued. “I presume you’ve filled her in.”
Banyan hit him with his pillow. “Yes. Now go get ready for work and leave me alone. Some of us are still living our bohemian life and don’t need to be up yet.”
Chance laughed, touching my shoulder one more time. “Your billionaire bohemian life.”
“Not a billionaire.”
Chance walked toward the bathroom, looking over his shoulder. “The day is still young.”
Was Chance really as okay as he seemed or was he putting on a show? How often did he do this? I would ask him. But not right that second. Sometimes people needed to be allowed to put up their walls they built to get through the day. Or at least I did. When next we were alone and quiet, I’d make sure he was okay.
I dragged myself out of bed. I needed to officially make headway in my online classes if I was going to do them. I’d soon reach a point where I couldn’t catch up. I could cut off my nose to spite my face and not do the classes because my parents wanted me to, or I could actually do it and graduate with a college degree.
I did want that degree.
I padded over to the bathroom and went in when Chance came out. He stopped, kissing me softly. “I love you.”
A thought dawned on me then, and a surge of terror moved through me—the likes of which I’d only felt the night before when I’d gotten Molly’s email. I threw my arms around Chance. “Don’t go to work today.”
The bed creaked as Banyan must have sat up across the room. Chance squeezed me tightly in his arms. “Vonni?”
“Banyan is going to get some additional help. You can’t go to work until we have that. You’re safe here because there is security. Out there? Not so much. She could set you on fire to hurt me. She could kill you. Chance, please, you can’t go to work.”
The thing about getting hysterical was that I could hear myself doing it and I couldn’t seem to stop it. The warmth and security I’d convinced myself I had last night after Banyan reassured me was nowhere to be found.
“What’s going on?” Maven must have been near the doorway. I couldn’t turn to look. I wasn’t going to be able to do anything until Chance agreed to stay here where it was safe
“I love you and you can’t die going out there, Chance. You just can’t.”
He drew me closer to his chest. “I’m going to be okay, Vonni. I promise I will.”
Banyan was talking to Maven now but none of them were listening to me. I let go of Chance and stepped back. “This is a legitimate threat. She’s set things on fire. Were you all not there at the formal? You saved my life. People were hurt. She’s wicked, and she’s determined, and she…”
“I know.” Maven came up next to me, drawing me against his side. “But Chance is going to be okay. This is Manhattan. There are cameras everywhere. She isn’t going to get anywhere near Chance. Take a deep breath.”
I did as he said. In fact, I took two. “Maven, those garbage cans at school. The woman can burn anything.”
“I know she can, but she won’t be able to here.”
I let his words drift into my brain. He was right, of course. Maven and Banyan would never let anything happen to Chance and Chance was a smart guy. He wouldn’t go traipsing around if things were dangerous. I just had to pull my shit together.
I nodded. “Okay. I’m sorry. I’m going to take a shower and stop being nuts. I’m sorry, Chance, Maven, Banyan. I hope I didn’t ruin the day. I’ll give you guys some space.”
“Hey,” Chance tapped my chin, and I looked up at him, “I love you. You were scared for me? I’m sorry that you’re afraid, but I am not at all upset that you loved me so much as to react like that. I didn’t know if in the rest of my life I’d ever have someone who gave a shit about me again the way you just did. I love you, too. When we knew you were sick across the world we all freaked out, too. Actually, Banyan kept his head. And then he freaked. I’ll be careful.”
I nodded again. It seemed to be all I was capable of doing. “Can you get a taxi right in front? Like not move until you have one and do the same at work somehow?”
“Here’s a thought.” Maven kissed my cheek. “What if he didn’t do the taxi at all? What if he used a rideshare app and went back and forth that way today? That way he stays inside until the car arrives and then walks straight into it. No hailing anything.”
Chance nodded. “I can do that.”
I liked that idea. “Do that, please.”
I had to get this under control. The last thing I needed was for me to become their crazy girlfriend. My mother’s prediction rammed around in my head. When they got sick of me, this was over.
“Hey.” Chance kissed my lips. “I love you. This is scary. It’s not wrong to feel strongly about it. And I meant it. I love it that you love me. I love you. I can’t really explain it enough. I’ll be careful and soon this will be over. I can’t stay home. Too soon in the new job.”
I supposed that was fair. He needed this job to write him a recommendation for medical school. My hands shook, but I’d be fine. “I’ll pull it together.”
