7. Cash

I rollover and right into Max's back.

"Humph! What the hell, man!" I sit up and push my hair back, closing my eyes and trying to focus on the bed, focus on what's wrong.

"Where the hell is she?" I growl and stand up, stalking to the door to the bathroom that's still wide open.

I glance inside just long enough to realize that she's not there.

"Hey, assholes!" I throw a pillow at their heads. "Court isn't in here!"

Reid sits up, his jaw clenching and his blue eyes cold and bitter. "She did a runner? Are you fucking kidding me? I thought we'd have time to work on her again before she tried to disappear in the wind."

All three of us stand up and throw our clothes on. "Where the hell do you think she's at?" I shove my bare feet into my dress shoes, wincing at the horrible way they feel without socks but I just don't want to fucking take the time to put them on.

"I think by the time we get to her, she'll be at her office pretending like nothing happened."

I turn to glare at Max. "Are we letting her get away with that?"

Reid smirks, his blue eyes warming up. "Nope. One way or another she's got to admit that we're meant to be. Or we'll fucking kidnap her sexy ass until she admits that she belongs with us, to us."

Max snorts. "That should really win her over. Hey, princess! You mind slipping these cuffs on and the blindfold and then climb into this car so we can take you somewhere special." He shakes his head, chuckling. "Yeah, that should go over well with her."

"I'm not saying that. But there has to be something we can do." Reid moves over by me. "Can you find out how she left?"

"Of course. Just let me check out the computer at work before we head over to her office. We'll corner her on her own turf. I don't really know if that will make her happy or not but at this point it doesn't really matter. We need to make sure she understands that if she runs we'll always find her."

Reid moves to the door, tucking his dress shirt in. Max and Reid never wear anything but a suit and they've both slipped on their blazers as I roll my eyes and throw on my leather jacket. Max opens the door as Reid slips his gold cuff links in. I shake my head and sigh. "Seriously, guys? Can y'all get it moving since I gotta get to my computer if I'm gonna spot any reasons that our girl might have run."

"She's not ready but she needs to be so it doesn't really matter at this point." Max smacks Reid upside the head as we stalk out into the main lobby and wince at the soft neon that paints the room. There are no windows open on this side of the Centennial building this early in the morning but the neon feels glaring in the dim light.

"I called for our car to pick us up in five minutes at the street door." Max nods at Reid as we stride to the door, unnerved by the quiet of the lobby.

I grin and lean towards Max. "It's pretty quiet out here right now. No pussy for you to watch."

"This is the public area, jackass. Gimme a break."

"I don't know why you gotta try and wind him up, Cash, but leave him alone. We've got to work as one unit right now if we're gonna get what we all want."

"I know that," I snap. I slam my way through the door and we head for the elevators to the bottom floor. Club Sin is the top six floors of the Centennial Building.

We step out into the lobby and I immediately whistle when I see the car. Our driver, Marcus steps out and smiles. "Early morning today, gentlemen."

Max snorts and grins. "Late night, you mean, Marcus."

He laughs. "I wasn't gonna say it. Where do you need to go? Home?"

Reid shakes his head. "Nope. We need to go into the office for awhile and then we need to head over to MonroeTech."

"Ah. Takeover?"

Reid grins wickedly. "I guess you could call it that. You might even call it a hostile takeover."

"I'll pray for you then."

I mutter, "better pray for our balls."

Max and Reid shoot me a glare and I shrug, "If you don't think you can handle it than we'll go without you."

"I can handle it. But I'm not opposed to wearing a cup. I'm always safety conscious. It goes with the job."

Both of the assholes grunt and sit in the car, refusing to move over for me until I shove one of their asses out of the way. "Move. Until you want me to punch your damn dick!"

"Once again, guys. One goal. We've only got one goal."

"Court," I sigh. "I know. I'd like it if I felt better about it. I just don't know why she took off."

I sigh and stare out the window and Max chuckles. "You're a moody asshole at the best of times. Right now you're practically fucking melancholy. I feel like I'm watching a teenage girl."

"At least I know how to fuck a woman, asshole. I made her lose her mind."

"We all gave her every bit of each other. As a team. We are a family. We've always been and we always will be family. And our woman deserves for us to work together to make her life good and make her feel fucking fantastic. If it takes all three of us then it does. If she needs one of us than we should make room for that as well."

"We know, Cash," Max rolls his green eyes and glares at me. "Jesus, you can be a real asshole sometimes."

"I can be a real asshole all the time. It's a gift."

The car slows and I see the office building, glass and steel gleaming in the sun. Marcus stops the car and opens the door. "Gentlemen, here we go. Good luck on your endeavors and I'm sure that you will be victorious in whatever you're trying to do."

"I certainly hope so," Max growls even as Reid glares at all of us.

"Let's go. I want to get to Court as soon as possible." The security guard behind the front desk smiles at us but his eyebrows stay puckered and he grunts at us.

"Yes, gentlemen."

Reid sighs and pushes through the elevator doors. He turns and we file in around him, sighing when the guard just continues to eye us cynically.

None of us say a damn words though. There's nothing to say. We've got shit to do and no time to stop and shoot the shit as they say."

The elevator feels like it creeps up the building, like a spider skittering slowly across the floor, keeping an eye on everything around it.

And when we reach the top floor and come face to face with one of our security team, we all know that something strange is going on.

"Sirs. We have a slight problem with the woman you asked us to keep an eye on."

And with that, I eye him reproachfully. "Don't be so damn circumspect. Let's get to the office and you can explain why you look like you've been sucking on lemons."

He nods and follows me to my office along with Max and Reid.

"Now tell me what's going on with Court."

"We followed her when she left the club. But someone else was in front of us following her too."

I sit up and snarl. "Did you get a license plate at least? Something to identify them."

"Yeah. It was one of MonroeTech's company cars."

I sit back and eye my boys. "So they work for Court's company then. I wonder who it is."

Max and Reid both glare at me. "Does it matter who they are? They're about to have a shitty life as soon as we find out."

I couldn't agree more. But I need to get inside Court's security system to find out who the hell might have brought that car back.

And then we'll take care of the problem before it even affects our princess.

We're her sword and shield in this big, bad world and nothing and no one will keep us from taking care of our pretty little princess.