Chapter 31
THIRTY-ONE
As Avery and I pack the last of our room up, I’m not surprised when there’s a knock at the door.
Avery groans when she opens it but Harley just shoulders his way into the room, a single duffel bag slung over his broad shoulder. “This is my life now, isn't it? You all showing up at my door every hour of the day to make eyes at my best friend.”
Harley grabs a beer out of our fridge and drinks half of it in two big gulps. “Get single rooms next year. Be a fuck load easier for us if you’re not watching our every move.”
Avery slaps his arm and then shoves a box into his chest, directing him to start packing up her glut of belongings. “I'm looking out for my Mounty. I don't want you three corrupting her.”
Harley snorts at her and I try not to be too insulted. My bags are all packed, everything except my safe. I wiggle myself under my bed and use the light on my phone to see as I start to wrench the floorboards loose with my knife.
There’s a knock at the door while I’m grunting at the effort to uncover my most valuable possessions. Then I hear the other two guys talking and joking around. I might slow my work down a bit to give myself time to stop blushing.
“Great view,” Blaise says, then he grunts as someone hits him. “What? I'm allowed to appreciate my girl’s ass, especially in those shorts. What are you doing, Mounty?”
His girl. Sweet Lord. I don’t think I have it in me to get used to that. “Construction work,” I tease, then Avery ducks down to have a look at what I'm doing.
“That's where you hid it!”
“Hid what?”
“Her stash,” says Harley, and he's so smug. He loves knowing more about me than the others.
I wiggle back out and drag the safe with me. Avery does her gimme hands at me and I chuckle. “I'm not sure I can trust you with these, Beaumont.”
She bites her lips and stares at the metal box with lusty eyes. “I solemnly swear I'm up to no good.”
“Nerd.” But I open the safe and hand over the velvet box.
Avery moans as she cracks the lid and Ash looks so fucking mortified that we all get to have a laugh at his expense. “Sex toys? You can't fit a pair of Louboutins in a box that small, and I can’t think of anything else that gets Floss that excited,” Ash grumbles.
“Better. So much better. Diamonds!” Avery squeals before she starts pawing through them. Harley’s eyebrows shoot up and damn near disappear into his hairline as he looks over her shoulder.
“How many of them do you have?”
Forty-eight. I shrug. “I'm good at what I do and I'm stockpiling so we can get clear of our shit after graduation.”
Harley’s eyes flash possessively. Avery rolls one of the blood diamonds in her fingers and I swear she's panting. Harley clears his throat at her. “Put them back, Floss. Make Morrison buy you one for your birthday.”
Blaise is too busy staring, gaping, at the contents of the box to snap out a comeback. Avery pouts as she carefully packs the diamonds back into the safe. “I don't want boring old diamonds. I want priceless, blood-soaked, favor diamonds.”
“Someone needs to start explaining what the hell is going on,” Ash grumbles.
Avery is still pouting as I bury the safe in my duffel bag and cover it with my clothes so it's obscured and nestled nicely.
She answers Ash for me. “The Twelve trade each other favors in times of need. Diamonds are used as a physical representation of the favors and Lips has dozens of them. Dozens!”
“Why? Why not use them and become rich? Why come to school here and put up with us?” Ash asks.
I shrug, entirely uncomfortable talking about them. “I nearly died for most of those. I’ve only ever used three favors and that was for situations that were life threatening. I won’t use them for less than that.”
My phone pings and I try not to cringe. Avery shoots me a look because she knows who it must be. Only one person outside of this room has my number.
The building is bigger than I thought it would be. I hope your inductee packs light, I’ve brought the BMW to bring you both home.
Fuck.
Fuck, this is bad. Bad. Baaaaaaaad.
I glance away from the Jackal’s text to find Harley laughing and moving boxes for Avery.
He looks so damn happy and I’m going to ruin that by telling him his life is in serious danger.
I should have worked harder on getting out from the Jackal.
I should have focused on my GPA a little less and stopped avoiding the bigger issue.
I know my face must show every ounce of my fear because one look at it has Avery and Harley both dropping the boxes and bolting to me.
“Lips, what?—”
“Fuck, babe?—”
I sink to the bed and give myself ten seconds to freak out. Ten seconds and then I’m going to pull myself back together and get through this.
“The Jackal is here. He’s picking us up,” I croak.
Joey is waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs. His gaze bounces over each of us until he lands back on me.
“How the fuck do you know the Jackal? He’s here for you.”
I arch an eyebrow and step around him. Harley follows, exactly how I told him to, and my heart flutters in my chest. Joey moves like he’s going to stalk after us but then Ash hisses at him, “Do you want to fucking die?”
I can’t look back at them to see the answer.
The Jackal is here.
I can’t see him yet but every student, every parent, every teacher, they’re all turned toward the same man, terror and horror hanging thick in the air. Enough people recognize him and they’re all waiting for the killing to start.
I take one last deep breath.
I push down Lips Anderson in my mind. I put her in the little box and forget about her.
I forget about the breakfasts with Avery, and dancing to old records together, I forget about planning our futures and world domination.
I forget about my GPA and the panic of my choir performance.
I forget about the itch of my skirt and the crisp lines of my blazer.
I fucking bury every thought of the three guys I’m on the edge of falling in love with.
And then, all I am, is the Wolf.
“There you are.”
I loathe the sound of his voice.
He’s brought Luca and Diarmuid with him, the two of them flanking him.
I take note that all three of them are carrying guns, Diarmuid even has a thigh holster with a ten-inch knife strapped in it.
I knew they would be with him, but it doesn’t help with the nerves that are trying to worm their way into my mind.
Diarmuid grins and sweeps me into a big hug.
I laugh joylessly and give him a little pat on his back.
He whispers in my ear, barely more than a breath, “I came to keep our boy safe,” and then he drops me back on my feet and sweeps behind me to hug Harley.
I really want to know how Harley reacts to that, but I can’t risk looking at him.
Luca steps forward and takes my bag from me with a smile I return easily. His eyes are intense and locked behind me as he stoops down to kiss my cheek.
Lord save me from the pissing contest this is going to turn into.
Once Luca steps away I turn to the real monster in the room.
The Jackal is tall, well-muscled, and attractive in his crisp navy suit.
His Italian roots are easily distinguishable.
His deep brown hair falls in waves around his face and his eyes are the same color, dark pools looking out from his olive skin.
Even with the thick black lines of his tattoos dancing across the skin of his cheeks he’s a handsome man, but not to me.
All I see is the evil living inside of him.
I meet his eyes and fake a little smile, one I’ve given him a thousand times before. He looks over every inch of me like he’ll be able to see all of the lies I’m telling him etched into my skin. I breathe in deeply and force my heart to slow down while I wait him out.
Finally, he says, “Where’s my hug, little Starbright?”
I roll my eyes and step forward into his arms. He presses himself into me fully, chest to thigh, and I focus on where I can feel his weapons so I don’t have to think about this public claiming he’s hellbent on.
I pull away from him and he tucks my body under his arm, flicking out a hand to get Harley and his men to follow us.
“We have so much to talk about, my Wolf. Or do you belong to someone else now?” he murmurs into my ear.
Fuck.
He knows about Harley.
Fuck.