Everly laughed, slightly confused, as she put down her checkbook. “Okay, I guess. That can work.” She didn’t go into an explanation of why she had called Storm to begin with, but then again, she wasn’t sure why she had.
The women made their way into the kitchen only to find Storm and the boys cleaning up the mess in there. Everly stood motionless in the doorway as Jillian hip-checked Storm to take away the mop from him and put it away. Everly did her best to fight back the tears that threatened. She was so used to doing things on her own, damn it. She couldn’t rely on this.
And that was why her voice was probably a little harsher than she’d have liked when she said, “Thanks for coming and helping. Boys, say goodbye to Storm and Jillian.”
Storm once again gave her a weird look but hugged the boys goodbye. Jillian gave them a little wave, and soon, Everly found herself alone with the twins once again.
Alone.
She almost texted Tabby so she could talk about what was going on in her head, only she didn’t. There was no use. No matter what, it wouldn’t make sense, and in the end, Everly would end up alone. Because that was what she was good at.
Chapter Eleven
Someone pounded on her front door, and Tabby sucked in a deep breath. She’d had a conference call that morning, and was going to be late for work and had no idea who that could be. Alexander had left her early that morning to head to the gym to work out with Brody, and she figured he wouldn’t be the one pounding on her door right then.
A sliver of fear slid through her as she remembered the way the former client, Charles, had come into her office with that anger inside him. But this couldn’t be him. He didn’t know where she lived, and he was still in jail, awaiting his court hearing.
She rolled her shoulders back and looked through the peephole. As soon as she saw who it was, she shrieked and opened the door.
“What are you guys doing here?” She didn’t wait for their answers; instead, she flung herself around the first brother she could reach.
Dare stepped back as he held her close and laughed. “We were in the area.”
She pulled away and punched him in the shoulder before wiggling away to hug Fox and then Loch. “In the area? Because Denver is so close to Pennsylvania.”
Dare grinned. “It’s true.”
“Yes, we hopped on a plane to make it happen, but see? We’re in the area,” Fox teased.
Loch just gave her a look that told her it had been the others’ idea, and she shook her head. She loved her brothers so freaking much, even if they annoyed her to no end.
“Well, come inside, but be warned, I’m behind on housework so don’t go rat to Mom.”
She pulled on Fox’s hand as she tugged him inside and the other two followed him. Damn, she’d missed them so much. Her parents, too. As much as the Montgomerys had held her close, they weren’t her family. She needed to make sure she saw them more than once a year because if she was getting this mushy now, then she was seriously homesick.
“We won’t tell her as long as you don’t tell her how our houses look,” Dare put in.
“Speak for yourself,” Loch said. “I’m housebroken.”
Tabby rolled her eyes and gave each of them hugs again. They let her do it, so that told her they’d missed her, too.
“What are you doing here?” she asked again. “And don’t say you were in the area. I want the truth.” Her phone alarm buzzed, and she cursed.
“Don’t let Mom hear those words come out of your mouth,” Fox teased.
She flipped him off as she turned off her alarm, much to the enjoyment of the others. “That’s my alarm telling me I need to put on shoes and head to the office. You’re lucky I was even here at this point in the morning since I’m usually at work.”
Loch shrugged. “We were going to stop by here first before going to Montgomery Inc. Either way, we would have caught you.”
She frowned as she slid on her heels and grabbed her bag. “If you would have called, it would have made things easier.”
“Then we wouldn’t have surprised you,” Fox explained. “And from the way you’re getting ready, you’re actually going to work now?”
She huffed out a breath. “Yes, I have responsibilities. But you guys can follow me if you want to see where I work. Then you can go play tourist or something. Maybe we can pick up lunch together.” Her mind was going in a thousand different directions. “Darn it. You know I plan my days, guys. I’m not good at spontaneity like this.”
Dare gave her other brothers a look, and she pressed her lips together. Something was off, and she really wanted to know what it was. “We’re worried about you.”
