Possessive: Her Protectors (Kingswood Saga Book 4) Completed

15. Rome

Aunt Lucy phoned us Monday to update us that Amalie was taking another personal week but would be back next week.
"Did she say yes?" I asked but Rio shook his head.
"She hasn't been asked yet" he replies.
"Can we find her and ask her, persuade her to say yes" I suggest and I can see him thinking.
"I bet her address is in Mom's address book, or at least her number, we've got a quiet week, we could go see her, possibly, you don't think it will scare her off?" He suggests and I grin.
"What the worst that could happen?" I reply.

XX
Famous last words, I remembered saying to Rio what's the worst that could happen and this was it. Now almost a week later and there was a man with a gun pointing it at us.

I stare at the gun and wonder what the hell is going on. Rio standing silent next to me, his hands raised.
"Who the hell are you?" The guy barks.
"Rome, Rome Kingswood and this is my brother Rio, I'm looking for Amalie Masters" I rush out.

"Why?" He questions, the gun still pointing our way.
"Is that necessary?" I ask nervously.
"Yes, until I get a satisfactory answer" he growls.
"We want Amalie to be our assistant but Aunt Lucy is being difficult and we want to ask her first, to persuade her" Rio blurts out and the guy looks at us, brows raised, till finally he laughs loudly.
"You, haha, you want Amalie to manage you, are you mad, haha" he lowers the gun and waves us towards the door.

"Come on in, she's in here somewhere" he turns his back on us and leads the way.
I exchange a worried look with Rio but follow the man.
"AMA, visitors!" he shouts standing in the hallway, and I gulp as more large men appear from various room. There is no doubt this is her family, but who the heck were these people.

"Noah, who is this?" A woman appeared out of a hallway, looking around the assembled group.
"Found them outside, they're here for Ama" gun guy replies.
"Oh for goodness sake, tell me you didn't pull a gun on them" she berates the guy, who looks sheepish as the others hide their sniggers.
"I'm August Masters, Amalie's mom" she says coming forward and introducing herself.

"Rome and Rio Kingswood, ma'am" I reply shaking her hand.
"The rowers?"
"Yes ma'am" Rio replies.
"And you're here to see Amalie?"
"Yes, if possible" I reply.
"Come on through, she'll be back in a little while, she's out in the woods practicing with the twins, now let me introduce you to the rest of the family" she smiled at us and I relaxed a little.
"These are my husbands Knox, Kier and Kade and my eldest boys Elijah, Talon and Noah who you met outside.  Let's get you a drink and you can tell me why you're here" she loops her arm through ours and guides us deeper into the house, the rest following silently behind us.

I exchange another helpless look with Rio, no wonder Amalie wasn't scared of dealing with us, if this is what she is used to.

"Sit down, sit down" August waves her hand at the huge table, sliding a plate of biscuits into the centre before gathering cups.
"Now, what is it you want with Ama?" she asks.
"We want her to be our assistant, she brilliant at it, she understood what we needed" Rio told her and I watched the reaction around the room.

"Is that all?" Gun guy Noah barks, and I feel myself start to sweat.
"Yes Sir?" Rio squeaks out hurriedly but even I can hear the question in his reply and I groan internally. I don't think Amalie's family want any males around her.
"Noah, be nice" August warned him and the others laughed.

A clatter at the door heralded the arrival of two more boys, both younger than us and sporting a small cut each. "Oh for gods sake, I told you not to play too rough, where is Ama?" August scolded, grabbing a first aid kit and tossing it to the boys. "Don't bleed on my kitchen" she warned them.

"She's coming, she's just putting the swords away in the armoury" the boys say before noticing us. "Who are they?" they ask, creepily their voices in perfect sync.

I shake my head was Amalie bleeding too and who had an armoury anymore.
"Who are you people?" Rio whispered in astonishment, jumping when one of the dads, clapped his arm on his shoulder and hissed back.

"We are your worst nightmare, if you do anything to hurt our baby girl" he said and we both gulped at the promise of pain showing on all the faces around the table.
"Really all of you, stop scaring them" August berates them standing by the table her hands on her hips and I see where Amalie gets her fierceness from.

"Okay, Okay, come on boys, we have work to do" one of the dads, hold his hands up in surrender before leading them out of the room, August muttering to herself as they go, before turning to the younger boys.

"Go get cleaned up, then do your homework, do you hear me" she orders and they nod quickly before scampering away.

August sets a tray of tea and coffee on the table and tells us to help ourselves, pouring her drink then sitting down opposite and watching us.
"Now that they've gone, I want to know what your intentions are with Amalie?" she asks quietly and I look at Rio before answering.

"Amalie is special, we are drawn to her, she's fierce and doesn't take any shit from us, but at the same time she understands us. We don't know long term what could happen, but even if nothing happens we want her to work with us, Aunt Lucy keeps sending idiots our way and they don't last long, we want Amalie" Rio explains.

"We know something happened to her, we've seen how she reacts to people touching her or getting too close, and no we don't know what, but from the signs it was bad. We don't want to hurt her, we want to help her heal" I add and I watch the small smile form on August's face.

"You are right something happened, but its being dealt with by the family. I am impressed you recognised how it affects her, but I don't know if she is ready to deal with the two of you. Why hasn't Lucy or Paul assigned her to you already?"

We both flushed and grinned "We have a bit of a reputation for being difficult to manage and a little wild" Rio tells her embarrassed to be admitting it.

"I believe it's more than a bit of a reputation" August laughs shaking her head. "but I also know you behaved the weekend Ama was with you in Henley. You know she's only 18, she still has a lot of decisions to make about her future, she may want to compete again, she many take up her place at university?"
"Yes ma'am, we know. We would just like a chance" I reply.
"And you're both 20?" she asks.
"19, we will be 20 in a few months" Rio replies.

"I know who you are, who your family is and I know they are similar to ours, I just hope you know what you are doing. Amalie is not easy to handle, she has been raised in a family of alpha males and could easily give any of them a run for their money"

I think back to the pre-race exercises she did with us and grin. "Yes ma'am, she is exactly what we need, we want to go to the Olympics and I think Amalie would help that happen"

"Good luck then, you're going to need it... here she comes now" August tells us as the door opens and Amalie appears looking flushed.