Chapter 4

Steph

When Lester and Bobby drove me home, they hadn't just dropped me at the door and wished me luck with the rest of my life like I'd been expecting them to. They followed me inside, stood directly behind my shoulders while I informed Dickie in no uncertain terms that we were over, I would be filing for divorce, and he would not be fighting me on it, or I would air all his dirty laundry and ruin his political aspirations. He'd tried to apologise and smooth things over, and when that didn't work, he tried to blame his actions on me. That was when the guys snapped.

Lester erupted past me, bearing down on the poor guy as he laid out all the stipulations I'd just made again, but in a much more terrifying tone. Then he moved on to extras that he thought fit the situation, and at that point Bobby put a hand on my elbow and suggested I go pack some of my things so I could stay with them tonight.

I did as he said, and managed to grab all my clothes and everything I cared about in the apartment while Lester and Bobby stood by like bodyguards, making sure Dickie didn't come anywhere near me.

When I was done, they picked up the bags and boxes I'd filled like they weighed nothing, and we proceeded out the door, pausing only long enough for me to remove the apartment key from my keyring, and place it on the kitchen counter along with the rings from my jeans pocket. I was glad Maria had insisted I keep the outfit along with a spare winter coat she pulled from the hall closet, because this whole scene would have been a lot sadder if I was still in my pyjamas.

I held it together as we took the elevator down to the parking lot and got everything situated in the back of the SUV, but as Lester pulled the car out onto the street, and Bobby started talking about what else they could do to help my current situation, reality crashed down on me, and by the time we'd reached the motorway, I was hyperventilating.

I left my husband. I left my apartment. I was technically homeless now! Oh God, I was going to have to move back into my parents' house. Mom was going to have thousands of opportunities every day to criticise my life and my choices. I'd barely survived it in high school when I had a solid date that the suffering would end: moving out to college. Now, though? Who knows how long it would take me to find an apartment of my own. Did my job at E.E Martin even pay enough to cover the cost of living? I had no idea. It wasn't something I'd thought about when I took the job because I was already living with Dickie, and our combined salaries were more than enough to cover rent and groceries every month with some left over.

I should have been smarter with my leftovers. I should have saved more. I was going to be stuck living in my parents house, under my mother's judgemental eye, for the rest of my -

"Steph?" Lester's voice interrupted my spiralling thoughts in much the same way it had done when he approached me in the post office earlier in the evening. "Everything okay back there?"

"Just peachy," I lied, sniffing a little as I tried to arrange my expression into something other than the panic I was feeling.

"Your breathing is erratic and you were muttering things about your mother," Bobby informed me. He was turned halfway around in his seat so that he had a clear view of me, and I could see Lester glancing at me in the rearview mirror over his head. They probably thought I was more trouble than I was worth. Probably, they were regretting the moment Lester decided to help me. The kind thing for me to do was probably to undo my seatbelt, open the back door, and tuck and roll. I'd never done it before, but how hard could it be if Hollywood actors could do it?

"Okay, that's enough of that," Bobby said over the sound of the child lock engaging as he released his seatbelt and climbed almost gracefully into the backseat. "First of all, we do not regret helping you. With how cold it is tonight you could have ended up seriously ill, so there's no way either one of us was going to just walk away from you. And from everything you've told us about the Dick, he's a control freak who just wanted you as his wife for the image, not because he loved you. That's no way to live, so you're better off without him. "As he spoke, he settled himself into the seat beside me, securing his seatbelt and pulling both my hands into his, rubbing soothing circles on the backs with his thumbs.

"Second," Lester took over, another glance in the mirror as he changed lanes. "If you don't want to move into your parents house, you can stay with us for as long as you need, not just tonight."

My eyes filled with tears at the offer. They'd already done so much for me that I didn't think I could ever repay them, but there seemed to be no end to their generosity. It was overwhelming. The way they and their entire family had welcomed me tonight was too much. But at the same time, the offer to avoid living with my mother again was sorely tempting.

"Just-" I started, pausing when a cough snuck up on me. "Just until I can find my own place."

"Of course," Bobby agreed easily. "And we can help with that, too. We know all the neighbourhoods to avoid in Trenton and Newark."

