I’d been having the best dream.

It was dark. The only light in my room was from the moon shining bright outside my window. But I didn’t need sight to know who it was in my bed. I knew exactly whose hair I was pulling, whose back I raked my nails down, whose tongue dueled with mine as my body received the most intense pleasure.

But when those stormy blues met mine, I couldn’t shake the sense that this was wrong. What we were doing was wrong. Even in my dreams I knew Declan was all kinds of bad for me.

The dream eventually faded, and a tiny niggling of consciousness crept in. Along with the heat of someone’s body. Still half asleep, I moaned and rolled to my other side to get away from the person who’d taken up most of my bed. “I don’t care how uncomfortable that twin in the guest room is, Cam. You can’t sleep in here. Go away.”

It was being yanked across the mattress into a solid wall of chest that woke me completely. Then the person holding me in a vice grip spoke, and my blood turned to ice. “You know, baby, I might’ve gotten jealous that you mistook me for another man if you hadn’t been telling him to get out of your bed.”

My scream was quickly cut off by Declan’s large hand as he whispered in my ear. “Chill out, Tate. You’ll wake the whole goddamn house up.”

With that, my momentary terror gave way to blind rage. Spinning around as best I could, I started smacking the shit out of Declan, landing open-handed slaps wherever I could reach. “You stupid son of a bitch!” I whisper-yelled. “You scared the hell outta me!”

“Jesus Christ, Tatum!” he hissed. “Calm the fuck down.”

“Calm down? Calm down? You broke into my house in the middle of the night and climbed into my bed! I will not calm down, you psycho!”

My assault was quickly cut off when Declan moved fast as lightning, pinning my arms against the pillow above my head. His body straddled mine as he leaned closer, his face just inches away.

“Relax,” he commanded. “I came in the same way I always have. You left the damn window open for me, for Christ’s sake.”

I felt my eyes bug out so far I was afraid they were going to pop right out of my skull. “I didn’t leave it open for you, you arrogant prick! I haven’t checked that lock in years.”

A cocky smirk tipped the corners of his mouth upward. “That’s ’cause your subconscious has been waiting for me to climb back through all this time.”

What happened next was nothing more than my body’s reaction of him being a massive jerk. It was a reflex, pure and simple. My knee came up swiftly, connecting hard with Declan’s frank and beans. And as he let out a bark of pain and rolled off the mattress onto the floor, I couldn’t bring myself to feel guilty. I was actually pretty damn proud of myself as I peered over the edge of the bed and saw him curl up in the fetal position, clutching his manhood and gasping for breath.

The bedroom door burst open a second later, light from the hallway spilling in to reveal Cam, dressed in nothing but a tight pair of gray boxer briefs, with one of my dad’s golf clubs held over his head. “What’s happening? What’s going on?” he asked frantically, his eyes searching for an intruder. “I’ll kill ’em. Where’d they go?”

I pointed down at the ground casually just as Deck let out an agonized “Fuckin’ fuck me. I’m dying. Jesus Christ.”

“Oh, stop being so dramatic,” I sighed, pushing myself up to sitting. “And will you close the damn door already?” I snapped at Cam while flicking on the lamp on my bedside table. “Last thing I need is for my parents to wake up and come rushing in here. Dad’ll get one look at Declan and shoot him on the spot, and I really don’t want to have to visit him in San Quentin.”

Camden stepped farther into my room, lowering the golf club as he kicked the door shut behind him. “What the hell, Tate? You actually let this fucker in your house?”

“Of course I didn’t,” I sighed with a roll of my eyes. “I woke up with him in my bed. He climbed through the window.”

Cam’s expression morphed into one of rage as he jerked the golf club back up. “You sick bastard! I’m gonna—”

“Whoa, stop!” I jumped off the bed and put myself between the two men. “Jeez, Cam. What are you going to do, huh? Murder Declan Forrester with a nine iron?”

“Uh, yeah!” he snapped. “The creepy fucker breaks into your room in the middle of the night and crawls into bed with you while you’re sleeping? No jury in the world’ll convict me.”

Declan moved behind me, letting out a groan as he slowly lifted himself off the floor. “What’s this asshole doing here, Tate? And why the hell is he practically naked?”

“That’s none of your goddamn business,” Cam threatened in a low, menacing voice.

“Sure the hell is, seein’ as you’re standing in my woman’s bedroom in nothing but your underwear,” Declan growled.

“Not your woman, asshole. Not your anything. She’s been mine for the past five years.”

Wait. What?

When Deck took a step forward, Camden’s hand came out, resting on my lower belly and guiding me behind him like he was my own personal protective shield.

I noticed Declan’s eyes immediately hone in on that hand, then grow dark as thunderclouds. “You’ll want to take that hand off her, bud, before I do it for you.”

The two of them stood toe-to-toe, nose-to-nose, and I briefly recalled thinking they were very similar in build before the reality of the situation finally dawned on me. Forcing myself between them, I placed a hand on their chests and shoved with all my might.