“You’re golden, love.” He kissed me again. I closed my eyes. Chance would be fine. He would. This would all be over soon. Then we’d find some semblance of normal, whatever that was going to look like. I had a plan. I just had to remember that.
Life would not always be moving one second from crisis to crisis. I hoped.
* * *
I stared at the computer. The classes my mom had set me up in weren’t bad. I needed basically a year’s worth of English classes to complete the degree. This setup didn’t require me to take any more math or science, and I was more than good with that. I did need to figure out what had gone wrong in my last
math class since I refused to accept that I was stupid.
I chewed on my lip. I typed up all my missing assignments, none of which were too late to turn in, and then I skimmed the syllabus. I’d read all the books I was expected to for the semester, which meant that I was going to need to review them, but not do a first read for plot. That was helpful.
Maybe my obsessive need to read everything and anything I could get my hands on would serve me well this time.
My fingers tingled, and I didn’t want to get up. I knew what that meant, and I had to laugh. I was back with the guys and the itch to write my story was riding me. It was like they were my muse and I needed them to tell this story.
I loaded it on my word processing program and stared at the word count. I had close to one hundred thousand words. If my research was right, then a novel usually fell somewhere between seventy thousand and one hundred twenty thousand words. That was good because there really was just one major plot point to go.
It was time for the heroine to meet the woman who had caused all the fuss, the woman who had been trying to kill her the entire book. I took a deep breath. Somewhere along the line I had come to believe in the story.
The doorbell rang, but I ignored it. It was time to bring these characters to their end. They rode me hard, almost like they screamed in my head for completion.
Banyan or Maven would get the door.
“Giovanna,” Maven’s voice called for my attention just as I typed out the introduction. It was a scene I both craved getting to and dreaded I would screw up at the same time.
I jumped. His hand on my arm felt like he’d burned me. It quickly passed, but I was almost out of breath from the jarring intrusion that someone talking to me while I was that deep into my imagination caused.
I must have responded as thus because Maven winced. “Sorry, love.”
“Ah, it’s okay, of course.” Shame at having such a ridiculously strong reaction brought heat to my cheeks. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
I was just constantly screwing everything up.
“No, I’m sorry to disturb you. You looked really invested in the last hour.” It couldn’t be that long, could it? “But there’s a Detective Alvarez here to see you in regards to Molly, so I need you to come in the blue living room.”
The house was so big that we’d all taken to identifying rooms by color. Part of what Chance wanted to do to the place was to make it so there wasn’t such a distinct color scheme in each individual room. Chance’s grandmother had had unique tastes, and it certainly wasn’t my own.
Not that anyone was asking how I wanted to decorate it, but I agreed with Chance’s assessment: the best thing to do was to keep what was old and beautiful about the Upper East Side mansion and get rid of what looked like the nineteen seventies had puked up.
I supposed I should be more nervous about talking to the detective except I’d spent so much time talking to police officers lately that as long as he wasn’t here to arrest me I wasn’t at all worried about it.
I took Maven’s hand.
I wasn’t alone. That helped, too. More than they’d ever know.
* * *
The interview basically consisted of letting me know he’d taken over the case and that after reviewing Banyan’s security camera footage, they thought she’d been caught on the stream. He gave me his card in case I thought of anything and told me to contact him. He had the file from Pennsylvania. He was an older gentleman, and his phone had gone off three times during our short interview. He didn’t seem to feel I was in any immediate danger since I’d lived with Molly for years and not been burned to death in my sleep.
Now there was that image that could keep me up at night. Were the guys in danger? Maybe. She was obsessed with me.
I sat back on the not-comfy blue couch. “Why me?”
He held up his hands. “I’m not a psychologist. I’m not going to be an armchair one right now. You can Google that. Why is she obsessed with you? Why is anyone obsessed with anything?” He got up. His phone buzzed again, and he clearly had to go. Or he was done with us. “Your boyfriend, whichever one is your boyfriend, he’s got some heavy duty security going on here. But we’ll get her, and I don’t need any vigilante bullshit going on.” He pointed at Banyan and Maven. “Which one of you is the boyfriend?”
Well, now was as good a time as any to get used to this. “Both of them, actually.”
He raised his eyebrows slowly. “Both of them?”
“There’s another one of us, too.” Banyan walked toward him and extended his hand. “My security team can get in touch with you if there’s anything else you need.”
He sighed. “I’m ten months from retirement, and I am not going to have the Upper East Side burning down to put a period on it.”
I rose to see him out but sunk back down as soon as the door shut behind me. Maven leaned in the doorway. “You told him you had more than one boyfriend and the Earth didn’t explode.”
