Wild and Free (The Three #3)(21)

That was when it happened.

The room filled with something nasty and everyone went wired.

“Don’t touch her.”

This was snarled by Abel and my eyes flew to him.

Wei let me go.

“Brother,” he murmured.

“You touch her only if I tell you to,” Abel growled.

Holy f*ck.

“You know you got nothin’—” Wei started.

“Wei.” Abel cut him off. “No reply necessary. Yeah?”

“Right, yeah. Calm, man,” Wei said.

Abel scowled at him, then I watched him take in a deep breath.

His eyes came to me. “No one touches you, Lilah. You got that?”

“I…uh…” I stared at him, noting his seriousness was serious, completely forgot about his vow never to harm me, then finished, “Yeah.”

“Right,” he muttered irately, looked through his brothers and ordered, “Go.”

Apparently unperturbed by Abel’s insanely protective behavior, Chen said, “Ma wants a family lunch in the private room upstairs.”

“She’ll get it, but seein’ as it’s near-on eleven o’clock, I don’t get my ass out to pick up the shit, it might turn into dinner,” Abel replied.

It was nearly eleven o’clock?

Well, I guessed after the last night’s late night, I’d slept in.

“Hi-ho, off we go,” Chen muttered, grinning at me and making me feel slightly better after the latest weirdness that had occurred.

I had never really considered what I wanted in a man. It was strange for a chick not to do this, but I didn’t.

And I didn’t for a number of reasons.

One being that my mom and dad had not had a good relationship, not when they were together in the time I remembered them together, and definitely not after. They fought. They hated each other. And they both let me know that in a way, in and of itself, it was enough to make a girl cautious about deciding to let a man in her life.

Two being that I had other concerns. Getting a job. Setting up an apartment. Buying shit for it. Having fun with my friends. And trying to forget there was something I was missing in my life that I feared I’d never find, and, further, that maybe my mom was right and I was whacked in the head.

The last being I was twenty-nine, and although I was getting to an age where I should think about sorting myself out (seeing as I wanted kids, I just wasn’t sure I wanted a relationship to go with them), I was still young. Mom and Dad got together really early. Dad said straight up that was the biggest mistake of his life, and the only reason he didn’t regret it in a way that would make him bitter forever, was that he got me out of it. He’d told me time and again to live my life, enjoy it, figure out who I was and what I wanted, and only then go out and find it. And when I did, not to settle for anything less.

But if I did consider what I wanted in a man, protectiveness would be one thing that would be high up on the necessary side. My dad was protective. His boys were protective. Even when Mom had custody of me, I had that when I was with my dad as well as when I wasn’t. It was all I knew and that was definitely going to be a part of not settling for anything less.

Though, rabid protectiveness to the point a man wouldn’t even let his brother take my hand was totally OTT.

I thought it best at that juncture to get my ass out of there, so I walked to the door. Chen moved aside as I came his way. I felt Wei and Xun moving in behind me.

Then I heard Abel speak.

“Lilah.”

I stopped and looked his way.

“Later,” he finished.

“Yeah. Later, Abel.”

He held my eyes.

I swallowed and left the room.

The boys and I walked down the hall, up the stairs, and into the alley. This was not something I relished because none of this was welcoming—it was dark and damp, even in the daylight—and also because I was only wearing Abel’s tee and had no shoes on.

I didn’t complain. It was Abel’s space. It suited him in a weird way, but I was glad to be out of the “dungeon.”

We were in the back door of the restaurant, the kitchen bustling with activity, when Chen turned right.

He opened a door and I followed him through and up some stairs, feeling and hearing Wei and Xun behind me.

At the top, Chen dug in his track pants, pulled out a key ring, opened the door, and let us in.

I didn’t have the chance to look around before Chen spoke.

“He’s different.”

I looked to him, knowing exactly what he meant. “I know.”

“He can get intense,” Chen went on.

Boy, was he not wrong about that.

“I’ve noticed,” I replied.

Chen moved toward me, dipping his chin to keep my eyes, but stopping several feet away. “He loves with a love that’s bigger than anything you’ll know. He’s loyal beyond reason. He’d die for any of us, endure the worst kind of torture and die. He’d kill for any of us. If we were hurt, he’d avenge us and he would make that painful and messy beyond anything you can imagine. He’s the best kind of man you could know…the best son, the best brother…times about fifty thousand. Knowin’ that, you understand his intensity. Knowin’ that, you’ll eventually understand everything.”