Sucking in a deep, steadying breath, I pushed away the tears that had been threatening, and looked from Lester to Bobby and back, wondering what on earth I'd done to earn these guys as my guardian angels. "Thank you," I whispered, feeling the emotions building a lump in my throat for what had to have been the eightieth time tonight.

"Hey, you're doing us a favour here," Lester said, sending me a goofy grin in the mirror. "If Tio Ricardo found out how much the thought of living with your mother upset you, and that we allowed it to happen, I'd receive a right, royal beating. You're saving my ass by staying with us."

Confused, I asked, "Just your ass? What about Bobby's"

Lester rolled his eyes good naturedly as Bobby let out a soft laugh beside me. "He's the golden boy at the moment. Getting together with Bobby disrupted some reckless behavioural patterns I'd fallen into in recent years, so he's up on a pedestal until someone in the family achieves something even greater."

"Such as?"

He shrugged. "For a time it was Carlos, because he's a legit war hero, but it could be anything."

"Carlos is the guy Maria berated in Spanish and hit upside the head, like, a dozen times?" I asked, recalling the mysterious man in black who'd slipped in right at dinner time, caused a stir, set his moody gaze on me a few times, and slipped out again before dessert. "I thought he might have been an intruder when she started yelling at him."

"Mmm," Lester hummed, a thoughtful expression creeping over what I could see of his face in the mirror. "He's been off the pedestal for a while now," he said slowly. "But I bet all he needs to do to get back on it is start showing up to family dinners more regularly, and actually staying for the full evening."

"Tio Ricardo already spoke to us about covering the holiday period next year so he doesn't have work as an excuse," Bobby said, seeming to agree with Lester's assessment. I'd learned over the course of the evening that the two of them worked at the security company Carlos owned. He had a branch already set up in Florida and the newer branch in Trenton was starting to gain traction.

It was kinda impressive that a guy my age could have such an impressive military career under his belt and be the owner of a company so successful that he could open a second branch in another state. All I had to show for my life was a business degree, a shabby job buying granny panties, and a failed marriage.

"He's got one of those too," Bobby said, letting me know that my thoughts hadn't been inside my head where they belonged, but spilling across my lips. "And a daughter."

My eyebrows shot up at that. Was there anything the guy hadn't done?

While I was distracted, thinning about a little girl with Carlos's severe expression and assessing brown eyes, Lester and Bobby changed the subject to… well, honestly, I haven't got a clue what they were talking about because the next thing I knew, the car had stopped moving and Bobby was trying to gently shake me awake.

I made it inside and yawned through Lester's brief tour while Bobby hauled my belongings into the living room. And then they were pressing the pjs I'd been wearing earlier into my hands, and steering me toward the flip out couch in the office.

The next morning they fed me a full cooked breakfast and while they went to shower and get ready for the day, I rummaged through my pile of boxes and bags to find the christmas presents I'd gotten for my family.. It didn't take me long to realise that I hadn't grabbed the gifts when I was packing last night.

Shit.

I retreated to the office, dressed quickly, and was halfway to the front door with my car keys in hand when the door to the bedroom opened and Bobby stepped into the hall, jeans on but unbuttoned at the waist, and holding the shirt I assumed he intended to wear today in his hand, leaving him shirtless and distracting. Having abs like that has to be illegal.

"Your footsteps sounded rushed," he stated, looking me over with what I was starting to recognise as a familiar note of concern in his gaze. "Where's the fire?"

"I left all my Christmas presents at the apartment," I blurted. "I need to go get them or- fuck." The curse overrode the end of my sentence as I recalled that I'd left my key there, so I was completely at Dickie's mercy to get back in. Knowing my luck, he'd keep the presents purely out of spite.

Bobby, having managed to pull his shirt on and button his pants while I was coming to this realisation, glanced over his shoulder as we heard the shower in the ensuite shut off. He stepped more fully into the hall and closed the door behind him. "I'm sure your family will understand why you don't have presents for them given everything that's happened in the last eighteen hours," he tried to reassure me, but I was shaking my head adamantly before he was even halfway through the statement.

"Dad, probably," I said, pacing to the office door. "But not Mom. And Val and her family drove all the way from California to be with us this Christmas. She's just as highly strung as Mom. I doubt she'd take kindly to me not giving at least my nieces a present each."

