43. Jude
43
JUDE
I pulled the Range Rover onto the long road leading to Daisy’s house and was glad Rafe was in the back seat with Nolan. He’d been surly as fuck since we’d outvoted him about talking to Daisy and the three men who’d killed for her.
Twice. That we knew of.
The fucking Blackwell Beasts.
Rafe hated them as much as he hated the Kings from Aventine, but our interests had converged more than once over the past couple years, almost like the universe wanted us working together.
Rafe would call bullshit on that take — he didn’t believe in the universe or God or fate or anything really — but it was weird how often our paths had crossed, and I couldn’t help feeling there was something to it.
“Wow,” Lilah said, craning her neck in the passenger seat to get a look at the house.
“Wild, right?” I asked.
“It looks like something out of an old movie,” Lilah said. “It’s Daisy’s?”
“Yep,” I said. “She inherited it from her mom’s side of the family.”
“Put a lot of work into it too, along with the Beasts,” Nolan said from the backseat.
Rafe snorted. “The Beasts.”
“Not their fault the media gave them the name,” I said, pulling next to Daisy’s restored red mustang.
On the other side of the gravel courtyard, a blue Corvette stood next to a bright green BMW SUV and Jace’s bike.
We got out of the car and headed for the house. It was weird seeing it in the light of day. The last time we’d been here, it had been dark. Cold rain had turned everything to mud, casting the old house into something out of a horror movie.
Now it looked more like a storybook mansion, the peaks of its roof piercing the cerulean sky. There were lots of chimneys, which made sense for an old house, and a massive porch that wrapped around one side. Beyond the cliff at the back of the house, the falls crashed into the river below.
It wasn’t my vibe — I liked new construction, energy efficiency, climate control, and lots of windows — but I definitely got the appeal of the old place.
A brass lion hung from the door, probably original to the house. Rafe marched up and banged on it hard enough to sound like the police on a midnight raid instead of the friendly visit we’d called to arrange.
Nolan scowled at him. “Take it easy. Fuck.”
I knew what was behind Rafe’s bad attitude even if he didn’t: Rafe didn’t like asking for help.
Hiring Storm was different, even with Gage’s help. We’d paid for their services. It was a transaction.
Clean.
This was like asking for a favor, and Rafe didn’t do favors.
Well, he did favors, because that meant someone owed him a favor, but he didn’t like being the one in debt.
The door opened suddenly and Daisy appeared. Her brown hair was loose around her shoulders, her face free of makeup, her eyes — an interesting shade of blue that was almost violet — warm.
“You made it!” She stepped back and opened it wider so we could enter the house. “Come in.”
We filed inside and I watched as Lilah looked up, taking in the soaring triple-height ceiling in the foyer, the crown moldings, the antique chandelier. A curved wooden staircase — the bannister polished mahogany, the treads covered in what I was sure was an antique carpet — wound to a second-floor landing.
“Wow,” Lilah said, “what an incredible house.”
Daisy smiled and held out her hand. “I don’t think we ever really met in high school, but I remember you. Lilah, right?”
Lilah seemed surprised. “Yeah.”
She took Daisy’s hand warily, like she expected Daisy to withdraw it at the last minute.
“It’s so nice to really meet you.” Daisy was full of cheer, oblivious to the inner wars going on in our group: Rafe’s struggle to ask for help, Lilah chewing her lip, probably because she was worried Daisy had seen those fucking nudes, which she probably had.
I was just taking it in, imagining it on my sketch pad: the shadows from the sun slanting through the transom windows, the shine on the console table by the door, the subtle wear on the top and sides of the bannister, a remnant of all the hands that had glided down it over the last hundred years.
“We appreciate that you’re willing to talk to us,” Nolan said.
Mister Psychologically Sound over here.
“It’s totally our pleasure,” Daisy said. Jace came down the hall from the back of the house and Daisy took his arm. “Isn’t that right?”
“Sure,” Jace said, kissing her forehead.
I was surprised by his easygoing reply. He’d always been kind of a dick.
“Do you want to sit outside?” Daisy asked. “It’s finally warm, and we put all the patio furniture out yesterday.”
“Outside sounds nice,” Lilah said.
Daisy turned to lead us down the hall and my gaze snagged on her slightly rounded stomach. It was subtle under the loose floral dress she was wearing, but… was Daisy pregnant?
“This place is really incredible,” Lilah said, looking around as we followed Daisy down the hall.
Daisy laughed. “You’d know how much that means to me if you saw it last year at this time.”
We entered an expansive kitchen at the back of the house and I had to admit it was nice. I’d helped design the cherry cabinets in the kitchen I shared with Nolan and Rafe and I favored the dark rich wood, but Daisy’s kitchen was white and bright, with gold fixtures, a massive marble-topped island, and a wall of windows with French doors that were open to the patio.
A mangy orange cat meandered through the door and meowed noisily at Daisy.
She laughed and picked him up. “I think Cat is hungry.”
She handed him to Jace, who took him with surprising ease and moved to one of the cupboards.
“Wolf and Otis are already outside,” Daisy said, leading us out the open doors. “This will be our first full summer with the pool, so I’m kind of excited about getting it open.”
We stepped onto a two-level bluestone patio where pristine wicker furniture with cushions sat facing a large outdoor fireplace. On the first level of the patio, Wolf dipped a vial into the water, then held it up to the light.
He caught Daisy’s eye and smiled. She waved him over.
“Clearly I was hoping you’d want to sit outside,” Daisy said, gesturing at the tray of brownies and pitcher of iced tea on the table at the center of the seating arrangement. “I made brownies and iced tea, but I could also make coffee.”
“This is perfect,” Lilah said. “I hope you didn’t go to any trouble.”
Daisy smiled. “No trouble at all.”
We took seats around the brownies and iced tea and I watched as Otis stepped out of a small building by the pool that probably held all the equipment. I didn't know a ton about the Beasts — we’d been closer to rivals than friends in high school — but I remembered that Otis liked to fix things.
He and Wolf were talking to each other as they came toward us.
We said hello and introduced Lilah. I thought I caught a hint of surprise on Wolf's face, and who could blame him? If he remembered Lilah from high school that also meant he remembered that we were the ones who’d texted the pictures of her to practically the entire student body.
I could almost hear his inner thoughts: what the fuck is she doing with them ?
And looking at Lilah — strong, beautiful Lilah — I couldn’t help wondering the same fucking thing.