Chapter 21
She looked like she belonged in Jared’s lap.
This was what he’d wanted, right?
Someone for Jared to be able to focus on. To care for.
And it had to be her. She was the one Jared thought about, dreamed of . . .
North knew that he likely wouldn’t survive what he had to do. Nobody disobeyed The Collective and survived.
But he was going to find out who had hired him to kill Jared.
It could be Beltran. Although North didn’t really think that was his style. And he had to know so that he could take them out.
Then he’d leave.
Jared would be fine after North was gone. He’d have her.
He didn’t need North. He never really had.
This was the beginning of the end.
“North, can you get the IV set up again and grab her some light food?” Jared asked.
North nodded and went to leave.
“Why am I here, though?” she asked suddenly. “North hasn’t given me any reason but to say he took me for you.”
North stilled and turned back. “I took you because I didn’t think you should be living alone. And because Jared wants you.”
“You sound like a child who wanted a toy that someone else has. I wanted it so I took it. No matter the toy’s feelings in the matter!”
“Toys don’t have feelings,” North informed her.
She gasped. Loudly. And indignantly. “Don’t listen to him, Wally and Wallina. He’s obviously lost his freaking mind.”
North glanced over at her toys.
“Wallina?” Jared asked.
“My toy,” she said. “Keira bought her for me when I moved into my new place.”
“The one where you lived alone,” Jared said.
“Yes. I haven’t even been there long and now when I go back I’ll probably never be allowed to live there again. I’ll be lucky if Zander doesn’t put a tracker on me again.”
“Again?” Jared asked quietly.
“Yeah, when I first moved in with him, I had one for, uh, reasons.” She glanced away, looking slightly odd.
Why had Zander needed to track her? And why had he stopped?
“He should have never stopped,” North said.
“I don’t need to be tracked,” she huffed.
“Obviously, you do,” North told her dryly. “But it wouldn’t have mattered in this case because I’d have found it.”
“Careful, that arrogance will inflate your already oversized head,” she warned.
“It already has.”
“Huh?” she asked, obviously not understanding what “head” North was talking about.
Jared sighed, shaking his head in exasperation.
“Where is my handbag?” she asked. “And my phone?”
“Safe,” North replied.
“Are you sure?” she asked.
North raised his eyebrows. “Don’t you trust me?”
She made a scoffing noise. “Do I look like an idiot?”
“You do not,” Jared said firmly. “And I won’t hear you say that you do.”
“I wasn’t saying that,” she told him. “I also know that I’m not the smartest tool in the shed.”
“That sounds very much like you putting yourself down again,” Jared warned.
“It’s not putting yourself down if it’s the truth. It’s self-awareness.”
“It’s naughty. When you’re under my roof, you obey my rules and there are always consequences for breaking them. Understand?”
“But I don’t want to be under your roof.”
Fuck. He didn’t like hearing that. Even if he knew why she was saying it. And couldn’t blame her for it.
“Doesn’t matter. My house. My rules. My consequences.”