The pizza was cheesy and delicious, covered in thick pepperoni slices and deliciously oily. I’d gobbled down two slices already, and my stomach growled for more. Yep, I was pretty much a comfort eater, and the fact that the Crimson Riders had made a reappearance in my life was a huge cause of stress.

Bryan sat on the sofa beside me, one foot up on the coffee table, sitting back against the sofa, one arm spread out across the back of it, and one hand clutching a slice against the paper plate in his hand. He ate slowly, watching me, wordless.

“What?” I asked and dabbed my lips with a napkin.

“You’re just fucking adorable when you eat. So neat. Anyway,” he said, “are you ready to talk about this?”

“God, which part?” I asked, and set my paper plate aside, clasping the napkin between my palms. “The part where we’re having an affair, even though we both know it’s a terrible idea?”

“I prefer the term ‘naughty’ for that,” he replied, and cocked a smile.

I snorted, then pressed the napkin to the tip of my nose. “You’re incorrigible. We’re in the middle of a crisis here.”

“Are we?” he asked then sighed and leaned in, put down the plate. “All right, Riley, let’s start from the beginning. Why don’t you tell me why you think today is your fault?”

I inhaled. This was the moment of truth. “My ex,” I said, “was a bad guy.”

“To what extent?” he asked.

“To the extent that—man, this sucks. I don’t like talking about this.”

“Why?”

Why? Gee, I wonder. “Well, Bryan, I don’t know, maybe it’s because it reminds me of a really shitty time in my past. Or maybe it’s because it shows just how weak I used to be. How pathetic.”

He raised an eyebrow. “That’s harsh.”

“It’s true. Look, a few years ago, I wasn’t the person I am now. I was a total idiot.”

“In what sense?”

“In every sense,” I replied. “I fell in love with a guy straight out of high school. I believed he was the only one who’d care for me, and that’s probably due to my parents.”

His brow wrinkled, but he didn’t ask the question. It was on his mind, though, I could tell—the wheels turning behind those bright blue eyes. If he’d been anyone else, I’d have told him the bare minimum, leave him in the dark. But he wasn’t anyone else.

He was Bryan. He was the guy whom I’d slept with, fantasized about. He was the guy who’d given me hope, not only in the sense that he’d actually given me a job I’d dreamed about for a year, but that there might actually still be good guys out there.

Real men, who did the right thing for the people around them. For their families.

I inhaled. “My parents were never stable. They divorced when I was sixteen years old, but by that time it was already too late. I’d spent, what, six, seven, eight years being their go-between. Their marriage counsellor, listening to her talk about what a prick he was and him threaten to leave, over and over again. So, needless to say, I was desperate to prove to myself that I could make something work with someone I loved, that not every relationship had to be a screw-up like theirs.”

Bryan was silent, a good listener. He nodded for me to continue, a small form of encouragement.

“So, when things started to go wrong with my ex, I believed I could fix it. I believed I could work it out. That I had the words or tools or whatever. So pathetic.” I balled up a fist and pressed it to my forehead. “In my defense, I was pretty young.”

“What happened?” he asked, the first deep grumble of that voice since we’d started the conversation.

It sent a thrill through me. A shock, actually. “Well,” I said, “it started small. He’d swear at me, degrade me in front of friends. He started going down a path I couldn’t follow. We moved in together after high school, and money was tight, and it only got tighter. I found out he was on drugs, that he’d joined a motorcycle gang, and that was it for me. I knew I had to find a way out before it was too late.” Each of my sentences was clipped and pressurized. This was still difficult for me to talk about. I’d barely escaped him, and the Crimson Riders, who were an abomination to me.

“I asked Beverly for help,” I continued, and my throat closed slightly. My best friend had become a sister at that point. She’d been through everything with me. The threatening messages, Marcus’s attempts to contact me afterward. “I got out, but I’ve always known that he would find me somehow. Some way. I just feel it in my gut.”