She blinked. “Why?”
Fox glared at her while Loch folded his arms over his chest, but it was Dare who spoke again. “Let’s see, shall we? You’re taking self-defense lessons because some guy attacked you at work. You’re dating Alex Montgomery, the guy you’ve had a crush on, and, apparently, you’re still out looking for Michael and Angel in the dead of night. Do I have that right?”
Her eyes wide, she set her things down. “How? How could you know all of that?”
“Why the fuck didn’t you tell us to begin with?” Fox put in. “Why did we have to hear from others that shit is going on in your life. This is why you should have stayed in Pennsylvania, damn it. That way, we could have looked out for you.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You mean overrun my life.”
“Well, you seem to be trying to throw yourself in the deep end out here,” Dare yelled.
“Stop it,” Loch said slowly, his voice low. “Yelling isn’t going to solve anything, and she said she can’t be late for work. We’re not going to add to her problems.” He met Tabby’s gaze. “We’re not. But we are worried. First, Marie Montgomery called Mom to talk about how upset she was that you were hurt. Mom was pissed that she didn’t hear it from you. Dad’s pissed too, and hell, so are we. I know you want to be independent out here, and you’re an adult, but if a crazed man hurts you, then fucking tell us.”
She swallowed hard. “I…I didn’t want to worry anyone.” And she’d been afraid her brothers, and even her parents, would show up like this. She might be in her mid-twenties, but things like this tended to make her family overreact.
“Well, we’re worried,” Fox bit out.
“Tell us, damn it,” Dare cursed. “Don’t hide things like that from us. I know you want to do things on your own, but we want to know things like this. We deserve it.”
“As for Michael and Angel,” Loch continued, “the guy I contacted out here when you first started looking for him filled me in.”
She closed her eyes. No matter how far she was away from her family, they always found out everything. She didn’t know why she was hiding things.
“And as for Alex…” Dare sighed. “We want to meet the man you’re with and make sure he’s good enough for you.”
“He’s not,” Fox clipped.
“Excuse me?” Tabby yelled. “What right do you have to say anything like that about him? You don’t even know him.”
“No one is good enough for you,” Fox explained. “He’s in recovery? Good. Because it’s damn hard to do that, but as for him and you? That’s a whole other matter. No one is good enough for my baby sister.”
She rolled her eyes and looked at Loch for his say in this, but he just kept silent. As always. She let out a breath. “I need to go to work.”
“We’ll go with you, then,” Dare said quickly. “We’re not going to take over your life while we’re out here.”
She laughed. “Sure, Dare. Whatever you say. And don’t you three have jobs? How did you get time off to come out here?”
“We all work our assess off and never take vacations,” Fox explained. “It took some effort, but you’re worth it, squirt.”
She glared again. “Don’t call me that in front of Alexander.”
“Ooooh,” Fox sang. “It’s Alexander, is it? Let me guess, are you his Tabith
a?”
She blushed and pushed it. “Shut up, you toad. Now I’m going to be late so let’s get moving.”
“She is his Tabitha,” Fox continued to sing as he followed them toward her car and their rental. “Isn’t that the most adorable thing you’ve ever heard?”
“Like cartoon deer and bunnies,” Loch said deadpan.
She flipped them off again, waving to the neighbor with her other hand as they called out to her. She was officially becoming the crazy person next door, and she didn’t care. She had her bothers to deal with, a job to get to, and a boyfriend to make sure stayed far away before her brothers hurt him or something.
Easy, right?
She groaned.
Nope, not easy at all.
She ended up with Loch in her passenger seat since they decided they didn’t want her driving alone. At least, that’s how she read it since her brothers were lovingly overprotective. They’d said it was so they were even in the cars and got to spend time with her, and while that was true, it probably wasn’t the whole of it. Thankfully, it was Loch and not either of the other two. Dare would have needled her, and Fox would have kept asking her questions while inevitably answering them for her if she wasn’t fast enough.
She loved them all the more for it.
