Chapter 39
Neither Kratos nor Spencer comes back after taking Jade into the bedroom.
Not that I blame them. I don’t think I would have had the willpower to leave her had I been the one to lie down with her.
But I had hoped to go over a few things with them while we had time to kill.
Instead, I pull my laptop from my bag and review Vengeance’s numbers.
It’s not like we won’t have a few days to get everything in order once we arrive, and with the way Dom, Leo, and Jade prepare, I have a feeling it’s under control.
It’s almost strange having them teach us while also slowly immersing us in this lifestyle. I’m not used to being in the dark. It’s not something I’m comfortable with, but I trust they know what they’re doing, at least with this.
None of us trusts Dom or Leo, not entirely. How could we?
That night in the kitchen, I would have happily beaten them black and blue for the way they made Jade cry.
For the hurt they caused her and the scars they helped leave on her, both physically and mentally.
Jade deserves only the best in life. It’s something we all seem to agree on.
Even if we are struggling to find out what that is.
Something about this is different, though. The enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that shit, but it’s more than that. I see something in them. In the way, they jump when Jade needs them and are so willing to help her, even though she hates them and has every reason to.
I’m not sure exactly what it is, but I can see the difference. They messed up, and they both know it, but whether intentional or not, they are working to fix it. I think Jade sees it, too. Even if she’s not ready to forgive them, she might never be ready for that, but that doesn’t mean she’s blind.
No, Jade sees it. I think she’s just afraid of what might happen should she forgive them. She wanted a family her whole life, wanted somewhere to belong. What do you do when everything you wanted is nothing like you thought it would be?
Only she can decide what to do. Honestly, it’s not the same, but we all went through something similar with Jade.
She stormed into our lives and tore them apart, and in doing so, gave us all something we didn’t even know we needed.
It took some of us longer to accept it, but in the end, we couldn’t resist, no matter how hard we tried.
And, fuck, if some of us didn’t try.
I spend the next few hours reviewing the profit logs and inventory for all four of our clubs.
Jake’s been running our newest location, and while it isn’t as large as the other three, his numbers aren’t bad.
Hoppers is our biggest ‘legitimate’ source of income, but it’s also our central location.
Not to mention, it’s more than just the club.
With the lower levels and the protection we offer.
We get a lot of money from the girls who dance and the shady-ass business guys who want to remain out of sight, both from the media and their wives.
But we use every business for more than just that.
The clubs, the shops, and even the houses we buy all have secondary means.
Some are simply places for members to sleep, girls we save off the streets, while others, like Zander’s shop, hold a lot of our street merch.
Jake’s club just so happens to be on top of one of the largest grow rooms in the city, which is exactly why we bought it.
Honestly, it couldn’t have worked out better with him heading it since he’s run our street distribution for years.
He knows what sells and what doesn’t, and from what Kratos has said, he’s even got a green thumb, it would seem.
“You know, only you would feel the need to work as we fly the girl we love to one of the most romantic countries in the world.”
It takes me a minute to realize he’s talking to me as my brain switches focus from the numbers on the screen to Zander, who now sits across from me.
The smile on his face lets me know he’s been watching me for far too long.
He always had a habit of popping up and causing chaos, but with Jade around, she’s usually his first choice.
She loves it, and it keeps him from driving us up the wall or, worse, getting himself in hot water with others.
But with us on a jet and Jade asleep to avoid her panic, I guess he’s set his sights on me.
Lucky me.
“Someone has to keep business running while we all leave the country, you know,” I tell him, closing my laptop before I stow it back in my bag. I’ve dealt with him long enough to know I won’t get any more work done now.
Zander lounges back in the chair opposite me with a smile on his face.
“True, but I doubt it would all fall apart so easily. Let’s not pretend like you and Kratos didn’t set everything up for us to leave weeks ago,” he says with a knowing look. When I don’t argue with him, he winks.
Collapsing back into the seat, he pulls out his phone with a huff. “I feel like we’ve been flying forever,” he whines, his eyes darting back to the bedroom door.
Ah, this isn’t about the flight at all.
“We have less than an hour left,” I tell him, attempting to make him feel better. Apparently, it’s the wrong thing to say, though. Instead of cheering him up, he turns back to me, sticking his bottom lip out in a pout. Why did I even try?
“Oh, you’ll survive, Zan. It’s not like she’s gone again.
She’s just behind that door,” I tell him, nodding to the door not ten feet from us, and his eyes once again go back to it as if drawn by a magnet.
“Besides, we can wake them in about twenty minutes. They have to buckle up for landing anyway.”
The second the words leave my mouth, he’s up out of his seat as if he plans to go right now. Lunging forward, I just barely catch his arm before he walks off, forcing him back down into his seat.
“Twenty minutes, Zan, not right now!” I tell him sternly, careful to keep my voice down. Usually, I would have just called him back, but with how poorly Jade reacted to flying, I’d much rather let her sleep as long as possible.
“If we wake her up now, she’ll have to deal with the flight longer, and you don’t want that, do you?” I ask before he can, no doubt, argue with me.
His mouth snaps shut, lips pulling down in a frown before he shakes his head.
