Chapter 35 #2
I don’t get a second to ask him, though, as he emerges from her closet with two boxes of his own and heads back into the hallway.
With nothing else to do and no idea what’s going on, I follow him down the hall, past the stairs, toward the left wing of the house.
Before, we didn’t even use these rooms; they were just kind of here.
Now Jake, Trent, Hazel, and even Dom and Leo have their own rooms.
Which is cool and all, but doesn’t help me understand why we’re taking Jade’s things down here.
“Wha—”
“Shut up,” he says, cutting me off before I can even ask my damn question.
“Just keep in mind that Kratos will kill you if you ruin it,” he tells me, flashing me a shit-eating grin over his shoulder.
I don’t know what he’s talking about, so I just mock him and continue following him with the box.
At this point, I can’t turn back. It would bug me for days not knowing what’s going on, and he fucking knows it.
Asshole.
We reach the end of the hall opposite Rick’s office, and of all the places he might go, he goes in there. I don’t think we’ve ever used this room for, well, anything. We didn’t set it up as a guest room because it’s about triple the size, and we honestly just didn’t have a use for it.
“What the fuck?”
It’s all I can think to say as I look around what used to be an empty room in shock.
The room is far from empty now. In fact, there’s stuff everywhere, not just boxes, but tools and wood and all kinds of things—literally everywhere. It looks a lot like when we had the house redone, actually, minus the workers.
“Spencer,” Kratos hisses his name with obvious annoyance. Looking down, I find him in the bottom of a hole in the center of the room, where I somehow overlooked him completely. Something I didn’t even know was possible with his huge ass.
“I already told him to shut it. If he tells, he knows he’s dead,” Spencer explains, walking over to the wall of windows across from us. Boxes cover most of the window, and he adds his to the pile.
I look between the two of them, somehow even more confused than I was before I walked in here.
Kratos stares at me for long enough that I feel uneasy, shifting from one foot to the other with the box still in my hands.
We’ve come a long way as far as getting along.
All of us have. But Kratos is still a scary motherfucker, and I’d rather not be on his bad side if I can help it.
“I don’t even know what I’m not supposed to talk about here. So maybe someone should fill me in just to be safe?”
Kratos sets down the saw he was using to cut a huge piece of wood before he sighs and wipes a hand down his face.
“This is going to be Jade’s new room,” he says plainly before he walks to the edge of the hole and pulls himself up, effortlessly.
He takes a few steps toward me, and I think I liked it better when he was in the hole.
“It’s a surprise, so you’re not allowed to tell her,” he explains, staring down at me, and just like that, everything makes sense.
I fucking suck with secrets!
I turn, glaring at Spencer, where he still stands across the room. His arms crossed, and a sly smirk on his face. He knows I’m terrible with secrets, and he still let me in on this.
“Understood?” Kratos asks me, his voice stern, making me swallow down my smartass remark for Spencer. I turn back to Kratos and see just how serious he is, and all I can do is nod.
What the hell else am I supposed to do?
He continues watching me for a minute longer before he turns away, going back to whatever it is he was doing before. He seems satisfied with my answer. Too bad I’m not.
I let out a sigh of relief, thanking my lucky stars he didn’t just kill me on the spot. I get the feeling he’s not aware of how bad I am with secrets, and I’m sure as hell not about to tell him.
I’m rather fond of living right now.
“What the fuck!” I whisper-shout to Spencer as I walk over to set down the box I’m still holding.
The asshole chuckles at me before walking away, heading right back out the door.
For a second, I think about letting him go, kinda like a fuck you to him for putting me in this position.
Then I realize it would be me and Kratos, who already doesn’t seem happy with me, and I hurry after Spencer.
“So, are you going to explain what all of that is or not?” I ask him, still pretty confused. I mean, okay, cool, she’s getting a room, a huge room, but why all the hush-hush about it?
“Kratos told you already, or were you not listening?” he asks, and even though I can’t see his face, I hear his smirk.