“Enough,” I hissed warningly. “Whatever pissing match you two feel like having isn’t happening right now, and it’s definitely not happening here. Back off.”

Surprisingly enough, they both listened, each one taking a single step backward to put more space between them.

Turning to look Declan right in the eyes—a huge mistake on my part, since those eyes had a way of slaying me—I asked, “What are you doing here?”

His attention shifted from Camden to me, and his face went from granite to soft with the flip of a switch. “Believe it or not, I didn’t come here with the intension of crawling into bed with you. It just… happened.”

Squeezing my eyes closed, I lifted my hand while giving my head a shake to clear the tumultuous jumble of thoughts floating around inside. “Just answer the question, please.”

“There’s a band meeting tomorrow morning at nine.”

“The hell’s that got to do with her?” Camden barked from behind me, not helping the situation in the slightest.

“Man, you want to stay the fuck outta shit that’s none of your goddamn business?”

At Declan’s words, I felt Cam bristle, anger pouring off him in waves. “She’s my business.”

“Deck,” I said firmly, gaining his attention once more. “He’s right. Your band’s business doesn’t have anything to do with me.”

Something flashed across his face, too fast for me to recognize before he blanked his expression. “That’s where you’re wrong, Tate. The guys need you to show in the morning. I know you hate me, but you don’t hate them. You really want to let them down?”

He hit right where it hurt, right where he knew it would have the most impact. Damn him. He knew I couldn’t let those guys down.

“All right,” I relented on a sigh. “Where do I meet you?”

Declan smiled triumphantly. “Four Seasons on Market. Presidential suite. Nine o’clock.”

I opened my mouth to tell him I’d be there when Camden spoke up. “I’m going with.”

“The hell you are,” Declan growled. “What part of ‘band meeting’ didn’t you understand?”

“And what part of ‘she’s my business’ didn’t you understand?”

I’d officially had enough. My head was killing me, I’d just had the day from hell, saying goodbye to a man who was like a brother to me, and I didn’t have the energy for this to continue.

“He’s coming with me,” I cut in. “Take it or leave it, Deck.”

“Fine,” he replied stonily. “But keep your guard dog on a goddamn leash. It’s a nice hotel.”

With that, he strolled back to the window, casual as could be, and climbed out, disappearing a few seconds later.

I spun around on Camden, both of us snapping, “What the hell?” at the exact same time.

“Don’t you ‘what the hell’ me.” I shoved my index finger in his face.

“I’ll ‘what the hell’ you all I want when you’re doing something as epically stupid as agreeing to go to your ex-boyfriend’s hotel room. Jesus, Tate.” He began pacing my room, raking his fingers through the hair that women all across the globe would give an ovary to touch and caress. “You know what he did to you. Why would you willingly walk into a situation where he could stomp you to dust all over again?”

I couldn’t find the words to make him understand why I had to do it. It wasn’t about Declan. It was about Mace, Killian, and Garrett, three men I’d lost a long time ago, but three men who, to this day, I’d give my life for. “I don’t know how to explain it in a way you’d get, Cam. You weren’t there when we were growing up. All I can tell you is the other members of Civil Corruption are important to me. Always have been, always will be. I’m not going tomorrow for Declan. I’m going to hear what they have to say. Besides”—I tried my best to smile reassuringly—“you’ll be there to make sure no stomping of any kind happens.”

“Can’t promise that,” he grumbled, crossing his arms over his bare, toned chest. It seemed that it was my curse to spend my life surrounded by some of the best looking men to ever wander the planet. “After this lovely little visit, I’m in the mood to stomp that jackass’s face beneath my boot.”

“Cam,” I whispered, dreading asking the question I needed to ask, and fearing his response. What he said could end up breaking our friendship, and the thought of that killed me. “When you said I’d been your woman for five years—”

“Relax, babycakes.” The tension melted from his frame, a teasing smile taking over his too-handsome-for-his-own-good face. “I love you, but definitely not in that way. That was just me screwing with Forrester’s head.”

I wanted to feel relief, but I hesitated. “You sure? Because I don’t want what we have—”

He pulled me into a tight hug, forcing my head to rest on his shoulder. “I’m positive. You’re beautiful, there’s no denying that. And when we first met, sure, I’d have given my left nut to nail you, but it’s different now. You just… don’t do it for me, sweetheart.”

I should’ve been insulted. Hell, I wanted to be insulted, but the relief was just too damn strong. “Thank you,” I whispered, returning his hug.

“You’re thanking me for not being attracted to you?” he asked on a bewildered laugh.

Lifting my head to look up at him, I smiled. “Yeah. Despite the crushing hit to my ego that I’m not sure I’ll ever recover from—”

He pinched my side and muttered, “Smartass.”

“—I can’t lose you, Cam. You’re one of the most important people in my life. If that was hanging between us….” I trailed off, unable to finish the thought.

“It’s not,” he assured me in a quiet voice. “I swear, babe. You’re my family.”

Thank God.

I’d already lost one family ten years ago. I couldn’t risk losing another.