"How old are your nieces?" Lester asked, startling me as he emerged from the bedroom behind Bobby just as I turned on my heels to pace back again. He was even less dressed than Bobby had been when he appeared, wearing nothing but a towel, water droplets still adorning his bronze chest.

"Um, uh," I stammered, my thoughts absolutely derailed by Lester's naked chest. "Three, and one-and-a-half?" I was pretty sure those were their ages, but my brain seemed to have been unplugged, so processing the question and formulating an answer was far more difficult than it usually was.

"Perfect," Lester proclaimed, striding past me toward the living room, past my pile of stuff to the tree where I almost had a heart attack when he bent over to retrieve two wrapped presents from under the tree, and the knot in his towel almost came undone. I was in no state to deal with the amount of muscled flesh they'd already put on display so casually, no way would I survive a glimpse of what was under the towel.

"Bobby's nephew is two," he explained, holding the presents out to me with one hand while the other gripped the towel. "We got him some wooden puzzles from popular toddler cartoons, and a horse plushie because he likes to pretend to be a cowboy. The puzzles will be good for the three year old, the horse for miss one-and-a-half, and you can explain your predicament to the grown ups. If they don't accept your reason, or they try to make you feel bad for not giving them a gift, call us and we'll come get you."

"But-" that damn lump was back in my throat, and I was in danger of ruining the mascara I'd put on. Was there anything they wouldn't give me to make sure I was okay? "What about your nephew? And didn't you say you were visiting Bobby's family today? I can't ask you to-"

"Relax, Beautiful," he said, finishing re-securing his towel and slinging an arm over my shoulder the same way he had to lead me into the bathroom last night so Bobby could check the bruise on my face. Only this time he has significantly less clothes on. "We also got him some sensory balls, a set of construction trucks, and a book of bedtime stories."

"And since we drove you here last night," Bobby added. "Those car keys you're clutching are pretty useless. We don't want you to feel stranded if your mom starts giving you the third degree, so call us. We don't mind and neither will my family."

"Yeah," Lester agreed. "In case it wasn't made clear last night, you're family now, and in our family, we always have each other's backs." He hugged me then, and I might have forgotten how to breathe, between yet another supportive gesture I wasn't used to receiving, and the knowledge that all he wore was that towel of precarious holding, I was pretty sure I was short circuiting. Never before had I been this close to so much attractive male in such a short amount of time. Not even when Mary-Lou got us backstage at Chippendales.

"Speaking of having each other's backs," Bobby interrupted the moment, amusement suffusing his tone. "Les, maybe you should go get dressed before Steph passes out."

Lester adjusted his hold on me to my shoulders, leaning back so that he had me at arms length and could give me a decent once-over. I thought I'd been holding myself together pretty well given the circumstances, and the fact that I couldn't remember the last decent orgasm I'd had, but as a sly, knowing grin spread across his lips, I felt my face flame up with a blush.

"Sorry!" I exclaimed, burying my face in the presents I still held in either hand. "God, I'm such a… You probably think I'm… Maybe I should stay with my parents after all."

"No, Beautiful," Lester was outright laughing now. "It's fine. You're fine. It's my fault, really. I should have thought about what I was wearing -"

"What you weren't wearing," Bobby interjected helpfully.

"-before I came out to help. It's been a while since I've been semi-naked around a woman, and I forgot how potent the view could be."

And just like that, I was snapped out of my embarrassment. Something about his nonchalance, and the way he gladly took the blame of being too hot, suggesting that women simply couldn't help but drool and stare at him, engaged a primal, feminine anger inside me that had been simmering just under the surface since discovering Dickie balls-deep in my enemy on the dining table yesterday.

The feral rage bubbled over, and before I could stop myself, I'd dislodged his hands from me, grabbed his shoulders and driven my knee into his crown jewels. Probably, it was no way to treat my rescuer, and was maybe a bit of an over-reaction, but I did warn him that if he tried anything, I'd make him regret it.

"Holy shit!" Bobby yelled, hurrying forward as I took a step back and Lester doubled over with a weak groan.

I stood there, breathing hard and hoping I hadn't just ruined everything by acting on my instincts.

"Jesus Christ," Lester wheezed before I'd made up my mind whether I should make a run for it. These guys were in the army, after all. They'd been trained to defend themselves and their country. "That's some left knee you've got there," he said a little stronger, wincing as he started to straighten up, his breathing slightly laboured. "Dickie should be thankful we were there to defend you last night instead of leaving you to your own devices. Fuuuck."

