Fearless Like Us Read online

  Contents

  Title

  A Note from the Authors

  Character List

  1. SULLIVAN MEADOWS

  2. SULLIVAN MEADOWS

  3. AKARA KITSUWON

  4. AKARA KITSUWON

  5. BANKS MORETTI

  6. SULLIVAN MEADOWS

  7. AKARA KITSUWON

  8. SULLIVAN MEADOWS

  9. BANKS MORETTI

  10. AKARA KITSUWON

  11. SULLIVAN MEADOWS

  12. BANKS MORETTI

  13. BANKS MORETTI

  14. AKARA KITSUWON

  15. BANKS MORETTI

  16. SULLIVAN MEADOWS

  17. AKARA KITSUWON

  18. BANKS MORETTI

  19. BANKS MORETTI

  20. SULLIVAN MEADOWS

  21. AKARA KITSUWON

  22. BANKS MORETTI

  23. SULLIVAN MEADOWS

  24. BANKS MORETTI

  25. AKARA KITSUWON

  26. SULLIVAN MEADOWS

  27. AKARA KITSUWON

  28. SULLIVAN MEADOWS

  29. BANKS MORETTI

  30. AKARA KITSUWON

  31. SULLIVAN MEADOWS

  32. AKARA KITSUWON

  33. BANKS MORETTI

  34. SULLIVAN MEADOWS

  35. AKARA KITSUWON

  36. SULLIVAN MEADOWS

  37. AKARA KITSUWON

  38. BANKS MORETTI

  39. SULLIVAN MEADOWS

  40. SULLIVAN MEADOWS

  41. AKARA KITSUWON

  42. SULLIVAN MEADOWS

  43. BANKS MORETTI

  44. SULLIVAN MEADOWS

  45. BANKS MORETTI

  46. SULLIVAN MEADOWS

  47. AKARA KITSUWON

  48. SULLIVAN MEADOWS

  49. AKARA KITSUWON

  50. BANKS MORETTI

  51. SULLIVAN MEADOWS

  52. BANKS MORETTI

  53. AKARA KITSUWON

  54. AKARA KITSUWON

  55. SULLIVAN MEADOWS

  56. BANKS MORETTI

  57. BANKS MORETTI

  58. SULLIVAN MEADOWS

  59. AKARA KITSUWON

  60. BANKS MORETTI

  Thank you!

  Also by Krista & Becca

  About the Authors

  Pronunciation Glossary

  Acknowledgments

  Fearless Like Us Copyright © 2021 by K.B. Ritchie

  First Edition - Digital

  * * *

  All rights reserved.

  This book may not be reproduced or transmitted in any capacity without written permission by the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes.

  * * *

  This book is a work of fiction. Any names, places, characters, resemblance to events or persons, living or dead, are coincidental and originate from the authors’ imagination and are used fictitiously.

  * * *

  Cover Photo: ©Regina Wamba

  Cover design by Twin Cove Designs

  www.kbritchie.com

  A Note from the Authors

  The Italian used in this book is an Italian-American language developed by Italian immigrants. It is an incomplete language and uses Italian, English, or both. Different Italians speak different dialects in certain areas, and what is used in the Like Us series is prominent on the East Coast. Words may vary in pronunciation and spelling in different communities. A glossary with pronunciations for Fearless Like Us is included at the end of the book.

  Fearless Like Us is the ninth book in the Like Us Series. Even though the series changes POVs throughout, to understand events that took place in the previous novels, the series should be read in its order of publication.

  * * *

  Fearless Like Us should be read after Wild Like Us.

  LIKE US SERIES READING ORDER

  1. Damaged Like Us

  2. Lovers Like Us

  3. Alphas Like Us

  4. Tangled Like Us

  5. Sinful Like Us

  6. Headstrong Like Us

  7. Charming Like Us

  8. Wild Like Us

  9. Fearless Like Us

  10. Infamous Like Us

  11. Misfits Like Us

  12. Unlucky Like Us

  13. Nobody Like Us

  Character List

  Not all characters in this list will make an appearance in the book, but most will be mentioned.

  * * *

  Ages represent the age of the character at the beginning of the book. Some characters will be older when they’re introduced, depending on their birthday.

  THE MEADOWS

  Ryke Meadows & Daisy Calloway

  Sullivan – 21

  Winona – 15

  THE COBALTS

  Richard Connor Cobalt & Rose Calloway

  Jane – 24

  Charlie – 22

  Beckett – 22

  Eliot – 20

  Tom – 19

  Ben – 17

  Audrey – 14

  THE HALES

  Loren Hale & Lily Calloway

  Maximoff – 24

  Luna – 19

  Xander – 16

  Kinney – 15

  * * *

  THE ABBEYS

  Garrison Abbey & Willow Hale

  Vada – 15

  * * *

  THE SECURITY TEAM

  These are the bodyguards that protect the Cobalts, Hales, and Meadows.

  * * *

  Kitsuwon Securities Inc.

