And call me crazy (which on my next thought, I apparently was), but in my opinion, he was kind of cute.

In a bizarre, bad-guy kind of way.

And if indications were correct under that finely tailored suit, he had a great body.

Not to mention, he was tall.

“I kidnapped you,” he reminded me.

“Yes, I remember,” I told him.

“And I still assert that was Evie’s brother’s sitch. I mean, he was the one who swung you girls out there. I was just reacting to his bullshit.”

I could argue that.

I didn’t.

“But regardless,” he shrugged, “I did what I did which really swung you girls out there so it’s up to me to look after you.”

This did not track.

Even a little bit.

“Uh…” was all I could get out to refute his statement.

Cisco didn’t need me to speak.

He had more to say.

“And there’s four of you, only one of me. Which means I need some assistance. Now Evan has that Mag guy. And my girl Ryn got her Boone. But still, the last two of you need to get the lead out. I work hard. I got some cake. But I can’t be payin’ guys to keep an eye on you girls forever. You need men in your beds.”

It sounded strangled when I asked, “Am I in danger?”

“Is the sky blue? Is the earth round?” he asked questions I did not want to hear after I asked if I was in danger. “You’re a woman. It’s a crapshoot you just walkin’ to your car out back. Hell, just bein’ in this sweet, hip pad by yourself. If Pantera was here, some guy broke in to do you harm, he’d shoot him in the face.”

Considering Axl was a commando as a profession, this was probably not far off the mark.

“For sure he’d scrape off that waste-of-space dad of yours,” he continued.

My back went straight at that.

“You’re talking about my father,” I told him.

“Girl, Evie told me he was abusive. She said straight-out you had violence in your life when she was talkin’ about your dad. And Ryn told me you checked out on all of them because he got in your head and you couldn’t even dance all on your own and enjoy it without self-abusin’ when you thought you’d fucked up. I mean, when that’s the case, why do you go make dinner for this asshole every night?”

Boy, Evie and Ryn had talked a lot to this guy.

And that was the embarrassing thing that happened that made me retreat from my friends. I’d been dancing. I’d been loving it. I’d messed up. And I’d lost it…on myself.

This was embarrassing because Ryn had seen that, and I figured she’d told Pepper, Lottie and Evie about it.