Love Me (WITSEC #3)
Ashley N. Rostek
KEELAN
I tightened my arm around Logan’s neck when he began to resist after my little brothers helped Shiloh escape through her bedroom window. I had Logan on the floor between my legs in a rear choke hold. He tried to twist to the side, and I quickly hooked my legs over his thighs, locking him down. He then threw himself backward into my chest. I rolled with the impact, squeezing even tighter around his neck as I did. “Keep it up and I’ll fucking choke you out,” I growled. With murderous rage pumping through my veins, I wished he would, just so I’d have the pleasure of feeling this fucker go limp in my arms. The fear that had slammed into me when Shi had called me for help, then hearing her screaming for it as I’d run into her house…I added pressure around his neck.
“Keelan,” Knox said as he took a step closer from where he stood in the doorway to Shiloh’s room.
Shi had said Logan had drugged her. How could he do that to her—to his niece who had been through so much?
Logan smacked my arm. “I give,” he forced out with what little breath he had left.
I didn’t care how badly he wanted to protect her.
It was wrong.
He’d hurt her.
He’d hurt my girlfriend and for that, something dark inside me urged me to cut the weak tether holding me back from adding that last bit of pressure around his neck needed to knock him out.
“Keelan!” Knox barked, successfully distracting me from my rage and granting me a moment of clarity. Logan was Shi’s only remaining family. It didn’t matter how badly I wanted to kick his ass. He’d hurt Shi and how Logan was dealt with was up to her. I had to respect that.
For Shi, I dropped my arm from around his neck and shoved him off me.
He rolled away, gasping for air. I got to my feet as Creed ran into the room. He glanced at Logan, his expression hardening into a glare, and before I could ask, he said, “Colt took her somewhere safe.”
I met Knox’s already waiting stare. He tilted his head. “Let’s go.”
The three of us were making our way down the hall when Logan yelled out, “Wait!”
None of us did.
We entered the living room, heading for the front door when the fed walked through it. Ian, I was pretty sure his name was. Like when we had first met him at the hospital after Jacob had attacked Shi, he was wearing a suit, only the one he was wearing now was charcoal-colored.
He eyed me and my brothers in an assessing way before his eyes drifted behind us as Logan stepped out from the hall. Whatever he took from staring at us, he let out a sigh. “It appears I’m too late.”
Logan cleared and rubbed at his throat. “I told you I’d handle this.”
“Taking your niece against her will isn’t handling anything,” Ian said in a voice that he managed to make light despite how messed-up the situation was. “It’s abduction, and last time I checked, that was a felony.”
“So is drugging someone,” Creed said in Logan’s direction.
Ian looked from Creed to Logan and his demeanor stiffened. “You tried to drug her?”
“He did drug her,” Creed snapped as he fisted his hands at his sides. “She couldn’t walk and was fighting to stay conscious when we helped her get away from this fucker.”
Knox put his hand on Creed’s shoulder as if he was worried Creed was moments away from going after Logan. Not that I blamed my baby brother for wanting to pick a fight with Shi’s uncle, but it was a fight he wouldn’t win.
“Christ, Logan,” Ian said as he ran his fingers through his hair.
“Her location is compromised. She isn’t safe here,” Logan snarled.
“Regardless, legally she’s an adult,” Ian said. “You can’t make her leave if she doesn’t want to.”
“She didn’t compromise her safety by telling us,” Creed argued. “And she’s a hell of a lot safer here than she’d be with the dick who drugged her because he didn’t get his way.”
The hard look Logan gave Creed made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. “What if you break up?” Logan questioned. “What if this strange relationship between the five of you ends horribly? How do I know one of you won’t compromise her safety to get back at her?”
“I’d say you don’t know us very well, because we’d never do that even if things did end badly, but you won’t even give us a chance,” Creed said and straightened his shoulders. “I love Shiloh. I know that won’t sway you, but I’m telling you anyway so I can look back at this moment and know I tried. I tried to reason with you for her.”
Seeing Logan stare at Creed with contempt, I could confidently say he was unswayed. “I think children should stay out of adult conversations. Clearly, comprehending the risk Shiloh has put herself in is too much for your young brain to handle.”
Fists turning white, Creed tried to step toward Logan. Knox yanked him back and put himself between Shi’s uncle and our youngest brother. Knox was taller and had at least twenty pounds of muscle more than Logan. However, if shit went sideways and they brawled it out, I wasn’t completely confident Knox could win. All my brothers knew a little bit of martial arts from what I’d taught them over the years, but none of them were as skilled as Shi, and Logan had taught Shi everything she knew.