He welcomed it.

He was fucking tired of the bullshit.

For the past few months, he’d seen a side of the Adorite family that he hadn’t known existed. Well, not entirely, anyway. Sure, he’d seen what went on at the club. That was child’s play compared to the shit they had to deal with. And after he’d witnessed that prick Moroso at the restaurant … Rock had wanted to take the bastard out with his bare hands. Still did.

“Rock?”

The soft voice with the subtle accent sounded from behind him, causing him to turn.

“I thought that was you,” she said, light gray eyes staring back at him.

Rock’s throat dried up like the Sahara Desert when he saw her. Her. That’s all he knew her by. He had no fucking clue what her name was, because she had never bothered to give it to him, and until now, he’d never expected to see her again. The one woman he’d found himself enraptured by, so caught up with that he’d thought about her for days now, and he didn’t even know her name.

He glanced down at her name tag. Brooklyn Sanborn.

Interesting. She didn’t look like a Brooklyn.

She looked like … an angel.

Great. And he was waxing fucking poetic about some chick he’d met briefly at a nightclub where he worked. Then again, that chick was by far the most exotically beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on. It was obvious she was a perfect mix of black and, if he remembered correctly, German. Her accent was subtle and sexy as fuck. She had light gray eyes, curly, golden-brown hair … and she was tall. Somewhere close to six feet, easy. She’d been wearing heels that night, but today she was wearing tennis shoes. Still, she was much taller than any woman he’d ever been with.

Not that he’d been with her. Hell, he’d been lucky to have a conversation with her. When he’d returned to the bar after delivering Ashlynn and Jase to the penthouse, he’d been surprised to find her still there. She had been talking to another guy, but Rock had easily inserted himself into that conversation, not willing to take the chance of her getting away.

But she had, anyway. And he hadn’t even gotten her name.

“You work here?” he questioned, realizing she was staring up at him, waiting for … something.

“Yeah. Hence the scrubs.” Her brilliant smile, the flash of perfectly straight white teeth, damn near stole his breath.

But it was her eyes that captivated him, made him unable to think clearly.

“Well, since you don’t have anything to say,” she teased, “I’ve got a family I need to talk to.”

“The Adorites?” he asked, pulling himself out of his stupor.

“Yeah.” Her eyebrows darted down. “You know them?”

He nodded.

Rock was pretty sure there was a question she wanted to ask, but she didn’t. Instead, she smiled again. “It was good to see you again.”

When she started to walk away, he panicked. If he let her go, he might very well never see her again, and since she’d been playing a starring role in every damn one of his erotic fantasies as of late, Rock couldn’t let that happen.

“Can I get your number?” he blurted out.

Her eyes lit up. “Let me think about that for a little while, and I’ll get back to you.”

Fuck.

Not wanting to scare her away, he simply nodded as she disappeared into the waiting room.

He’d learned over the years that thanks to his intimidating size and his gruff demeanor, women didn’t exactly flock to him. But this one—Brooklyn—she didn’t seem to be put off by him.

And that made him want her all the more.

Chapter Forty-Three

This shit just got real.

While everyone else was keeping an eye on Aidan, waiting for him to come out of surgery, Jase had been rallying the troops, calling in their backup enforcers. No, it wasn’t necessarily his place to do so, but he figured since Hell was about to rain down on them, he needed to do something in order to ensure Ashlynn’s safety.

Thank God Aidan was going to be all right. That was certainly good news, but Jase had bigger things to worry about. Aidan had been a message, and the damage that had been done to him was extensive. Broken bones, punctured lung… It was a wonder the guy was still alive. Thankfully, they hadn’t fractured his skull as the doctors had originally believed, but there was swelling on the brain, which was causing problems.

Add to that the fact that Max wasn’t willing to leave Aidan in such a public place, they now had to worry about transporting him somewhere so that he could get the medical attention he needed in order to recover while the rest of them retaliated.

And retaliation was their number one priority. Which brought to mind his conversation with Max a short time ago.

“She okay?” Max asked when Jase approached, going up to the surgical waiting area, where the Adorites were gathered.

He didn’t know how she was, honestly, so he merely nodded. Since they’d arrived at the hospital, Jase hadn’t had time to worry about Ashlynn’s mental state; he’d been doing all he could to ensure her safety. “Did you get the order in yet?” Jase asked Max, cutting right to the chase.

“Order?” Max smirked.

Jase didn’t need to elaborate. “If not, I’ll do it.”

Max placed his hand on Jase’s shoulder, guiding him farther from the others standing around.

“I know what she means to you,” Max said quietly. “And I promise, if it comes to that, I’ll let you know. But for now, I’ve got it covered. It’s my top priority at the moment.”

Jase hadn’t questioned Max; he had no reason to. When the boss said he had it covered, he did.

And now, as he made his way back to Ashlynn, returning from taking a phone call in another office down the hall, he steeled himself for what she might say or do.

“Leyton still in there?” he asked Teddy as he approached the door to the office she was currently being held in.

“Yeah,” Teddy confirmed.

He hoped they didn’t want privacy, because he couldn’t just stand out in the hall and wait while they did whatever it was they were doing. He needed to see Ashlynn, to see for himself that she was still all right. After the shit with Aidan—a fucking beating that had damn near killed him—Jase knew that what the Moroso family had in store for Ashlynn was going to be worse. Although Max was, in fact, preparing for retaliation, Jase wasn’t sure how that was going to go down.

He opened the door, stepped into the dimly lit office to find Leyton embracing Ashlynn, his gaze sliding toward him as Jase closed the door.

“Any news?” Ashlynn asked, pulling back and coming toward Jase in a move so out of character he wasn’t sure how to react. He had to figure that was how she’d felt earlier when he’d done the same thing to her. The instant she’d appeared in the kitchen, Jase had needed to wrap her in his arms. He still wasn’t sure why.

Ashlynn walked right up to him and threw her arms around him as though that was the only place she wanted to be, and it took a moment for him to wrap his arms around her, cupping the back of her head and holding her against his chest while he stared at Leyton, slightly confused. When Leyton shrugged, Jase opted to answer her question.

“We’ve accounted for everyone at this point. Your mother’s been moved to Max’s, with extra security on her. Madison’s being brought there as we speak. Victor and Brent have been advised, so they’re heading back from Vegas in the private jet.”

“Have they found Moroso? Or whoever he had do this?” she asked, her fingers digging into his back as she held on to him.

“Not yet,” he told her, kissing her forehead. “I took the liberty to make some calls, bring in some reinforcements. Once we leave here, I can tell them where to meet us.”

“I’m not goin’ anywhere until I see Aidan,” Ashlynn informed him, taking a step back and frowning up at him. “I need to see for myself that my brother’s okay.”