  Security Force Omega

  Akara Kitsuwon (boss) – 27

  Thatcher Moretti (lead) – 29

  Banks Moretti – 29

  Farrow Hale – 29

  Oscar Highland-Oliveira – 32

  Quinn Oliveira – 22

  Paul Donnelly – 28

  Gabe Montgomery – 22

  * * *

  Price Kepler’s Triple Shield Services

  Security Force Epsilon

  Jon Sinclair (lead) – 40s

  Greer Bell – 30s

  …and more

  * * *

  Security Force Alpha

  Price Kepler (lead) – 40s

  Wylie Jones – 40s

  Tony Ramella – 29

  …and more

  1

  SULLIVAN MEADOWS

  So, Dad, I’d like you to meet my boyfriends. Akara Kitsuwon and Banks Moretti.

  Those words hang in the air like the smoke cloud after a bomb drop. I can’t close my eyes. Can’t look away from my dad whose brows furrow in utter fucking confusion. Before I have a chance to explain—like really fucking explain—he speaks.

  “I didn’t hear you fucking right, Sul,” he says. “Say it again.”

  Oh fuck.

  Fuck, fuck, fuck.

  How am I supposed to say this twice?!

  My mouth dries, and I instinctively look behind me at Akara, who usually comes in with the save. When words fail me in social settings, he takes over…but usually not with my dad.

  Usually, I can manage to form some kind of coherent sentence in front of him. My dad is the last person to really care when I struggle to say what I mean, so typically, I try to reach the point. Fucks and all. But his intensity right now, in this moment, is setting my feet on fire.

  I want to run away, but I stay still and let the heat scorch my soles.

  Akara picks up my distress signal, then looks to my dad. “Ryke—”

  “Wait, let her fucking talk.” He zeroes in on me. “Sul?”

  God, my dad is so fucking intense.

  Feel the moment.

  Yeah, feel the fucking moment—what was I thinking?! There is no back-peddling, no laughing this off with poorly placed dick jokes. Swimming forward is all that
makes sense, and I hope the man who taught me to float as a baby isn’t about to see me drown as an adult.

  And if Akara and Banks wished I didn’t explode this news to my dad first, I can’t tell. All of us are stopped at the base of the rock face, and they remain completely guarded, like they’re on-duty about to protect me from an enraged horde of so-called fans.

  Only that horde is one person, and I’m hoping with everything in my soul and body that he’s not soon-to-be enraged.

  “Um…” I have two fingers to my lips, lost in contemplation, and I drop my arm fast. “Fuck…so what I said was, I’d like you to meet my boyfriends.” I wave my hand from Akara to Banks, like this needs actual physical indication of what I mean.

  His death-stare burns into Akara, then Banks, with more confusion than anger, I think. And I’m also hoping. Please, fucking please.

  “Boyfriends?” He shakes his head, brows knotting. “I don’t…fucking understand.”

  “The three of us are together,” I say quickly, my pulse speeding out of fucking control.

  His confusion is setting me on the cliff’s edge—the one that we just climbed in the quarry. Like I’m no longer grounded. Like I’m falling forward without a harness. I wonder if my dad feels the exact same.

  Like he’s being pushed off the same cliff.

  By me.

  He holds up a hand. “Wait, so you’re with Akara?” He shifts his weight, an angry fucking shift. He runs his hand aggressively across his scruffy jaw. His eyes nail into Akara. Both men are unblinking.

  “Dad, Dad,” I call out until he looks at me. Once he does, I tell him clearly, “I’m also with Banks.”

  He tries to shake his head, but the movement is cemented. His neck is tight. “What?” His face hardens to stone. “What the fuck, you can’t…you’re…” He exhales roughly, painfully. “You’re fucking with me. The three of you are playing some fucking practical joke on me.” He’s waiting for one of us to jump out with the punchline.

  Banks hangs his head slightly so he’s not towering over my dad. But his eyes lift up with his brows as he tells him, “We’re not joking, sir.”

  Without falter, Akara adds, “Sulli is telling you the truth.”

  My dad is barely breathing. His carriage is barely rising. He’s just rock burning from within, and he turns to me. “This better be a joke, Sulli.”

  Hurt builds pressure on my chest. “You know me better than that,” I say. “I would never make this into a fucking joke.” Winona, maybe. She likes trying to get a rise out of him. But me?

  No.

  “The daughter I know would also never date her fucking bodyguard.” His voice rises in the quarry.

  “Two bodyguards,” I correct. Un-fucking-helpful. But I need this to be crystal clear.

  Akara and Banks stay stoic, skilled in deescalating situations, and this situation does not need any kind of fucking escalation.

  My dad’s nose flares. “Two bodyguards.” He zones in on them. “Get the fuck away from her.” We’re not even touching, but I know he sees me as his little girl, and he’s wishing for a whole mountain range of separation between us.

  “Ryke—”Akara holds up a hand to cool the air, but the air is already laced with my dad’s fury.

  “I said get the fuck away from my daughter,” he growls.

