Chapter Eight
Jakob
All panic, no disco Group Chat
Dieter: Where the hell did you go, J?
Elias: We were in the middle of a hand dude. What the hell?
Roman: A HAND YOU WOULD HAVE WON BY THE WAY.
Jakob: Had to run. Emergency.
Miles: What kind of emergency??
Dieter: Pulling up his location now.
Jakob: It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it. I don’t need help.
Tucker: What does that even mean?
Ethan: He’s at home or at Lee’s. He just passed me near the shop.
Jasper: What the hell is wrong with Lee???
Dieter: Jakob answer your GODDAMN phone!
Elias: I’m calling Mac if you don’t answer us.
Miles: You have his number?
Elias: Yeah, get over it. It obviously is coming in handy right now.
Jakob: No one call anyone! Lee is fine, she’s at the Byrne estate.
Jasper: Then what the fuck is wrong?
Jakob: Declan got hurt.
Dieter: Fucking hell, Jakob. *eye roll emoji*
* * *
“Jake, you should have seen it, the stitches looked like they were done in a hospital but he did it to himself!” Lelonie’s voice is loud in my ear as we talk on the phone.
My heart is clenched tightly while she talks.
“I personally thought he was going to need a transfusion but I was outvoted by the others. Also, I’m not telling you any of this because Mac will get mad at me if I do.”
I roll my eyes and try to calm the roaring in my ears. “I’ve never seen Mac get mad at you before.”
“Yeah, well he might start now, because I’m really not supposed to say anything. But you’re my big brother, so I feel like you don’t count.” She tries to explain her girl logic.
I can’t help but chuckle, “That isn’t how that works at all, Lee. I mean, tell me whatever you want, I’ll always listen, but it doesn’t make it okay because I’m your brother. It just makes you a blabber mouth.”
Her sharp intake of breath tells me she’s offended. “How dare you, I am not a blabber mouth!”
“Says the girl blabbing about her brother-in-law’s business to the person who hates him most in the world.”
“Don’t say that, Jakob Emmett you know that isn’t true!” She scolds me. “It’s okay to be upset and have your feelings hurt. It’s not okay to just hate someone you were best friends with for two thirds of your life for no real reason.”
“Yeah, that sounds like a great perspective to have over there in the land of rainbows and unicorns, but I’m not being dramatic. I’m so serious. If I thought for one second you wouldn’t care, I’d take him out right now without batting a lash.”
I can practically see her dramatically roll her eyes at me.
“You say that, but the panic in your voice when I first told you said something different. I don’t know why you guys don’t just make up and go back to playing video games, talking about sports, and burping or whatever boys do when they hang out. ”
I sit on my couch dumbfounded for a full ten seconds. What is wrong with her?
“So that’s not even almost what guys do when they hang out, you fucking weirdo. Also, I wasn’t panicked. I was excited that he might be gone. Your mistake.”
“Yeah, you know, I’d love to sit here and listen to your caca for another thirty minutes, but alas, I have to go hang out with my best friend. You know, the one that I’m not being too bratty to talk to.”
“You called me!” I exclaim, trying to be annoyed, but I can’t be. She’s better now, and she’s a whole new person. I couldn’t be happier with who she is. So I’ll take the sass and the chaotic little sister energy happily.
“Bye, Jakob. I love you!” She sing-songs as she kills the call before I have a chance to respond.
Pulling the phone from my ear, I quickly pull up our text thread and fire off a text.
Jakob: Ich liebe dich.
We almost lost her years ago. I’ll always tell her I love her with no shame. I’m the same way with our baby sister and our brother. Speaking of, I haven’t seen Annie all week. Navigating over to our thread, I shoot off a text.
Jakob: What are you doing today?
Annie: Nothing, unless binge watching a new show counts as something.
Jakob: Anything good?
Annie: To me? Yes. To you? Not a chance, unless you’re suddenly into a show about a teenage girl in love with her mom’s best friend’s son, but then maybe she likes the brother too?
Jakob: Yeah, pass. Want to go grab lunch then stop by Dieter’s?
Annie: I’m in, give me fifteen.
Tossing all thoughts of an injured Declan to the back of my mind, I push up off my couch to get ready and go pick up my baby sister.
