And after one whole week of being locked up in the apartment together, I was pretty sure we both knew what we were doing. There was no second guessing it now.
“Cabin fever much?” I asked with a laugh when we finally walked out of the front door together.
Elsie blushed, leaning on my arm so she could kiss my chin. I wrapped my arm around her and held her close as we took the elevator down together.
“I’d be happy to be locked up with you for a year,” she said.
I would have agreed to it too, but real life beckoned. I knew my family needed my help and presence. Aldo was still a problem that needed to be dealt with.
Everyone wanted to know what was going on with Elsie, and it was time to introduce her to the family as my woman. As an official part of the family.
Isabelle waited for us at the door of the family home when we pulled into the driveway.
She screeched like an excited schoolgirl who finally got to meet her rockstar heartthrob. Elsie was excited to see her too, running out of the car and straight into my sister’s arms. The two of them hugged and gushed as I stepped out to join them.
“I’m so happy you’re not taking her away from us!” Isabelle shrieked, giving me a hug too.
The door opened, presenting Davey, who ran out of his mother’s arms and straight to Elsie. They had a happy reunion as I stood back and watched the others emerge from the house.
For some reason, they were all happy to see her. Even Killian, who was always a grump around strangers. And technically, Elsie was still a stranger to the family, but I couldn’t wait for them to get to know her.
Nolan came up to me while the others talked to Elsie and wanted to know what we’d been up to the past week.
“Congratulations, you guys look happy,” he said, thumping my back. Brendan and Colin joined us. We were all amazed by our women who were so excited and happy to be together.
“Well, at least we need to thank Aldo for one thing. Because of him, we’ve all fallen like a deck of cards for these women,” Aidan said as he came to us.
“Our family is growing,” Brendan said with a smile.
I looked over at Nolan who was the only unattached male in our family now, and he rolled his eyes. He looked pretty sure of himself, like he wasn’t going to fall as easily as we had.
Maybe he wouldn’t.
“I don’t want to rain on everybody’s parade, but I feel like I need to put it out there,” Colin said. “Aldo is still out there somewhere and none of us are getting any sleep at night until we’ve got him. He’s hurt enough of us. Our whole family. Our women and children. It’s not over yet.”
We all nodded our heads. Each of us had a personal vendetta against him. We all wanted him dead. We wanted him to suffer.
I caught Elsie’s eye as she laughed with the other women. She had Davey up in her arms and the sun shone brilliantly on her face. I’d never seen a more beautiful sight in my life.
I knew she was my family now. She’d be the mother of my children. I’d ask her to marry me and I’d put a baby in her. No matter what happened, I’d keep her safe.
I winked at her and she smiled back at me lovingly. Nobody had ever loved me like this before.
Sneak Peak at Nolan
Chapter 1
Amelia
I needed a break. I’d been standing there, trying to make small talk for the past three hours and I really needed a breather.
When the heavyset woman with the impossible hair walked into the salon, Eliza and Marcie turned to me and rolled their eyes. I knew exactly what they’d do, but they were the ones closest to the door and I couldn’t stop them. So they simply stepped out before I did anything about it.
Ruby, our manager, gave me a shrug before greeting the woman.
“Hello Mrs. Bailey, Amelia here will assist you today,” she said.
I dug my nails into the palms of my hands. We all knew Mrs. Bailey pretty well, and none of us wanted to work with her.
She was a bitch. To everyone. It was like she came to get her hair done only so she could dump all her life’s problems on us and blame us for them. People she paid, and who’d have no way to escape her.
I stared at Ruby pleadingly, but I knew she wouldn’t do anything about it. There wasn’t any way Ruby would put herself on the chopping block if she could help it.
Mrs. Bailey strutted over to me, looking me up and down like she certainly didn’t like what she saw. Already I felt the anger building up inside of me. How would I get through this in one piece?
“What can I do for you today?” I tried on my sweetest voice for size. Anybody who really knew me would’ve recognized it as completely put on. I never sounded like that in real life. It almost turned my mouth sour, it tasted so bad.
The woman bounced over and sat in the chair in front of me, facing the mirror as she tried to cross her legs but failed because her thighs got in the way.
She turned her head both ways, keeping her eyes fixed on herself.
“I have a very specific look in mind so don’t you mess it up,” she replied sharply, eyeing me in the mirror.
“I’ll try to do the best I can.”
“That’s not good enough. There isn’t any room for error here. Do you even know what you’re doing? You look too young to be working here,” she said, pushing her nose up in the air like she’d smelled something gross.
“I’ve been cutting and styling hair
