Page 103 of The Perfect Melody

His dark brows raise and Ant folds his arms over his chest. I have a few inches on him in height, but the man still manages to make me feel small in a way that I haven’t since I was a kid. It’s partly because of his powerful presence, but mostly because his damn muscles seem to have muscles. He’s built like a brick shithouse with the face of a supermodel. If I were the jealous type, I might be concerned over how much he obviously cares about Cassie, but she told me all about him on Sunday night. She thinks of Ant as the big brother she never had, and if this talk is what I think it is, he loves her like a sibling too.

“You know your life is going to change if you’re with her, right?”

“I know. Losing some of my privacy is worth it when it means I’m gaining her. We might not have known each other long, but I know my life is better with Cassie in it.”

“Good.” He nods, relaxing his posture. “I’ve been by her side since she was twenty years old—that girl means the world to me. I don’t know if Cassie will want me to stay here as part of her security team, but even if I don’t, I’ll only ever be a phone call away,” he warns.

“Cassie can take care of herself, but she’s trusted me with her heart and I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure it’s never broken again.”

He smiles, but there’s a thinly veiled layer of menace right beneath the charm. “See that you do.”

Where I might have bristled at such an obvious threat in the past, I only smile knowing that if I ever break Cassie’s heart, I’ll invite her friends here to kick my arse myself.

“You get all that out of your system? Cassie’s had a tough few days, so when we go back in there, we are going to present a united front. She needs our support right now, not to referee a pissing contest.”

Ant raises his brows but doesn’t argue. “Lead the way.”

Fucking finally. While I respect Ant and I’m glad Cassie had him looking out for her the past few years, I’m done with whatever test he’s trying to give. His opinion doesn’t matter to me. Cassie’s is the one that counts. She and I are the only ones who get a say in our relationship—everything else is just noise.

When I step back inside the B&B, Cassie’s enormous bodyguard at my back, it’s to find her huddled up with two people who can only be Liam and Bailey. The three of them rock back and forth with the force of their group hug as Esther and Thomas watch on fondly from behind the reception desk.

“She’s gone.”

Cassie breaks away from her friends to look up at me. “You’re sure?”

Ant steps up beside me. “Positive. I got my bag, then told the driver to take her out of town and not to make any stops until they were at least two hours away. Her phone was already blowing up by the time I closed the car door. She’s going to be too busy dealing with the fallout of Liam’s livestream to bother you anymore.”

Despite having known Ant much longer, Cassie still looks to me for reassurance. “We watched them drive away. She’s really gone.”

Nodding, she lets that sink in for a moment before stepping forward and smacking Ant on the arm. “I thought you’d gone to the dark side!”

“Since I know how stressful this all had to be for you, I’m going to choosenotto be insulted that you thought I’d ever side with that snake,” he drawls.

“That’s an insult to snakes if you ask me,” Liam chunters, his arm slung over his girlfriend’s shoulders.

Bailey reaches up to give him a light fist bump. “Facts.”

Cassie wraps her arms around him in a tight hug. “Have you got somewhere to stay?”

“Not yet, but I’ll figure something out.” Ant ruffles her hair affectionately, and she steps back, batting his hand away.

“We have a room available if you’d like it,” Esther offers from behind the reception desk.

Ant smiles. “That would be great. Thank you, ma’am.” Charming bastard.

Esther lets out an honest to goodnessgiggle. Thomas good-naturedly rolls his eyes at his wife, then steps forward with a room key in his hand. “I’ll show you the way.”

“Guess I’ll catch up with you later,” Ant says before following Thomas’s lead.

“We should give you two some space as well,” Bailey says.

“Are you sure? You only just got here.”

“We’re sure.”

“Absolutely,” Liam agrees. “There will be plenty of time to catch up later. You should go home and rest.”

After a quick round of goodbyes, Cassie and I are in the car on the way back to my place. She raises her brows but doesn’t comment on my haphazard parking out front. When Esther called me to tell me what was going on, I texted Mum asking her to cover my shift, then ran out of Bowman’s like my arse was on fire. I broke the speed limit the entire way and don’t feel an ounce of guilt over it. My heart felt as if it might beat right out of my chest with how worried I was. Then I walked in to find Cassie standing her ground like the fiercest of warriors and knew she would be OK.