  Oh God. Oh fuck. Oh Jesus.

  This is not good.

  Akara and Banks don’t move a muscle, and Kits is the one who says, “No.”

  My dad drops his rappelling gear. Spooled rope falls to the dirt. His harness thuds, and rage is piling up in his eyes. Before he moves forward, I shout, “Dad!”

  He looks to me. “Get over here, Sulli.” He points to the spot beside him.

  “No,” I say, pain lancing everywhere. “They’re not hurting me—”

  “They were supposed to protect you—that’s fucking all. That was the fucking end of it!” he shouts, more at them than at me. “You’re her fucking bodyguards.” His glower intensifies on my boyfriends. “You two—you had one fucking job. One!” At the base of the mountain, everything feels louder, even his wrath. I feel more like a small creature in the vast greatness of nature, not the girl raised by wolves.

  Banks somehow is able to hold eye contact. “We have kept her safe, sir.”

  “Fuck you,” my dad sneers. “If you think keeping her safe was making a move on my daughter—”

  “Dad!” I yell even louder and take a step forward. “I kissed them! I made the fucking move!”

  His face contorts in a series of horrified emotions. “They reciprocated, Sul. They abused their fucking power and trust—”

  “What about Jane?!” I shout in hurt. “What about Moffy?! They both married their bodyguards!”

  “They’re not my kid!” he screams. “You’re my daughter!” We’re hot and sweaty from the rock climb, our shirts soaked, and the sun beats down on us through the canopy of trees. Yet, the real fire is the tears that build in his eyes, in my eyes. “The day you were born, I cried in fucking pain, in fucking agony because I thought I’d lose you and your mom, and I knew, while I held you in my arms, that I’d be there for you your whole life, no matter what—I’d fucking be there. You’re my kid.” He points to his chest, eyes reddening with so much emotion that pummels me. “As a father, as your father, I’d never let anyone harm you or fucking manipulate you or come into your life and abuse the power that I’d granted to protect you when you were a kid.”

  “I’m an adult now,” I cut in, eyes wet and raw. “And I’ve made an adult decision to be with them.” Please, fucking please accept this.

  “They’re your bodyguards, Sulli!” he shouts like I don’t get that.

  “I’m twenty-one!” I yell back. Pain chokes me. What’s happening. What am I destroying right now?

  He keeps shaking his head like this is all going wrong. My feelings are the same, but the origin is different. He runs a rough hand over his face.

  I rub my wet cheeks.

  Fuck.

  Fuck.

  My dad exhales roughly but he catches my gaze and says, “Please come here, Sullivan. Please.”

  We’re both begging each other for different things. Only half my pleas are in my mind. I start to shake my head.

  He holds out a hand, pleading. “Protecting you is what they’re paid to do. What they’ve done isn’t fucking right, Sulli.”

  His words are like a swift punch to Akara. He jumps in, “You don’t understand, Ryke—”

  “I don’t even want to fucking look at you,” my dad snaps, but he spits out, “You…you are her brother!” The disgust in his voice almost bowls me back.

  My brother?

  “What…?” I cringe.

  Akara puts a hand to his chest. “Hey, I get that’s what you wanted me to be towards her but—”

  “That’s what you have been,” my dad growls.

  “No, it’s not!” Akara yells into a frustrated noise. “I’m not her brother, Ryke! I’ve never been her fucking brother!”

  My dad takes angered steps forward.

  “Dad,” I warn. “Dad.”

  He stops at my side. “You’ve always treated her like a sister. There wasn’t one fucking day you didn’t!”

  Oh my fucking God.

  “You put that into the universe!” Akara shouts so loud that veins protrude in his neck. “Not me. Not her! The closest thing she has to a brother is Maximoff—and I promise you, I’m not that!”

  Banks plants a calming hand on Akara’s shoulder.

  I cover my face, feeling sick thinking my dad believed we were like siblings.

  My dad looks murderous. “How can you not see the fucking issue here?” He outstretches his arms, then points at Akara. “She trusted you to protect her. And fuck you for taking advantage of—”

  “I didn’t!” Kits screams.

  “You fucking did!”

  “I LOVE SULLI!” The power in his voice rings the air. “That’s what this is about—not money, no
t a damn job! I fell in love with your daughter, that’s it!”

  “So she doesn’t pay you a fucking dime to protect her?!” my dad shouts back, barely digesting Akara’s proclamation. “Tell me she doesn’t?!”

  He’s fallen in love with me.

  I nearly sway back from the conviction in Akara’s voice, from his face that looks torn in agony. Like he’s about to lose me.

  I wish my heart wasn’t being torn apart right now because I’d love to just hang onto the words he screamed into the world.

  Let them guide me where I need to go.

  I exhale a big breath and look to the man beside Akara. I hold onto Banks’ gaze, which stays on me with a kind of comfort I could walk right into. Even several feet away, his eyes whisper against my anxieties and fears, I’m right here, mermaid. I’m right here.