Marcus was letting Stone into the house, and Stone had been with Diesel. Dani craned her head to see if Diesel would follow him in, but he didn’t.

“He’s at his house,” Stone told her without her having to ask.

Disappointment swamped her, leaving her stammering for words. “Is he . . .” She cleared her throat, viscerally conscious of the quake in her voice, because everyone was watching her. “Is he coming back?”

Stone nodded. “Later, yes.” He turned to Delores. “I told him we’d stay here until he came back.”

Delores just smiled, and leaned up to kiss his cheek. “I figured we would. Are you hungry? I’ll fix you a plate of lasagna,” she went on without waiting for his answer. “Scarlett, Kate, and Faith, wanna help me out?”

The three women looked from Dani to Stone and back to Delores. “I guess we do,” Kate said.

“I could eat,” Scarlett added with a shrug.

Greg came back downstairs, looking troubled. “Joshua’s sound asleep, but Michael’s sleeping on the floor next to him.”

“He did that last night, too,” Dani said. “He will until he feels safe.” And then he’ll be shipped off to someone else.

Temporary. Dammit. She was becoming more determined to change that every time that damned word entered her mind.

Delores waved at Greg to get his attention. “Can you walk all the dogs, Greg? And, Marcus, can you go with him to keep watch? Decker, can you do a perimeter check?”

“I did one,” Troy said. “When we got here.”

Delores merely smiled. “Then Decker can go with Marcus, Greg, and the dogs.” She merely lifted her brows at Jeremy, Keith, and Troy, who wordlessly stood and followed her into the kitchen.

A minute later, Dani was looking around at the empty living room, bewildered. “They’re all gone.”

Stone chuckled. “People underestimate Delores because she’s little and sweet, but she’s a dynamo.”

His whole demeanor softened when he talked about Delores, and Dani’s heart squeezed. Diesel looks at me that way.

So why was she fighting this so hard? Oh, right. Because I’ll break his heart. She thought about the look on Diesel’s face when he’d walked away. I already did.

“How is he?” she asked quietly.

Stone sighed, the softness in his face transforming into worried sadness. “Not great. I don’t know what happened between you and I don’t need to know, but he thinks you don’t want him.”

She closed her eyes and swallowed hard, not sure of what to say.

“Is it true?” Stone murmured.

She shook her head. “No,” she whispered, unable to lie any longer.