Bryan shook his head, swiftly, and sat forward took my hands in his. “I don’t think that’s what this is about,” he said. “Riley, I—”

An ear-splitting screech split his sentence in half. The alarm whooped through the house, and Bryan leaped to his feet and charged out of the room.

My heart stalled in my chest, restarted. God, was Marcus this desperate to make me pay, that he’d come out here, he’d do this? I pushed off the sofa, just as the alarm cut out. Bryan was on the phone, deeper in the house, speaking to the alarm company no doubt.

I walked toward the exit, heart still pounding but my mind catching up fast. If there’d been a real problem, Bryan would’ve already grabbed Carly and rushed back down the stairs to get us out. Us? You need to stop with that.

My phone rang in my pocket, and I halted, squirmed it out and looked at the screen. I’d expected a call from Bev earlier, but I hadn’t received one.

The number flashing on my cell’s screen wasn’t one I recognized, but it was most likely her. Bev was notorious for forgetting her phone in odd places.

“Hello?” I answered. “Bev?”

I fully expected a cheery greeting in reply. None came.

“Bev?”

Heavy breathing echoed down the line, and I pulled the phone away from my ear, frowned at the number, then placed it back again. “Who is this?”

More breathing.

“Identify yourself.” The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. “Right now.

Low, sick laughter, deep, hinging on psychopathic trickled through my ear. “Soon,” the voice said, distorted and way too deep. Not a voice I recognized. The line went dead.

I stood, frozen, the phone still pressed to my ear, and stared dead ahead at the staircase. What the hell?

Bryan appeared at the top of the stairs, now off the phone, but still with it in his hands. He walked down toward me, and I stowed my cell in my pocket, shaking slightly.

“Carly’s asleep. When she wants to, that girl sleeps like a ton of bricks. Don’t think even a set of firecrackers under the bed would wake her,” he said, as he reached me.

I nodded. “Good.”

“You OK?” Bryan asked, and touched one of those rough palms to my upper arm. “Sorry if that scared you. It happens from time to time.”

“It was nothing?”

He broke eye contact, shifted his gaze to the front door, then back again. “Yeah. Nothing. I checked the cameras in the study upstairs. Nothing there. Just a false alarm. You’re pale, Riley. It’s OK. You don’t have to stress about safety in this house. Everything is rigged to go off. If there’s a problem, the alarm company, the cops, they’ll be here in seconds.”

“I just got a weird call,” I said, then told him about it, briefly, my mouth tripping over the words.

Bryan clenched his jaw.

“Now, do you believe me? I’m a danger to your household.”

“No,” he replied, stiffly. Upon hearing about the call, his expression had transformed from concern to something else—darker, deeper. Was it anger? “You’re not. And at this point, you’re more a part of it than you are an outsider. Riley, I don’t want you to worry about anything. I want you to stay here, where it’s safe.”

I couldn’t endanger Carly like that. “No,” I said. “I’m going to go.” I walked for the exit, but he caught my arm.

“Stay,” he said. “I need you here. I swear to god, Riley, if I thought you were a threat to my family’s safety, you would’ve been out on your ass a long time ago. You have to stay.”

“Why?” I asked, searching him for an answer, now. Why was so he insistent that I hang around? That I bring my own personal baggage into his home, when he could’ve easily found someone else?

Bryan pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I think you know why,” he said.

“You want a fuck buddy?” I asked.

He chuckled against my skin. “If that’s what you want to call it.”

“That’s all it can be,” I replied. “And it shouldn’t even be that. God, Bryan, this is a disaster. This whole thing is a storm of utter crap, and I feel like it’s my fault.”

“Stop.” He drew me into a hug, working his fingers down my back “Stop worrying. Just stop. Trust that I have this.”

“How can I do that, Bryan?” I pulled out of his grip, squared my shoulders. Trust was not my strong suit. “Look, it’s better if I just go to bed. I’ll see you early tomorrow morning.” I had to put distance between us, or I’d wind up making this situation even worse than it’d been to start with.

