24. Harper
HARPER
“Gorgeous, you can’t sleep the day away,” Jaxson called from somewhere in the house. “We have to start packing.”
Packing? Packing for what?
Slowly, I cracked open one eye and found I was alone in bed, my body sore in the best way possible from the fucking of a lifetime. I caught a glimpse of my hand peeking out from under the pillow and stared at the stunning ring that shimmered in the sunlight.
So that hadn’t been a dream. I was now engaged to three men.
Rolling onto my back, I looked up at the ceiling, wondering if I should call Dax and tell her what happened.
Then I shook that thought out of my head.
That woman had way too much shit going on and didn’t need my drama added to it.
I’d share that news once things calmed down.
It’s not like we could go out and celebrate anyway.
“I wonder if our men will get along?” I mused aloud to myself. “There are seven of them, but they know Wes. There has to be another they can buddy up with… right?”
The bed shifted, and Ghost appeared with a wide grin on his face. “Whatcha talking about? Maybe I should ask who since you’re the only one in here.”
“Have you met Dax’s other guys?” I asked, wrapping my arms around his neck. “I was thinking I should call her, then decided maybe that wouldn’t be the best idea right now. Then that turned into her having seven men to deal with and if you would make friends with them.”
“You’re so fucking adorable, you know that?” Ghost asked as he pressed a quick kiss to my lips. “Come on. We have some stuff to fill you in on regarding your BFF.”
That had me bolting upright. “Is she okay?” I demanded.
“As far as I know, yeah. It has to do with the request she talked to Magnus about yesterday,” he explained.
My heartbeat started to calm down once he said that, and I was able to roll out of bed and throw on a sundress. “What time is it? You never have any clocks hanging around this place.”
“What would be the point of being on vacation if we had to stick to a schedule?” Jaxson asked, sliding over a cup of coffee. “Does it really matter if it’s still morning or not? You needed sleep? We let you sleep.”
I perched on one of the stools and plucked a piece of mango off the platter of fruit, popping it into my mouth.
“I suppose not, just feels like we will need to return to real life at some point. Two weeks of vacation is great, but I’m starting to feel antsy.
I’ve never gone this long without working. ”
“It’s a good thing we have a job to do, isn’t it?” Magnus commented as he kissed the top of my head on his way to the coffee maker.
Frowning, I cocked my head, waiting for him to finish that remark.
He took his time filling his mug, then turned to face me, leaning on the counter, and took a long draw of his coffee. “Dax asked us for a favor. It’s nothing crazy we just need to fly out, pick somebody up, and bring them back to the States.”
“Rrrighttt…” I said, drawing the word out dramatically. “Want to tell me the whole story?”
“As of right now, that’s all I know. Dax is going to call me back once she talks to the contact to get more specific information.
Then we can fly out, get what we need to get, and head back.
Seems now that Dax knows who’s gunning for her, she isn’t taking a back seat ride.
Apparently, the arms dealer needs this favor done, and once it’s complete, then Dax gets a sweet deal on supplies,” Magnus explained.
Taking a few sips of my coffee, I studied the three men I’d just signed up to spend forever with and didn’t feel like I was getting the full story. “You wouldn’t be lying to me, would you?”
Magnus set down his mug and reached across the island to grasp my hands.
“Doll, this is all I know right now. Dax wanted to know if we were interested in doing the job since we have you. I told her what information I needed for the favor, and she is getting it. When I know the full details, I’ll tell you, but… ”
“Oh goodie, a but,” I quipped.
“We need to talk about how you want us to handle the parts of this that are illegal. Do you want to know everything, or do you want to know enough but still remain in the dark about the bits that can get us arrested?”
I sighed, resting my head on our hands as I mulled his question over. “This is something we should have talked about before I said yes,” I muttered.
“Too late, angel, no take-backs,” Ghost announced.
Lifting my head, I glared at the full-grown child grinning at me like a fool.
“I didn’t say I was going to throw in the towel.
I just realized how fast this all happened.
Like where are we going to live? What about my shop?
You three travel all the time. Am I going with you, or do I stay home like the dutiful wife? ”
“Gorgeous, we aren’t getting married right away.
We still have time to figure all this out,” Jaxson reasoned.
“As things stand, you can’t go back to normal life yet, so we can work on solving these issues as we go.