She’s seemed more distant over the past year or so.
To hear her tell it, that’s just what happens when a girl hits her twenties and has overbearing brothers.
I think she’s the one full of caca. Something’s going on with her, and I promise you.
I’ll figure out what it is sooner rather than later.
* * *
Walking into the doors of my bar the next evening, I roll my shoulders and make my way to the back where my office is.
Ally spots me halfway to my destination and throws her hand up, smiling brightly.
We don’t open for another hour so she’s prepping the bar for her shift.
I toss my hand up in response and call over my shoulder as I pass by.
“I’ll be in my office if you need me… Try not to need me.”
I can hear her laughter at my back, “Sure thing, Boss man.”
Ally’s a good kid. She’s a college student that spends her summers behind the bar to save up to have spending money for the next semester.
She graduated this year, but like Annie, she’s going for a higher degree.
She’s tiny, standing at about five feet tall and maybe one hundred and ten pounds soaking wet.
Her beautiful brown skin shimmers under the bar lights with what I’m sure is that perfume glitter stuff college girls tend to wear, and her hair is always pulled into intricate twists and braids.
She’s small, but she’s spunky. She’s gorgeous, and I’ve seen her put full grown men in their place with one look.
I tell her to try not to need me, but I know I’ll be out there in a few hours just to keep an eye out for her.
Just because she can handle herself doesn’t mean she should have to, especially while she’s working.
For now though, I need to get some work done.
I have reports to go over and orders to put in.
I’ve been combing over numbers and paperwork for a couple of hours when a knock on my office door startles me. Pulling off my glasses and pinching the bridge of my nose for a second, I take a deep breath before putting them back on.
“Come in.” I call from my spot.
No one has access back here except for my employees – or might I say, they shouldn’t. But when Rowan Byrne walks into my office and sits in the seat across from me without a word, I’m reminded that he’s the most powerful man in this state and the next. He can do whatever he wants.
“How can I help you, Roe?” I try to bite back my annoyance because we might be related by marriage soon, but he doesn’t particularly care for me.
“When are you going to drop the facade?” He asks in a no nonsense tone.
“Excuse me?” I raise an eyebrow at him as my hands clench.
“Let’s not treat each other like we’re dense here.” He holds me captive with his menacing glare. Tension rolls off of him in waves.
“Look, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I’m trying to work.” I shift my eyes back to my reports, dismissing him. You’d think after knowing Rowan most of my life that I’d know better than to take my eyes off of a damn apex predator in my immediate vicinity.
Rowan stands abruptly and the next thing I know, he’s pulling me out of my chair by my throat and shoving me back into the wall. He’s squeezing tight enough to make my head swim.
“I wasn’t done. Stop messing with my brother’s fucking head. You either feel the same way he does or you don’t, but this back and forth stupid shit stops right now.”
I glare at him as my fingers twitch. Finally, he loosens his grip enough so I can push the words out. “I’m not doing shit. He’s the one who keeps putting himself in my path, not the other way around. Now get your fucking hands off of me, Rowan.” My hands come up to his chest and shove him away.
“You’re lying, both to yourself and to Declan. His head is all over the place, and in our world that shit gets you killed. Talk to him. Figure your shit out. If my brother gets hurt because of you, I’ll make sure you beg for death and they never find your body.”
He shoves into me one last time before turning and storming out of my office. The exact same way he came in. I’m taking a moment to get my head on straight when Ally knocks on my door frame and pokes her head into the office.
“Hey, Boss. I have some Fischer’s here refusing to let anyone else serve them.” She tells me with playfulness glittering in her brown eyes.
“Okay, tell them I’ll be right there.”
She mock salutes me, “You got it, Boss man.”
She turns and marches back out into the bar and I’m left here with my heart seizing in my chest at the thought of the man that I can’t stop thinking about getting hurt because– as his brother just confirmed –he can’t stop thinking about me either.
What the fuck am I doing? What are we doing?
Just as I think it, Natasha’s name flashes across my screen, reminding me that he’s taken by the woman I despise.
I have to keep him at arm’s length, or it may just be my undoing.
We need to stay out of each other’s way, and he needs to keep his guard dog on a leash.