Sarcastic fucker.
“I heard that. I’m just not sure why it’s a secret. And why such a big room? I thought you told her you would fix her room. So I’m just a little confused about why Kratos is doing the work.”
We head down the stairs, but before Spencer can answer, Jake turns the corner, standing at the bottom of the stairs.
“How’d it go?” Spencer asks him as soon as he hits the main floor.
Jake looks tired, and I can’t even say anything. Between a lack of regular sleep and going toe-to-toe with Jade in the gym, I’m surprised he’s even standing upright.
“All good. Rick came down about fifteen minutes ago and told her he had something to show her. She didn’t even bat an eye, and he just messaged me saying he should be able to keep her out most of the day.”
Spencer nods as Jake talks, as if it all makes perfect sense. It doesn’t, at least not to me. They continue walking, making small talk, and I finally lose what little patience I have.
“Will someone explain what the hell is going on?” I shout.
They both pause. Jake turns to Spencer, clearly unsure how to handle this. Spencer sighs, rolling his neck before proceeding to walk out the door.
“Come help us out, and you’ll see, won’t you?”
Ugh! I’m gonna strangle him, I swear.
Maybe I liked him better when he was spending all of his time worried about Jade and less of it being an annoying asshole.
Either way, I follow them as they head out to the garage.
They walk down to the last door, the half-car garage I used to use for working on bikes before I had the shop.
We hardly ever use it now, though. We have no reason to.
Spencer hits the button, and as the door opens, I see that it’s far from empty.
“I’ve had some stuff delivered, but the last of it came in yesterday, so we just started.
Jake was on distraction detail this morning, and Rick said he could keep her away after that.
He’s taking her down to the clearing on the ATVs.
We figured, with the way she loves his bike, that would be a good way to keep her entertained, and if that fails…
” He lets his words trail off with a shrug, walking into the garage.
It doesn’t take a genius to know what he was hinting at.
“What the fuck! I could have taken her out and distracted her. How come nobody included me?”
Spencer stops his search through the wall of boxes to shoot me an unamused look that says I know exactly why he didn’t tell me.
He’s right, I do, but I’m still annoyed. Why the hell does Rick get to take her out, let her have fun and get to have hot forest sex?
Damn, I can picture it. I bet she’d be fantastic to chase.
It’s not something I really care for usually.
I know it’s Rick’s thing, but there isn’t anything I wouldn’t try for her, with her.
Shit, I’d be happy to watch. The thought is all it takes, and just like that, I’m hard again. She really is perfect.
I duck a second before a wrench would have hit me dead in the forehead. Spencer snorts a laugh, turning back to what he was doing before he tried to murder me.
“Stop whining and help, or fuck off, but don’t go down there and mess this up,” he says, waving Jake over to him. Together they grab a big ass box, heading back toward the house with it.
I stand there for a second, watching them go before I look around again. As much as I would love to be the one down there with her, this is kind of a great idea. Jade’s never really had her own stuff or space before, and what little she did have Spencer destroyed.
Everyone working to make something like this feels special.
Damn it, there go my plans for sexy time with her. I’m sure we can make up for it later, maybe break in her new bed.
It’s dark when we hear the ATVs rumbling back toward the house.
When Rick messaged him about fifteen minutes ago, Kratos gave us a heads-up, saying they were headed back.
We have enough time to clean up and get down to the kitchen before Trent walks in, arms full of takeout from the Thai place we all love.
We empty the bags, and everyone finds a seat while we wait.
The door flies open a minute later, and I feel her.
She wasn’t gone long. She didn’t even leave the property, but I’ve missed her all the same.
Her laughter rings in the living room a second before she makes it to the kitchen, and a smile splits my face seeing her.
Rick’s deep laugh behind her almost knocks me right off my chair, though.
He isn’t big on emotions. I can count the times I’ve heard him actually laugh on one hand, even though I’ve known him most of my life.