How about I get you a notebook where you can write down all the things we need to cover.
We’ll put them on paper so we all know expectations and can look back on them if we need to. ”
Ghost rolled his eyes. “God, you are such a suck-up.”
“You’re one to talk. I’m pretty sure I remember you whining about not getting to sit with her in the back seat.” Jaxson scoffed.
“Okay, okay, easy there, guys,” I jumped in, ending the fight before the two of them could get started. “Back to the trip… do you know where we are going?”
“Northern Europe is what it sounds like, but she was getting those specifics,” Magnus shared.
“So we need to fly out to our home in Sweden and pack things from there. It’s not going to be as tropical as it is here, so these clothes won’t do us much good.
Coming from California, I’m thinking temperatures in the seventies might still be warm, but not wear-a-sundress warm. ”
“Sweden, really? That sounds exciting. I’ve never been before. England and Italy I’ve visited, but not much else, and those were school trips, so we didn’t get to just wander around,” I commented, picturing all the adventures I could go on now I had these guys in my life.
Magnus’s phone rang, and when he looked at the number, he ducked out of the room. “I didn’t think you’d get back to me that fast.” I heard him say as he stepped out onto the patio.
I turned to stare after him, resting my head on my hand. “Does he always take his phone calls in private?”
“It’s habit. He won’t even tell us who’s calling until he’s sure the deal will go through.
It keeps us from knowing too much if we ever get caught.
Magnus is just a worry wart about all the littlest things that could go wrong,” Ghost said with a sigh as he plopped down next to me, grabbing the plate of fruit.
“Once he knows all the details and money agreed upon with a deposit in our account, then he tells us what the job is. Most of the time, it’s on the plane to our destination.
Unless it’s a job he feels will be a big risk, then he’ll talk to us about it before agreeing.
We’ve only had that a handful of times.”
“You guys have a line you won’t cross?” I asked, not sure why I was surprised by this.
“No kids, no taking out significant others so they can be with their side piece, and no killing our wife-to-be,” Jaxson counted off for me. “The rules are simple, but we are simple men.”
Ghost nodded in agreement as he shoved his face full of fruit.
“People have asked you to kill kids?” I asked in amazement.
Jaxson frowned as he crossed his arms, almost as if he were trying to ward off the memory.
“The fastest way to get someone to fall in line is to take what they really love or threaten what they really love. Problem with that is everyone has a family. You take out their kid, they’ll come after yours.
It just turns into a mess. Besides, what harm has that kid ever done to anyone?
People know not to ask us, but a few times in the early days, we got contacted.
One of them was an infant… a woman wanted her husband’s bastard child killed so he couldn’t claim part of the inheritance. How fucked up is that?”
The mere thought made me sick to my stomach. How could people be so cruel and heartless? A child who hasn’t even gotten to take its first steps wasn’t a threat to anyone. This wasn’t medieval times when a toddler could be put on the throne by a psycho mother.
“I know it’s not many rules, but they’re the ones we won’t budge on,” Ghost added. “When it comes to the side piece bit, that’s just not our problem. Shouldn’t have gotten married if you didn’t want to be committed to the person for the rest of your life.”
“Well, there was that one time we took out that guy,” Jaxson countered.
Ghost waved him off. “She didn’t choose to marry him, her father sold her off, and he held her at gunpoint until she said I do. That fucker needed to die. Who could treat marriage like that?”
I couldn’t help but snort at their commentary. “You three are just a bunch of hopeless romantics, aren’t you?”
“You’re just figuring that out now, doll?” Magnus commented from right behind me.
I squeaked and almost fell off the stool, but he grabbed my waist and kept me steady. “Don’t do that,” I grumbled.
“Sorry, it was just too good to pass up,” he apologized, kissing my temple with a chuckle. “Dax got me what I needed, and it seems like this job is gonna be a little out of our wheelhouse, but it’ll be fun.”
“Dax always has the best jobs,” Jaxson said with a smirk. “You gonna tell us what it is?”
“Let’s get to Sweden, pack, and when we’re on our way, I’ll fill you in. We might need to do some strategy on this,” Magnus instructed. “Just pack what you need for the day. Everything else will be at the house.”
“Wait, are we leaving now?” I asked, spinning on the stool to face Magnus.