“We weren’t on a date, whatever the hell your names really are. You lied to me about where we were going, you brought me to that place, I assume now, with the intention of trying to sleep with me?
Shawn chuckled darkly, grinning.
“And then you gave me that damn bracelet without even attempting to explain to me what it meant if I took it.”
“And your point is?”
I narrowed my eyes at them. “My point is fuck you,” I hissed.
I whirled, stomping away, when a hand yanked me back by the arm, hard.
“Get your hands off of me!”
Thomas just chuckled, shaking his head.
“Please, you were ready for fun that night.”
“With you?” I spat. “Not fucking likely.”
“Watch your mouth, sweetheart,” Shawn growled.
“You have fun last night with your little princes?”
My eyes flew to Carl, who laughed wickedly. “Oh, we know about that, you little slut.”
“Go to hell,” I hissed, trying to yank my arm out of Thomas’s grip.
“What if you go with us instead and show us what those fucking Tam assholes taught you to do?”
I froze.
Shawn laughed, seeing the look on my face. “Oh, we know who they are.” He chuckled. “The club, with all it’s precious anonymity? Well, fuck that. We know who they are. And we know that they stole from us that night when they kept you.”
I shook my head. “You’re insane.”
“No, what we are is pissed the fuck off,” Carl hissed. “And we’re about to make those boys’ lives hell for this shit.”
My heart dropped, my face falling.
“No,” I growled. “Leave them the hell out of this!”
“And if we do?” Thomas leered at me, leaning close. “What exactly are you going to do for us if we leave your little boyfriends alone?”
A cold chill crept through me, and I slowly shook my head as they moved closer to me, chuckling darkly.
Carl’s hand slid to my waist, and I was about to yank away and scream with everything I had, when the car came crashing through the hedges next to us.
And all hell broke loose.
Chapter 15
Dean
We watched Mr. X drive off, the vintage black and chrome town car slowly moving out of sight until we were alone out in front of the hotel.
We were silent for a second, all three of us thinking about what had just transpired in the car.
Excommunication.
It was serious shit, and not the kind of threat the club made idly. It also mean that somehow, whoever the scumbags that’d brought Anya there that first night were, they’d figured out who we were.
And that was serious. Yes, there’d been times when members recognized other members outside the club. Hell, I’d been a vacation in the south of Italy one time and had the Duke of Imania stop right in front of my pool chair, nod at the three-crown tattoo on my arm, and then grin as he’d pointed towards his own. There weren’t any words though, of course, since we both understood the importance of the secrecy. Yes, we “knew” who each other were, but that was something in passing that we both knew we’d never bring up again. Hell, I hadn’t even told Jace and Killian about that day.
But this was different. For these guys to have told Mr. X about us, they had to have known who we are. How, I had no idea, but it was a chilling thought, especially with all this shit with our council not reaching a decision on the three of us ascending the thrones. A whiff of this type of scandal might cement us never becoming the trio of Kings of Tam.
But that all could come later. What mattered immediately was her.
“You’re thinking what I’m thinking?”
I turned to Jace.
“I think I probably am.”
Killian nodded, his eyes focused on the spot where Mr. X’s car had been a few minutes before.
“We sure about this?” he growled.
“Without question.”
Jace nodded. “For her? Fuck yes.”
It wasn’t even a choice, even if Mr. X had just given us one.
Between Anya and the club?
Easy move, easier choice.
It seemed our club days were over. And personally, I was psyched. This felt like a step in the right direction. This felt like growing up. And for her?
Hell, giving up the whole world was worth one kiss from the girl we loved.
“Guess it’s settled then,” Killian growled.
I felt my blood roar, my heart pumping a million miles an hour.
I glanced at them, nodding. “I think it’s time we go get our girl and put cards on the damn table.”
Killian nodded. ‘It’s her, isn’t it? I mean for all of us, she’s it, right?”
“Goddamn right,” I growled.
“Without a question,” Jace muttered.
Killian grinned. “Shit, did we ever think this day would come?”
“What, the day we all agree?”
He chuckled at me. “No the day us sharing turns into a lifelong commitment.”
“Think we’re ready for that?”
I smiled as I turned to Jace. “Is it even a question?”
He grinned. “Nope. Not one at all.”
It was time.
Time to act.
Time to tell her exactly how we felt and what we wanted.
…It was time to ask Anya Green to marry us.
We took one of the courtesy cars from the hotel, as Brian still wasn’t back from dropping Anya off, and headed towards the palace, Jace at the wheel.
I was excited.
Hell, I’d never been this excited, about damn near anything. I knew this meant we were out of the club. At another point in my life, that may have meant something, or stung, or made me furious. But now?
Now I couldn’t care less. The club could do it’s own thing. We had no need for it it anymore anyways. Not with her in our lives.
The guards at the royal palace gates waved us through when they recognized us, though I’m sure they were a little confused about three princes driving ourselves. We roared up the main drive, all three of us grinning.
Excited.
Ready to make the jump into being the men we knew we could be, with her.
“Oh fuck!”
Killian spotted her first, but a second later, we did too, and my heart dropped through the floor.
She was in one of the rose gardens off the main drive of the palace, yelling and trying to shake her arm free of the man holding it. There were three of them actually — all of them menacing her as they crowded her. She backed away, still trying to break free of the hand on her arm as her back came up against the tree behind her. The men closed in.
“Jace!” I bellowed, but the car was already veering off the road and smashing through a wooden railing.
“Hold onto your asses!” he roared, slamming his foot down on the gas. The car lurched forward, half-skidding on the grass with the hedge rushing up to meet us like a thick green wall.
The car went airborne as we smashed through the hedge, scattering branches and roses and bits of wire fencing everywhere. There was a hideous wrenching sound — probably the axle cracking — as the car hit the ground and skidded out. And the the damn thing was barely stopped before all three of us were out of it and charging towards the men putting their hands on our woman.
They turned and suddenly, we froze.
“Your Highnesses,” Carl hissed at us.