Chapter Fifty
Jamie
A week after all the drama, I find myself standing outside Kieran’s block of flats. I take a deep breath, staring up at it. They don’t own the whole building, but I really think that’s a matter of time.
Probably a matter of time until we move into it, too. I don’t want to leave yet. Nick doesn’t mind having Patch around—he hasn’t quite finished moving out of his and Flynn’s place either, despite everything—and Em really likes it there. I think all of this might be overwhelming for him.
I shake my head at my thoughts, at the fact that I’m hesitating, and push open the door to go inside. I’ve nothing to fear here. Kieran rang earlier, asked if he could talk to me about something, and assured me I have nothing to worry about. He wouldn’t lie about something like that.
Besides, I’m meeting Vince afterwards. Excitement fizzes in my chest. I’ve hardly seen him in the past week, and I have a bunch of questions. I might still not quite be ready to mate with Patch and Em, but I get closer to begging for it every day.
I knock on the door, and it swings open a few seconds later. Kieran smiles at me from the other side, waving a hand to invite me in. “Glad you could make it.”
He’s not alone, but then I doubt he’s ever alone in this flat. Sam sits on the sofa, scrolling on his phone, and Drew is with him, head resting on his much smaller mate’s shoulder as he watches Sam’s thumb move. He looks at me, though, and smiles.
“Hey.”
“Hey.” I kick off my shoes and follow Kieran over to the sofa and chairs. Drew moves to get up, but Sam clamps a hand on his thigh.
“No need to go anywhere, little wolf.”
Drew huffs. “I was going to offer Jamie a drink.”
I shake my head. “I’m good, thanks.”
“Everything going well with your mates?” Kieran asks. There’s a sly edge to his grin, maybe, but I know he’s genuinely asking.
“It’s amazing,” I reply. It’s not just sex—though we’ve been in bed a lot, of course.
It’s coming back into the house, knowing that they’re waiting for me.
It’s comforting Patch through the loss of his pack because he did lose them, even if we’re all kind of pretending he didn’t, and helping Em adjust to living in a new city and having the two of them hold me close when things get a little too dark in the middle of the night.
“Good,” Kieran says, like he knows everything I didn’t just say. My eyes flick to the closed bedroom door behind him, where Lucien is undoubtedly sleeping. I guess he does. He feels it, too.
“I bet you’re wondering why we called you here,” Sam says and Kieran sighs. Sam only smiles in response, phone now tucked away somewhere and one hand still on Drew’s thigh.
“Yeah. Nothing’s wrong, is it?”
“No, of course not,” Kieran says quickly. “I just… I wanted to know if you’re still looking for a job.”
I sit up a little straighter. I must have sent out hundreds of applications over the past week, in between everything else, and I’ve heard nothing back so far.
I’ve even considered going back to my old company, tail tucked between my legs, but since I kind of stopped turning up when I was supposed to be working through my notice period, I think that’s one bridge burnt. “Yeah. Yeah, I am.”
“It has come to my attention that things might run a little more smoothly around here if I hired an assistant,” Kieran says and pulls a face when Sam laughs. No doubt who brought that to his attention, then. “Vince told me that was the kind of work you used to do.”
“Yeah, I was an executive assistant before—” Before I quit my job to almost start working for my mate’s scheming brother. “Yeah. I think I could handle it.”
“It’ll be a learning experience for us both,” Kieran says, and he sounds a little less out of his depth now. “We’re still going through finances and stuff, but with the gym opening, and some other businesses growing, there’ll be enough to pay you at least what you were on before, I think.”
He says the number, and I raise my eyebrows. “That’s more than I was on before.”
“A well-deserved raise, then,” Sam says. “Or you could think of it as hazard pay. Gods know he can be snappy when you tell him to do things.”
Drew makes a quiet sound. “I think that’s just with you,” he replies, and Sam gives him a mock wounded look.
“Anyway,” Kieran interrupts. “The job’s yours. If you want it. We’ll have something for Patch and Em soon too, if they’re having trouble finding anything else. We’re pack. We help each other.”
I’m not sure why, but my face gets hot and tears prick my eyes. I know this already. I know it because they’ve taken care of me since everything with Tim, even when Vince told Dax to leave, even when it wasn’t certain they’d end up together at all.
“Thank you,” I say, voice tight. “I’ll talk to them about it tonight.”
“Good. Then you can let us know what you all think when you come to dinner on Sunday,” Kieran replies.
I raise my eyebrows in surprise. He shrugs. “We didn’t expect to see you all for a week, which is fair enough. It’ll be the same after you all mate. But Em and Patch, especially, need to spend time bonding with their packmates. So we’ll see you Sunday?”
I huff. We’ve already talked about that, too, with Em insisting we wait for an invitation, even though Patch has said over and over that he’s sure it would be fine if we just turned up one day. I like the confirmation. “Yeah, we’ll be here. Of course.”
Someone knocks on the door. Drew lifts his head and blinks. “Vince is here.”
“Off you go then,” Kieran says to me. “We’ll see you on Sunday for dinner, and then we can start working the Monday after, if that sounds good to you? Gives me time to get my head around all this.”
“Yeah, that—That’s perfect. Thank you.”
Sam just waves as I head for the door and when I open it, Vince is standing there, waiting impatiently. He gives everyone inside an absent hello, then drags me outside and across the hall, into his own flat.
“Whoa, that’s… What are you—”
“Did he do it? Did you say yes?”
“The job?”
“Yes!”
I laugh, shaking my head. “Obviously, I said yes.”
Vince pulls me into a tight hug. “Oh, you’re gonna love it here. I mean, they’re nosy as fuck, and they’ll never leave you alone, but you’ll have all of them—all of us—and I bet you’ll get mated soon and it’s going to be amazing.”
I laugh again and follow him into the living room. Seems like Dax is out; maybe he’s visiting Patch, which is a nice thought because I’d like for Em to get to know him.
“It is,” I agree. I throw myself onto the sofa and Vince shoves my legs off it so he can take a seat next to me. “And we’re not doing the mating rites yet. I’ve got some questions first.”
“That’s what Patch is for.”
I shake my head. “A lot of questions. And I think they’ll be expecting me back in a couple of hours, so you’d better talk fast.”
Vince grins. “Okay,” he says. “What do you want to know?”