Zan and Spencer might drive me fucking nuts most of the time, but they’ve been my best friends for so long that I know how they work.
He might not like that he can’t be with her, but the last thing he wants is to make her feel afraid or sad.
He might be a little crazy, but I know he loves her.
I’ve never seen him like he is with her, and Zander’s never had a shortage of girls to choose from.
“That was dirty,” he says with a huff, glaring at me. It is, but it was effective as well, so I’m not going to apologize. He’s not the only one who wants what’s best for Jade.
I shrug, sitting back with a smirk.
“Fine, then you can entertain me while we wait.”
Fuck. I should have followed Kratos like Spencer did. Next time, he gets to babysit Zan.
“So, what should we show Jade while we’re there?” he asks, catching me off guard. Typically, when we end up on babysitting duty, it’s not something we enjoy. We usually get to hear about bikes, women, or his ever-growing pinky collection.
I don’t mind talking about the bikes. I don’t understand them the same way he does, but I enjoy them enough.
Hearing about his flavor of the hour is typically the same thing with a different girl, and hearing about how he fucked her and what she got from it.
He might have an issue with keeping it in his pants, but he’s usually smart enough to know that these girls are using him for one thing or another.
He just makes sure they never get anything too much: no kids, no ties.
It’s one of the reasons I’ve never really cared how much he fucked around.
He might have been a whore, but at least he wasn’t out there falling in love with every girl who pretended to care about him.
Zander’s emotions are too erratic for us to deal with him being lovesick, then heartbroken, in the span of one day.
And don’t even get me started on his fucking pinkies. Weirdest collection I’ve ever heard of, and the last thing I want to talk about.
“We’re not going on vacation, Zan. Our only focus is this party and killing that fucker. We can take Jade anywhere we want after this is all over.”
In typical Zander fashion, he waves away my response, clearly unhappy with it. “Yeah, yeah. Ivan’s going to die. We know that,” he tells me, leaning forward in his chair. He rests his elbows on his knees and props his chin in his hands, staring me down.
“But I’d bet my knife that it doesn’t take us all week to plan this, and dead time won’t help any of us, least of all Jade.
So, shouldn’t we have some kind of idea of what to do when she starts to drive herself crazy, thinking of all the possibilities she can’t control?
We’ll need to distract her, well, more than just the obvious ways,” he says, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
I open my mouth, ready to snap at him about how ridiculous that is, before his words really sink in.
He’s right. Damn it.
I snap my mouth shut and watch a smirk curve his lips. Zander’s hardly ever the voice of reason. Yet right now, he just might be. A bark of laughter has us both turning to the others. Jake and Trent both sit on the couch to my left, watching us.
“Sorry,” Trent smiles when my gaze falls on him. “Just never thought I’d see the day when Zander advocated for someone else, let alone planned ahead.”
“Hey!” Zander shouts, sitting upright. His eyes dart to the bedroom door again, realizing he had been too loud before I even got the chance to tell him. Huh, Zander worried about someone else who isn’t me or Spencer. Never thought I’d see the day.
The door remains closed, though, and he turns back to Trent. “Hey,” he says again, quieter this time but no less offended. “I can be reasonable and responsible,” he grumbles, making Jake snort a laugh.
Trent shakes his head but holds his hands up in surrender when Zander growls at him in annoyance.
“I’m not saying you can’t. Obviously, you could. I just never thought I’d see it,” Trent says, trying to be serious for Zander’s sake, but he can’t seem to wipe the smile from his face. He’s not wrong, though; Zander’s different. We all are.
“Whatever, asshole.” Zander flips him off, which only makes Trent start laughing all over again.
“How about we talk about your life of crime, huh? Me being responsible is so crazy to all of you, but we’re going to ignore the fact that you’re now up to your eyeballs in not only Vengeance shit but the fucking mafia,” Zander snaps, raising a brow in challenge.
Trent’s laughter cuts off, but he’s not done yet.
“Jake hated us less than three months ago, and we hated him back. Kratos was our boss, who we were pretty certain would off us the second we fucked up. We’d never met Froggie, the ‘boss’ we worked for, for, like, seven years.
Not to mention, Spencer is involved and happy to help, and Rick let someone in!
The man smiles now, for crying out loud, laughs even!
” Zander says in a rush, pointing at me like I’d done something to him.
“So how about we all just agree that love can change even the most stubborn of people?” he says, collapsing back into his seat with a sigh.
Zander looks from Trent to Jake and, lastly, back to me, and I have a feeling the last bit was a dig at me.
That’s the second time he’s mentioned loving Jade in the last fifteen minutes. Saying it so casually, as if it's common knowledge. The sky is blue, and we love Jade.
We love Jade.
Even thinking the words feels strange, but not in the way I would have thought. I don’t hate the idea. I can’t and won’t even call him out on it. He might be teasing us or simply saying it because that’s how he feels, but he’s not wrong.
I love Jade.
Zander watches me with a smug smile as if he knows exactly what I’m thinking, but I ignore him, turning to face the others.
Trent and Jake both have slightly reddened cheeks, and while Trent meets my eyes, Jake is looking anywhere but at me as if the interior of the jet isn’t something he’s seen his whole life.
Damn. We all love Jade.