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.