"What the hell were you thinking?" Mike demanded. Yeah, what I said about having disagreements before... this was quickly moving past a disagreement and onto a fight. "Stop," Drew snapped.

"Stop what?" Mike growled. "You can't tell me you're okay with her not telling us what was happening with those messages."

"You're right," Drew shot back, closing the distance between them. "She should have told us, and she's trying to do that now, so maybe stop acting like an asshole and just fucking listen to her."

I massaged the side of my head where a headache was just beginning. Jake had done precisely what he had promised, being right by my side when we got everyone together. I had managed to get to the part of the story where I called our lawyer when Mike flipped. The downstairs game room seemed like a good spot to have a conversation. We hadn't used it much, and there was plenty of seating to lounge on. Mike wasn't lounging or even sitting; no, he was pacing. "Please don't get mad at each other."

"We're not," Mike and Drew snapped in the same irritated tone.

"Yes, you are," Patrick interrupted, hands braced on the back of the sofa. He was the only one that hadn't yelled at me...yet. "Em is trying to tell us. So shut up and save your comments for the end." I wanted to jump up and kiss him. "I know I am." Fuuck, or not.

I sighed. Dropping to the edge of the couch, I said," I'm sorry I didn't tell you all right when I got the first message. I thought it was some kind of joke at first, and then I hoped Mr. Johnson could figure out who it was and take care of it so you guys wouldn't have to deal with something else that's following me from my shitty former life. Whoever is doing this knows all of your names. I don't want any of you getting hurt because of me."

"Love, then that's an even bigger reason for you to tell us."

"Maybe," I said, not wholly disagreeing." But I didn't want to tell you until I knew who it was, and I'm still entirely sure. I have been waiting for Mr. Johnson or Dominic to reply, but they are still working on it. "Who the hell is Dominic?" Josh demanded.

"The investigator," I replied.

"Oh." Josh ran a hand over his face and then flopped onto the sectional so he could sit across from me. The other three were still standing but were looking at each other, not at us. Jake exhaled and sat next to me, pressing his thigh to mine in a show of support.

"Finish your story," he encouraged me quietly.

"It was much easier when they weren't so mad at me. You know when I imagined how this would go in my head." It was silly, but Josh chuckled, and Mike shook his head. Neither of them said anything, so I looked at Patrick and Drew. The encouragement in both their eyes gave me the courage to continue. So I told them the rest, which wasn't all that much.

"This is all such a mess." I groaned when I was done catching them up.

"Hey," Drew said, circling the couch to where I sat. He held out a hand and I took it. Then he sat back in my spot and pulled me onto his lap. Arms wrapped around me, he kissed my temple. "It's going to be all right, beautiful. We will work through this together." I leaned back against Drew. I needed the strength more than he knew, or maybe he did know it, and that was why he had moved.

"I just want to protect you too."

Josh let out an aggravated sigh, and Jake spoke up. "Yes, you do. But the not sharing potential problems or threats should stop now."

Josh and Mike both glared at Jake, who just looked at them with a bland expression.

"Secrets can easily come back and bite us in the ass. We don't need issues breaking down the trust we've built." He looked around at the rest of the guys. "Jake's, right," Drew rubbed his chin against my shoulder.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys about the message up front, but you are all so protective. You hover, make decisions, and surround me like I'm going to break down, and I'm the first to admit there are times that I need that kind of support. But I don't need it every second of every day. The thing you all seem to have forgotten is that I lived with violence or the threat of violence my whole life."

"Can you contact Liam and see if your dads are up to helping us stop these threats?" Josh asked Patrick.

"I will take care of it," Patrick said.

I sighed again; I was exhausted. "I also want to go back to my father's house and see if I can find anything about who he was close to. Maybe the threats were coming from someone he was friends with."

If I thought our earlier argument had been bad, this one was worse.

"Absolutely not, I forbid it." Five words. Five words, and the whole room went silent. I just stared at Mike.

"Excuse me? You what now?"

"I forbid it. That neighborhood is so dangerous and only worsened over the summer. There have been more shootings and murders on that side of town in the last couple of months than the rest of the city had last year. You do not need to be exposed to that. Besides, who knows what condition your father's house is in? It's probably been broken in and ransacked too many times to count."

I tuned out and stared up at the ceiling.

"Mike," Patrick said.

"You can't make fucking decisions for everyone," Josh added, jumping in, and I swore my headache increased tenfold. I could just agree with what they all seemed to want, and all the arguing would likely stop. But I disagreed with them. These threats were being sent to me. Someone who could have been friends with my father could be doing this, wanting something from me...probably money.

"Beautiful," Drew said softly as he moved us away from where Josh, Patrick, and Mike were still arguing. They are fighting because they don't want to feel helpless."

I understood that.noveldrama

"But this isn't helping either."

"I know. They'll settle it sooner or later. We always do. Believe it or not, the five of us don't always get along, and we don't always agree."

I rolled my eyes. "I have seen you guys disagree before, just not like this."

Josh's voice was so angry, but Jake grabbed his twin's arm, pulling him back before he decided to start swinging.

"I can't stand that you guys are fighting over me like this."

"It's not over you, beautiful," Drew promised, then wrapped an arm around me. "Come on, let Jake talk them down. At least they are talking, even if it's at a higher volume."

As much as I didn't want to leave them, I didn't want them fighting like this.

I sighed as Drew led me toward the stairs. "We're not messing this all up, are we?"

Drew didn't say anything right away, instead he just led me up the stairs.

When we were back on the main floor, he stopped and looked at me.

"I think life is messy sometimes. I think people fight because it pushes us to grow. We have to make mistakes because none of us are perfect."

"You're pretty damn perfect for me," I said.

"Well, you're pretty damn perfect for all of us too." Drew smiled down at me.

Relationships take work, and resolutions to disagreements don't come overnight. But deep in my heart, I knew we would work this out, and everything would be okay. It would just take some time.

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