Of course, sitting for so long with a quietly disappointed Loch was just as bad as it would have been with either of the other two. Her brothers knew how to push her buttons, even when all they wanted to do was make sure she was loved and protected.
They walked into Montgomery Inc. as a unit, and she almost paused at the door. It hadn’t occurred to her that this wouldn’t be okay. The office on most days felt like a work branch of the Montgomery family home. One where she’d always been welcome. Her brothers had never been to her home out here for various reasons. It never made sense for them to come out here, considering it was always cheaper and easier for her to fly to them. They’d tried to come out individually before, but work and family things had always been in the way. Her parents had visited and met the Montgomerys. The two older couples had hit it off, and she loved it.
But now, she was bringing her brothers into her place of work with no warning. Sure, her brothers hadn’t given her much—or any—warning, but still. She just hoped that she wouldn’t get in trouble for it.
Wes and Storm were in the office as she and her brothers walked in, and they looked up at her, surprised. First, she figured because she was never late, even after a conference call that she’d held at home because it had to start horribly early. Second, because she had brought three big dudes with her when she hadn’t before.
And this after kissing Alexander in public as she had.
Well, as least she was keeping things interesting.
“Wes, Storm, these are my brothers, Dare, Fox, and Loch,” she said as she pointed to everyone. “Guys, this is Wes and Storm, the twins that run Montgomery Inc.” She didn’t know why she pointed out that they were twins other than the fact that she tended to do so. With such a large Montgomery clan, it was easy to forget that Wes and Storm were even more connected than the others.
Storm’s eyes widened as Wes came forward, a smile on his face. “Hey, nice to finally meet the three of you.” He looked over at Tabby. “Did we know they were coming? I didn’t see it on our planner.”
She rolled her eyes as her brothers either laughed out loud or chuckled softly. They knew her planner ways, but what they didn’t know was that Wes was almost as bad as she was. Almost.
“We wanted to surprise her,” Dare explained.
Storm once again shot her a look before saying hello to her brothers. She didn’t know why this felt so weird, but it did. It was like two sets of her family finally meeting, and she wasn’t sure what she was going to do about it.
“You should take the day off,” Wes said. “In fact, you should have just called and let us know.”
“We can probably manage without you for a day,” Storm said dryly before looking at her desk as the phone rang. “Maybe.”
She laughed and went to answer the phone. The guys might be able to handle things without her, but first, she would make sure they had lists so they could actually do it. The guys talked to one another behind her as she jotted down a message. Sure, Wes or Storm could have answered the phone, but she liked her job and wanted to do it while she was there.
As she hung up and turned around, Alexander walked into the office and froze, his eyes going as wide as Storm’s had. Well, crap. She’d wanted to take a moment to at least text him and give him a head’s up. She’d shown him pictures of her brothers so he had to know who the guys were, but it wasn’t the same thing as knowing they were there to probably confront him.
“Alex,” Dare said, his voice low.
“Dare, right?” Alexander said, his hand out. “Didn’t know you’d be here.”
“We surprised her,” Fox said dryly, shaking Alexander’s hand next.
Loch just gave her boyfriend the chin lift thing that Alexander mimicked. This was going well…right?
Or not.
“We’re also here to make sure her work and home are safe,” Loch said finally, turning to Wes and Storm.
The twins narrowed their eyes, but she hoped it wasn’t anger at her brothers for daring to comment on what had happened to her.
She let out a breath and moved toward them, hoping to ease the tension. Only Alexander put his arm around her shoulders and cranked up the tension just that much more—at least for the other guys in the room. Just having Alexander’s arm around her settled her enough that she could think.
“We added additional security,” Storm said after a moment. “Cameras and motion detectors and a few other things.”
“Plus, Tabby hasn’t been alone in the office since that night,” Wes added.
“Good,” Dare asked. “Because she wouldn’t be working here if that wasn’t the case.”