I shouldn’t be surprised. Jade has that effect on all of us, but it’s still crazy to hear him so happy.
“Hey, Killer,” Kratos greets her as she runs into his outstretched arms. Damn him, sitting so close to the door. I make a mental note to take that seat next time so I can get the first hug.
Man’s a fucking beast. Even on the stool, he towers over her, and she all but disappears when he wraps his arms around her. Jade pulls back, pressing up on her tiptoes to kiss him, and he has to bend forward to meet her.
I still expect to feel jealousy as I watch her with the others, but it never comes—impatience, absolutely, but never jealousy. I would have laughed if you’d asked me six months ago if I could love someone, like, really love them.
I didn’t want to love anyone. I was happy to fuck around with girls and in life. But even if I had thought it was something I wanted, I never would have imagined sharing. Definitely not with five other guys, even if some of them are like my brothers.
“Did you have fun?” he asks, pulling back to look at her as she nods and beams up at him.
“Almost gave me a fucking heart attack. Note to everyone, just because you can ride a motorcycle doesn’t mean you can drive an ATV.
She flipped it in less than a minute,” Rick informs us, shaking his head at her as he walks around the island, dropping onto the stool next to Trent.
He sounds exhausted, but the smile on his face says he enjoyed himself.
“Twice!” Jade shouts excitedly, bouncing up and down as if that’s something to be proud of. I mean, clearly, she is, but hell if I know why.
That doesn’t stop me from congratulating her, though. “Good job, Doll!” I call out to her, making her turn her smiling face toward me. Yeah, good call.
Jake leans closer to me, his face scrunched up in confusion. “How is that a good thing?” he asks under his breath so that only I can hear him.
“Fuck if I know, but she seems happy about it, so I’m happy for her,” I tell him with a shrug.
I watch Jade as she makes her way around the room, giving hugs and kisses and having little conversations with each of us as we sort out the food and start getting stuff served on plates.
Rick’s in such a good mood that he doesn’t even bitch about the takeout, and even crazier still, he doesn’t run off to shower right away.
They both look like they had a full ass day. Jade’s hair is in a messy bun, and Rick’s is all over the place. Their clothes look ruffled, and they have dirt here and there, either from the ATV or sex. I can’t be sure, but I’d bet it’s a mixture of the two.
Rick’s always been all about his appearance.
Between his parents and his position in Vengeance, he believes the way you present yourself is super important.
Spencer and I have always been more relaxed with our style, more on the side of not giving a fuck.
It used to drive Rick nuts. Maybe Jade being around will help with his OCD about his appearance.
Don’t get me wrong, I know presence is important, but nobody’s perfect, and I know it exhausts him constantly pretending that he is.
By the time we have all the food sorted, Jade made her rounds and heads for the open barstool between Trent and Kratos.
I knew I should have kept her with me. No way those two kisses are going to get me through dinner.
Not when she’s been on my mind all day, making my dick hard without even knowing it.
Lucky fuckers. I’m half tempted to shove Trent out of his chair so I can steal it, but I know he won’t give it up easily, and Jade might kill me if we let the food get cold. She loves Thai.
She doesn’t make it past Spencer, though. He reaches out, snaking his arm around her waist and hoisting her onto his lap. She doesn’t resist or try to fight him. Instead, her lip juts out in an adorable pout.
“Can we fight later, Spence? I’m starving,” she whines, leaning back against his chest to look up at him.
He snorts a laugh, shaking his head before he pulls a full container of food toward them.
“No fighting right now, Demon,” he assures her with a smile that has her narrowing her eyes at him in disbelief.
“I’m serious. We have plenty of time to argue later.
But we only have one order of the spicy chicken pad Thai, so I thought maybe we could share,” he says, squeezing her to him in a kind of reverse hug as he leans down, dropping a soft kiss on her cheek.
I feel my eyebrows as they climb up my fucking face in shock, watching Spencer be so soft with her.
It’s almost more shocking than seeing Kratos turn into a fucking teddy bear with her.