“I hate this couch.” I tried to stretch out and it pinched my back.
He walked toward me slowly, dropping down over me with both of his hands on each side of my shoulders. “Maybe the couch hates you.”
I grinned at him. “The Earth didn’t explode.”
Maven kissed me slowly. “Do you want to get back to your book?”
I nodded. “I really do. I’m kind of in a zone. I’m feeling twitchy being away from it.”
He kissed the edge of my nose. “Go write. I’ll try not to bother you. I don’t want to get in the firing squad of your gaze again.” He didn’t look mad. “Tonight, I’m sleeping in your bed. I call a space. Dibs.”
I made my way to the computer and started typing again. It almost felt like the whole exchange with the detective hadn’t happened. I typed and typed and typed. I deleted and typed again. There were certain details that were hard to get just right. The reader had to see what I saw. It felt as vital as breathing to me.
Finally, when the two women had said what needed to be said, I pushed back from the computer. There was nothing left but to write the end. I put my hands on my thighs and bent over, breathing. It felt like I’d run a marathon.
Had I?
“Do you suppose she’s okay?”
I jumped at Chance’s voice. He was here? What time was it? I stared at all three of them as they stood on the other side of the room looking at me with varying degrees of amusement on their faces. Banyan leaned on the side of the doorframe.
It was like sensory information returned all at once. Something was cooking I hadn’t noticed, and outside, cars were beeping their horns. I rubbed my eyes. “Guess I get a little out of it.”
“Yes, but you’re so cute doing it.” Chance walked over and kissed my cheek, leaving his lips there for a long moment. “You chew on your lip. Raise your eyebrows. Tilt your head. I could watch you all day.”
Well, apparently they could since I was so oblivious to it. I rose. “Who’s cooking? And I’m glad to see you are here Chance. You got home safely.”
“Just as promised.” He kissed my hand. “And I’m cooking. Neither one of them is going to, that’s for sure. Home cooked is sometimes just better. I know how to make four things. So expect to see the same dinners over and over.”
Banyan shrugged. “I make reservations. I’m really good at it.”
Maven held up two fingers. “I can make two things. So twice a week I cook, four days a week Chance does, and Friday nights Banyan makes reservations.”
I loved these guys. “I can cook, too. So we can split it up. And eat out when Molly isn’t around to burn us to death.”
Banyan shook his head. “We’re not going to be shut in because that girl with the matches wants your attention. We’ll go where we want, when we want, with a bodyguard if need be, but we’re going.”
I followed them into the kitchen. I didn’t want to be a shut-in. Banyan was right. But this was going to be easier said than done. I was willing to hide to keep them a
ll safe and if that made me a coward then so be it.
Chapter 6
For the rest of my life I might never understand Kung Fu movies, but all three of the guys liked them. I was happy to sit and just be for a while. I was going to finish my book tomorrow. That was an odd sensation. I’d actually written a book. I had no idea if it was going to be any good, but I’d done it. Over one hundred thousand words was a lot of writing.
And yet the next book had already brewed in my mind.
If only I had the slightest idea of what to do, if anything, with the first one. Maybe the writing was terrible.
Chance squeezed my leg. “Feeling better?”
“Yes.” Everyone was in the house and Banyan had the place wired up like Fort Knox. It was easy to feel better in here.
Maven yawned. “I’m going to bed soon.” He turned to me. “Coming?”
I nodded. “Absolutely.”
His gaze smoldered at my words, promising me all kinds of excitement once I got up there. I loved how they all seemed to want me all the time. I didn’t know what I’d done to earn that as I’d spent most of the day either staring at my computer screen or freaking out, but I wasn’t going to complain if for some reason they still thought I was sexy and not crazy.
“School starts for you next week?” Chance asked Maven. I gasped. That was right. We only had a few more days with Maven before he had to take life seriously again. Or more seriously than he’d been doing since I got back from India.
He leaned his head a little to the left. “I’ve been reading some books on the first year of law school. Not the course material but what to expect in law school.”
Banyan grinned at him. “A lot of people very preoccupied with the law and letter of the land?”
Maven smiled back. “That’s a given. No, I mean that every class is graded somewhat similar to a bell curve. Instead of the traditional model, in law school, there will be a predetermined median grade that’s the same for every class in the school. I don’t know what to expect in mine yet, but I imagine making an A is challenging.”
Undeniable: Reverse Harem Story #3 Page 6