I place my ear up to the door to listen, but this time, I don’t hear anything. I shake my head. “I’m losing my mind.” It could have come from the neighbors. They are always in the backyard working on something.

Opening the door, I step in and my heart stops as I take in the scene. The house is destroyed. Our sofa, turned over. Foam litters the floor from the cushions being ripped to shreds. I can see the kitchen from the front door and all the cabinets have been opened. Everything has been removed and then just thrown to the floor. Broken dishes and glassware everywhere.

I take off down the hall. “Blane?” What if he didn’t go with Savannah? What if he stayed? “Savannah?” I shout out in a panicked voice. What if they’re both here?

I come to their door and my body freezes as I try to take a deep breath. It feels like it takes forever, but it happens in a split second. I scream as a man covered in all black breaks the window with Blane’s lamp before jumping out of it.

I place my hand over my heart and force my shaky legs to run back into the living room. I dig into my purse that I had dropped by the front door and grab my phone. Breathing heavy and blinking, I try to clear the tears that fill my eyes. My shaking hands start to dial 9-1- …

“What’s wrong?”

I scream again and throw my phone down as I’m spun around. I let out a long breath when I see Blane standing there, staring down at me with wide eyes.

“Why are you screaming?” he demands as he looks around the house. “What the fuck happened?” He turns to me and looks me up and down to make sure I’m not hurt. “Are you okay?”

“Someone broke in.” My body shakes, and I hug my arms around myself. “They just climbed out your bedroom window,” I inform him. He takes off toward his bedroom, and a few seconds later, I hear him cuss.

CASE

I lean back on the white leather couch as I lift a longneck to my lips. I take a swig and then place it on my thigh. The coldness from the bottle seeps through my jeans. “I was surprised to see that Blane has a sister,” Brecken says from the recliner beside me.

“Me too,” I say truthfully.

“I was even more surprised at how hot she is. Those tits …” He whistles. I look over at him but don’t respond. “You sure you want to do this?” he asks before he starts to pick at the label on his beer bottle.

“I don’t really have any other choice.” I shrug carelessly, looking back at the TV. “A deal is a deal, and I won’t go back on it because of a woman,” I say. But if I had to be truthful with myself, I should shut the deal down right now. I’m not only putting Blane in danger, but also his sister. The fact I can’t get the image of me fucking her out of my mind means I’m the biggest threat to her.

“I hope you know what you’re doing.” He sighs heavily.

“Always,” I say refusing to take my eyes away from the TV but not really seeing the game that is playing. All I can do is remember the way her blue eyes begged mine to let her brother go. The way she gasped when I gripped her in my hand. I hate that terrifying her made me hard. And I hate that I can’t wait to see her again.

He chuckles. “I’ve heard you say that before.”

I look back over at him. “And when have I been wrong?”

He pauses, the beer halfway to his lips, and gives me a smirk. “Do you really expect me to keep count?”

“Jackass,” I mumble.

He takes a quick drink of his beer and then speaks again. “Miller told me the conversation you and Blane had after she caught you guys.”

“And?” I ask not even turning to look at him this time.

“And I know that you want her,” he adds.

I roll my eyes. “So what? I’ve seen many hot women who I never laid my hands on,” I inform him. That makes me want her even more. The fact that she’s off-limits and she hates me. I wanna win her over. Conquer her in every way possible. Bring her to her knees while I smile down at her in satisfaction. That would be the cherry on top.

He snorts. “The only thing that will keep you from touching her is what we have at stake. If you touch her, everything that Blane does is worthless.”

“I fucking know that,” I snap, looking over at him.

He places his hands up in surrender, and I let out an aggravated huff. I lift the bottle to my lips again and take another swig.

“What are you two arguing about?”

We both turn to look over our shoulder when we hear Rachel’s voice. I look her up and down as she holds a white bed sheet around her body under her arms. She closes her eyes as she yawns.

“Nothing, babe,” Brecken tells her. “Go back to bed,” he orders, looking back at the TV.

“Come with me,” she whines as she leans up against his wall as if her legs are too tired to hold her up.

“Go ahead. I’ll be right there,” he says before taking another drink.

She looks over at me. Her brown eyes still heavy with sleep and her bright red hair has that freshly fucked look I know Brecken caused only hours ago. Brecken had invited me over after the club closed down, and I couldn’t say no when Rachel offered her services. “What about you, Case? When are you coming to bed?”

I look away as my phone vibrates in my back pocket. Reaching behind me, I pull it out to see it’s a text from Blane. Now, what?

Blane: Need to meet up you tomorrow. Important.

I sigh and type back a time to meet me at the club. I place my phone back in my pocket. Bringing the beer to my lips, I stand up from the couch. I down the rest of it as I walk over to her. Rachel likes to be used. And tonight that is exactly what I plan on doing with her. But this time, I’m gonna pretend that she is a petite brunette with blue eyes.

TAYLOR

I spend most of the night cleaning our house but not much is salvageable. Dishes were broken. The couch carved like a pumpkin. It looked as if a bomb had gone off. When I first started to clean, I cried. I cried so hard that I couldn’t see what I was doing. Now, I’m just pissed. I hate that someone thought they could come into our home and destroy our stuff we have worked so hard for. And the second thing was we couldn’t report it. Blane was persistent in not letting me call the police. He said he would go to jail, and then who would be here to protect Savannah and me? No one. I had locked myself in my bathroom and started dialing them anyway; he knocked my door open and took my phone from me. I had never seen him so mad in all my life. It scared me, but thankfully, Savannah settled him down.

“I think it was that Case guy.” I walk into his room, not able to keep my opinions to myself anymore.

He shakes his head as he places his cell down. “Case wouldn’t do this!” comes his clipped answer. I hate that he’s mad at me for wanting to do the right thing.

“You know him so well?” I question. “I’ve never heard you even mention his name until I met him last week. I wouldn’t put it past him.” I can’t tell him that this might have been a warning to me. To keep my mouth shut or there will be consequences.

“Stop,” he growls. “Case wouldn’t do this.”

“The guy was wearing all black. He was wearing all black at the club.” I try to think of an excuse other than hey, he threatened me last week when I went to see him behind your back.

He looks up at me from where he sits on his floor as he goes through some of his broken belongings. “Go to the cops and explain that.” He snorts. “They will laugh you out of the station. People wear black every day. Maybe you should drop out of school and be a detective.”

“Don’t be such a dick. It’s your fault our home got broken into in the first place,” I shoot back.

“My fault?” He jumps to his feet, towering over me. “How is it my fault?” he demands. “Maybe it was someone you know.”

I laugh, but it holds no humor. “Yeah, because I associate with drug dealers and thugs,” I retort.