I turned on my heel and hurried back up the stairs and away from him. This was like some weird version of Beauty and the Beast. I was trapped in this house with him, both wanting to stay and wanting to leave, and he was so… in control. Like I was his guest.

Because, when it came down to it, I wanted to be here. And that made me a selfish asshole.

I reached my room, slipped inside, and shut the door behind me, breathing hard.

Finally, I lifted my cell out of my pocket and flicked through my contacts to Bev’s number. I hit dial and waited.

“Hello?” Bev croaked.

“Hey!” I said. “Hey, how are you?”

“Sleeping, bitch. How are you?”

I managed a dry laugh. “Awake and terrified.”

“Terrified?”

I broke it down for her swiftly, Carly, the biker, then left out the bit about my developing feelings—shit—for Brian, and what’d happened between us.

Beverly cleared her throat on the other end of the line. A lighter clicked. “Well, shit,” she said, drawing out the shit.

“What do you think? Am I crazy to want to get out of here?”

“You’re not crazy, but it’s just not going to happen.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Let’s put it like this, in some ways, my brother and I are practically identical. If we think someone’s in trouble, we want to help them. And if I know Roman, he’s decided that you need help, and that he’s going to help you. That and he knows how much Carly likes you.” Beverly exhaled, and I pictured a puff of smoke from her lips. “Just as long as you guys keep this simple, it’ll be fine. Roman isn’t afraid of anyone or anything.”

“Beverly, you’re way too calm about this. And what do you mean, keep things simple?”

She inhaled this time, then gave a tight little cough. “OK, I’m going to lay it on you. Rome, is, well, quite frankly, he’s been through enough. His wife left him, Riley, and he might look to give you some part of himself that he can’t really—fuck, I’m not saying it right. He might make promises he can’t keep. I love my brother, but he’s broken. He’s not for you in that sense.”

“What? Who said anything about that?”

“No one. I’m just warning you. It won’t be a good idea if you get involved with him. Romantically. I’m just saying. In case. You know?”

Had she picked up on the vibes between Bryan and me? She couldn’t have. I’d hardly spoken to her about him, and she had no idea about the guy I’d been talking to on the #dateme app. “Bev, I didn’t call to talk about anything like that.”

“I know. But I just had to get it out. It’s been on my mind since you started working there, and I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“The only one threatening to hurt me right now is Marcus,” I snapped then cleared my throat. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten angry. I—look, I’m just tense. Bev, has anything weird happened at home? Any visitors or late-night calls?”

“You mean, apart from this one?” she asked.

I managed another wry smile. “Yes, apart from this one.”

“No, it’s been quiet as can be.” Bev exhaled. “Babe, I know that you’re scared, and you’ve been through a lot, but are you sure you’re not overreacting? It just seems like…”

“Like what?”

“Like you’re finally getting everything you’ve ever wanted, the job, the chance to change your life, and even somewhere to stay while you’re doing it, and now you’re scared.”

“No,” I said, “it’s not. This is really happening.” And I’d really brought it down on this family. “I’d better go, Bev. I’ll take a shower or something and think it over.”

“All right, honey bunny. You do that. Keep it real, keep it cool.” And then she hung up, hopefully not to fall asleep with a cigarette still burning between her fingertips. It was a legitimate concern—she’d done that before.

I pushed off from the bed, headed over to the dressing table against the wall, and put my phone down atop it.

I had a decision to make here. Stay and possibly endanger the little girl I cared deeply about already, and Bryan too—no matter how strong or big he was, he had no idea what the Crimson Riders were capable of.

Or I could leave and give up on my dreams. It wasn’t that I needed this job, anymore. I’d grown attached to this family. To the idea of protecting Carly.

And I didn’t want Marcus to win again.

And I’ll lose Bryan. Maybe that was a good thing. After all, we’d sworn we wouldn’t take this any further after Halloween.

I shoved aside the decision, collected my things for the shower, then poked my head out of the room, looking left and right. The coast was clear.