That put her back up. “And Alexander is teaching me to fight back, by the way. Because I’m, you know, a fucking adult. And no one, I repeat no one is going to push at me. That includes my obnoxious brothers who think they can tell me what to do. Yes, one man came into my place of business and acted irrationally, but that’s not going to happen again. We’ve ramped up security like Storm said, but I’ll be damned if I let you cage me.” She met the gaze of each man in the room. “Any of you.”
Her brothers glared at her while the twins gave her nods, yet it was Alexander’s gaze that gave her a little more strength. The respect she saw there moved her more than words could say. Not that she’d be saying anything in front of the others right then.
“She’s safe,” Alexander said after a moment. “Every employee here is. Now, why don’t we go get some lunch or something since it’s about that time? That’ll give you three ample opportunity to grill me like I think you want to.”
She coughed and slapped at his rock-hard abs. Working out like he did truly did wonders for him. “Uh…how about we don’t let them grill you.”
Dare grinned at her. “Oh, I think he has the right of it.”
Fox put his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “Pretty much, little sister. Sorry to tell you, but this is sort of what we do.”
She glared at Loch as he shrugged. “Sorry, Tab, it’s on our list.”
The guys laughed at that, even the freaking Montgomerys, and she wanted to stomp her foot like a toddler. Not only were they going to be all pushy with the man she was dating, but they were making fun of her and lists at the same time.
Family. Seriously.
After she’d made sure Montgomery Inc. would be okay without her for the afternoon, they headed off to a local café she liked. She’d have rather taken them to Taboo, Hailey’s café, but she’d been afraid of seeing more Montgomerys and making this…thing a little too big. Since Taboo and Montgomery Ink, the family tattoo shop shared a wall, the chances of that happening were too great. It would have been almost inevitable.
They too
k a large table in the back, and thankfully, she’d been able to sit next to Alexander. Fox had tried to take her seat, but she could bite back when she wanted to.
“So,” Alexander started after they’d ordered their meals. “What do you want to know?”
Loch met his gaze, and Tabby put her hand on Alexander’s knee. “What do you think we should know?”
“You guys, stop it,” she said, exasperated. “This isn’t high school, and he’s not my freaking prom date. I’m an adult for fuck’s sake.” They were in the back of the café, and thankfully, there weren’t any kids around, or she’d have felt bad for cursing just then. And considering her family, she had a feeling she wouldn’t be the only one letting out an f-bomb or two.
“They’re your brothers,” Alexander said calmly. “If I hadn’t been drunk off my ass when Meghan or Miranda were dating, I’d have done the same thing to Luc and Decker. And I was in rehab when Maya started dating Border and Jake, so I wasn’t around for that either.” He met each of her brother’s gazes; just as calm as he had been the entire afternoon. “Is that what you wanted to know? That I’m an alcoholic? Because that’s not a secret. I’m always going to be an alcoholic, but I’m not the drunk I was before. I’m not going to let that define me, but it’s still part of me. Can’t hide that.”
Fox let out a curse as Loch nodded, but it was Dare who spoke. “The fact you got help says more about your character than anything else.”
“It was my family that took me to rehab,” Alexander pointed out. “I wasn’t strong enough to go there myself.”
“But you were strong enough to stay,” Fox said softly.
“Not everyone asks for help,” Loch added. “And those people tend to take down others around them.”
Tabby felt their gazes on her, and she knew they were talking about Michael. “I told him everything,” she said after a moment. “There are no secrets between us.” Other than the fact that she loved him, but she wasn’t ready to reveal that. Not yet.
Alexander squeezed her hand, and she relaxed slightly. “What else do you need to know? I’m a photographer but you probably already knew that. I do mostly freelance pieces, and I go more journalistic than stock or catalogue. I work for my family when they need me, but I mostly do things on my own because that’s how my profession fits in. I have a small apartment but a decent-sized savings. I don’t know when I’m going to buy a house because I already did that before and I want to wait until I’m ready before I make that kind of commitment again.”
Ink Exposed Page 15