Meeting Wednesday morning @ 10:30 Please attempt to be on time.

I sighed. Lana and I were leaving to go back to New York on Tuesday and I wasn’t expected to be back at work until Thursday at the earliest and Friday at the latest since that was the next live show. We had been on a two-week hiatus because there were only five contestants left and the producers were doing makeovers and who knew what other shit they usually do.

I had wanted to spend a few days alone with Lana before I had to go back to work. Her next appointment was at 1:30 on Wednesday and I always went with her. The fucking meeting had better not take longer than an hour, I texted back and didn’t get a reply.

“Who was that?” Lana asked, sounding sleepy.

“Bridget or Brandie or Betsy. Whatever the hell her name is,” I muttered, tossing my phone on the coffee table.

I felt her stiffen and she raised her head to glare down at me. “Bethany?”

The name clicked in my brain and I nodded. “Yeah. That’s her.”

“I hate that bitch! That skank hates me too. I seriously can’t stand her. She’s always drooling all over you. What the fuck did she want?”

Her vehemence made me blink. Angel had never said anything—never even hinted—that she didn’t like the executive producer’s assistant that I had to work with. She had never been the jealous type. Not even after the nightmare of our breakup and the disaster of my one-time drunken slipup. She loved me, trusted me. I was disturbed by her reaction to a girl I could barely even remember even after seeing on a daily basis. “There’s a meeting on Wednesday morning. I have to be at the studio by ten-thirty. I promise I’ll be back in time to take you to the doctor.”

“How about I just go with you and then we can have lunch with Dad before we go?”

I shrugged. Having lunch with the man who was my father-in-law wasn’t something I enjoyed, but if that was what my angel wanted to do then I was all for it. Cole and Lana were working hard on their father/daughter relationship and I wanted to help her any way I could. Since Cole had found out we were having a baby, and a daughter in particular, he had started trying even harder. The reality of becoming a grandfather was making that old man grow up fast.

“Anything you want, Angel.”

The anger seemed to fade from her whisky eyes. “Anything I want?” she murmured, her eyelashes lowering to hide those eyes that I never failed to get drunk in. She was my addiction now. My only addiction.

My body hardened and my heart started galloping. “I promised Nik…” I started.

Lana reached for the baby monitor on the coffee table, waving it at me. “I need you, Drake.” She lowered her head and brushed her lips over my ear, her teeth sinking into my lobe. “Please, babe? I need you deep inside of me. Making me wet. Making me beg. My nails scratching down that big back. That dick stroking every inch of my pussy…”

“Fuck, Angel,” I growled, standing with her in my arms in one smooth movement. “You’re going to kill me.”

Chapter 4

Shane

Hearing my girl scream in fright was a mixture of heaven and hell for me. I knew that nothing around us was real, that there was nothing in the park that could or would hurt her. I knew just as well that she was having the time of her life. But the man in me, the part of me that was conditioned to protect her from everything in life, was on edge. Ready to destroy the man in the mask who was causing the screams coming from Harper’s fuck-me lips.

“Dude!” Linc yelped as we went around the next corner in the Resident Evil 2—the game, not the movie—haunted house. Sorry, no Alice here, people. “Fucking yeah!”

I snickered at how high he jumped as one of the zombies lunged at him before turning in the other direction to startle the group a few feet behind us. For all his muscles, brawn, and all around bad-ass attitude, Linc was terrified of the fantasy world of Resident Evil. The Lickers were the worst for him and I watched as he grabbed my sister’s hand and seemed to cling to it as they walked ahead of us through the maze.

Behind me walked Harper holding hands with Dallas, while Axton brought up the rear. I wanted to take the lead in front of Harper to have a little peace of mind of what she was walking into, but it wasn’t working. I was sure that Axton was only straggling behind so he could check out Dallas’s ass. I didn’t care if I was right or not. Having my friend in the rear gave me a fraction more comfort, because I knew that he would protect not only Dallas but Harper from any hidden danger.

When we were finally out of the first haunted house/maze for the night, I sucked in a relieved breath. We had walked through every house the last two nights, just as we were going to do tonight, but it was a different experience each time. And tonight was made even more special for Harper because she had Dallas to explore them with.

After the first night I had wondered what I was thinking, setting this up for three fucking nights in a row. Between the stress of Harper’s screams—delightfully frightened—and the gore, I was going on nerves alone tonight. But I knew why I had done this. It was the reason I did anything now.

She was now walking arm in arm with her best friend toward a vender to get a beer. The melodic sound of her giggles made something curl inside of my heart that was both comforting and painful. I stopped walking and just watched the woman who owned me heart and soul. So beautiful, so perfect. So…mine.

Axton’s hand pounded me on the back before squeezing my shoulder. “This has got to be the most fucked up bachelor party I’ve ever been to with you, man. But I have to say I’m having a blast.”

I grinned. “Could it be the sudden change in scenery that makes it so fun?” I asked, nodding my head in Dallas’s direction.

“Fuck yeah.” His gaze went back to the girls, now carrying two light-up glasses of beer each.

“Here, babe.” Harper handed me one of her extra glasses.

“Thanks, beautiful,” I murmured, dropping a kiss on her lips before taking a sip of the offered beer.

“Do I get a beer?” Axton asked Dallas who was still holding onto her second glass.

Dallas raised a brow. “Depends. You want to drink it or wear it?”

“Drinking sounds like the better option.” He stepped back, however, when she took a step forward. We all knew that she was more likely to pour it over his head than let him drink one drop.

“Dallas, please play nice,” Harper scolded, taking the beer from her friend and handing it over to Ax. “It’s too early for Axton to smell like draft. Maybe later.”