"S-sorry," I stuttered again, taking a shaky step backwards. "I- you-"

Lester waved my apology away as he let out a puffed-cheek breath, curling in on himself again, bracing his hands on his knees. "It's fine," he said. "It's actually reassuring. I thought you were all talk last night with that 'make me regret it' stuff. It's good to know a woman like you knows how to back up her words and defend herself."

"A woman like me?" I repeated, feeling a new surge of irritation that I tried to tamp down.

Bobby's eyebrows practically flew off his face and he quickly pushed his fiance in the direction of the bedroom, making sure to keep his body between us the entire time. "He's gotta learn when to stop talking," he groaned as the door closed and he leaned back against it. "Believe it or not, this isn't the first time I've had to stand between him and an angry woman."

A sigh fell from my lips and I let my head drop forward, pushing the irritation away as I reminded myself of everything they had done and were doing for me. "I'm so sorry," I said. "This is no way to treat the people who-" I paused, shaking my head before I lifted it to meet his gaze. "It's no way to treat family." Because I sure hoped they still considered me family after what I'd just done.

Bobby crossed his arms over his chest and gave me a look somewhere between amusement and disbelief. "I'd like to remind you about the goat Fi set upon Lester's 'nads last Christmas," he said with a quirk of an eyebrow. "If anything, putting him in his place like that makes you more like family."

"You're like the sister I never had," Lester agreed, grinning from ear to ear as he reappeared fully dressed, catching Bobby when the sudden movement of the door caught him off guard. "And as your brother, I'd like to offer to train you in even more self-defence moves you can use on me in the future. Like, maybe ones that don't involve my balls."

"Maybe let your balls recover before you offer to step in the ring with her, Les," Bobby warned, turning to pat him lightly on the chest. "Go put them on ice for a bit while I help Steph change the tags on the gifts. We gotta get going soon."

"We're not going anywhere until both our numbers are in Steph's phone in case of emergency," Lester replied on his way to the kitchen

As it turned out, they needn't have bothered to put their numbers in my phone, because by the time lunch was on the table and mom was gearing up for a third round of 'Let's name all the ways Stephanie is a screw up,' Dad had had enough. He abandoned his fork, scraped his chair back from the table and stood, his words drowning out item number four on Mom's extensive list.

"Come on, Pumpkin," he said, turning to face me and me alone. "We better go retrieve your car while the weather is still favourable. Supposed to storm later."

I was gobsmacked. Dad had never left the table before his plate was empty. And the way he just cut Mom off! I was so stunned that he'd managed to retrieve his keys, both our coats, and my purse from the front hall and returned before I managed to tell my body to stand and leave the table.

Luckily for us, Mom and Val were equally confused by this strange turn of events, which allowed Dad and me to make it to his buick and start backing out by the time they burst into the garage to stop us.

"Faster, Dad!" I exclaimed when Mom started chasing us down the driveway, yelling our names. And faster he went, fairly careening over the curb backwards before launching us forward down the street, fishtailing a little on a patch of ice before he got the car back under control.

"Our greatest escape yet," Dad proclaimed, looking over at me with a rare smile on his face that I couldn't help but return.

"You're gonna get an earful when you get home," I informed him.

He grabbed my hand, squeezing it briefly before he had to change gears again. "It's worth it to free you of that broken record." His expression was sober again as he stared out the windshield. "Dickie was never good enough for you," he said. "You need someone who sees your potential and helps you fly." Dad used a stoplight to glance over at me again, appraisingly. "Tell me about this man who took you home to his family last night," he requested.

I laughed. I couldn't help it. "That's a dead-end street, Daddy," I said. "Lester is engaged to a really nice guy. I'm staying with them for the time being, and I'm kinda hoping they let me keep them as friends, but I'm a hundred percent certain he's not a potential candidate for me to date."

Dad just shook his head. "I wasn't saying he was," he said quietly. "I just want to know more about the man I need to thank for taking care of my baby."


A/N: Please not that I have once again either underestimated the number of chapters it would take to get to the end, or overestimated my muse's ability to stay on track. Either way, stay tuned for at least one more chapter.