17. Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Seventeen
I fought Ace the whole way down the dock and the little path that led around Beau’s house. He turned me away from Stone’s body, still lying where that awful woman left him. A wave of sadness consumed me for the people Stone left behind. Yelling brought me out of my stupor, and I dug in my heels when he tried to drag me up the porch and inside Remy’s place.
“Fuck, Lyra! You need to be where it’s safe,” he argued.
“I have to help him!” I insisted. “He needs me.”
“No, he doesn’t. You’re just gonna get in the fucking way and distract him. And Jevry would kick my ass if something happened to you! So, stop being a fucking brat and get in the goddamn house!”
At the same time, shots rang out in front of us, which caused Ace to cover me. He pushed the door open and shoved me inside the house. The fighting hadn’t gotten this far, but if anyone had known these two mansions were nestled in the swamps, they’d come for my friends.
“Shit!” I’d forgotten DeArie and Saria were in the safe room.
I extricated myself out of Ace’s arms, and he let me once he was certain I wasn’t going to run back to the docks to save Beau. Ace was right, Beau could take care of himself, and his brother had his back. I knew this, but there was something about seeing the person you loved in danger. You wanted to protect them from any and all harm.
The thought almost had me stumbling on the gigantic stairs in Remy’s house, but I recovered, pushing the thought of love and relationships out of my mind. I thrust the door open to Remy’s bedroom and went straight to the safe room where my friends were. I turned on the light and pulled the hidden latch so the door would open. I nearly fell to my knees in relief when I saw DeArie and Saria in the center of the room, hugging one another just as they were when I left them.
“Oh my god.” Saria let out a breath of relief. “I can’t believe you’re alive.”
She gently detached herself from DeArie, who still had not said anything, and hugged me so tightly that she could crack a rib.
“I’m glad to see you too,” I whispered in her ear, closing my eyes and letting the tears trek down my face.
When we parted, DeArie was still sitting on the floor, looking up at the both of us.
“DeArie,” I said cautiously, stepping toward her.
DeArie held her hand up, halting my steps. I folded my arms in front of me for protection because anytime DeArie was quiet, things couldn’t be good. I braced myself for the cussing out I was about to get.
“You bitch!” DeArie said through gritted teeth.
I winced at her words, but I totally deserved them for locking them in the room without a word. They didn’t know if I was dead or alive, so I did get it.
“You left us in here. All of this is your fucking fault, and you left us like you didn’t have a care in the fucking world about us. I was shot because of you. You selfish…,” her words trailed off, and she began to sob.
It ripped me at the fact that I’d caused this. I’d never seen DeArie so broken. So torn before. Admittedly, I didn’t like it, but I wasn’t sure if she even wanted me to comfort her or not, and for a split second, I hung back, that was until I was pushed to the side by Saria, then jerked forward as her hand snaked out and grabbed me.
Carefully, we descended on DeArie to ensure we didn’t hurt her.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered to them. “I love you guys. I’m sorry I left you.”
I didn’t bother with the ‘but’ that could’ve been tacked onto my apology. There was no need to justify why. I don’t even know if I’d want to hear it, if the tables were turned.
We stayed there on the floor, clutching one another until Ace came to get us.
“Cops are on the way. Dragon says we’re having a party and a bonfire to celebrate the Oakland Chapter visiting,” he informed us and helped us get DeArie off the floor without hurting her.
“Is Remy okay?” DeArie asked me as we stumbled into the hallway.
“He was when Ace took me away. Their mother held me at gunpoint,” I told them.
As we continued to make our way to the first floor, I told them about what happened when I left them. How I’d taken one of Remy’s guns with the intention to help Beau only to be tricked and then taken by gunpoint by their mother. How she killed Stone when he tried to stop her and how she’d delivered me to Deacon Onassis, who was the brother of the man who bought Jevry from the Volkov Bratva.
“I’ll be damned.” DeArie’s voice was full of awe.
“What is it?” Saria asked, both of us looking at DeArie’s wide eyes.
“She was right,” DeArie said, awe filling her words.
“Who was right?” I asked, more confused than ever.
“Ms. Cleo. That’s who.” She looked between me and Saria like we had two heads.
“Right about what?” Saria asked, just before it dawned on me what DeArie was talking about.
“When she grabbed me,” I remembered now.
“Yes, she grabbed your hand,” DeArie explained. “And said that two men would be in your life, one to save you—obviously Beau—and one to cause you harm. The Onassis dude,” she recapped
I thought about that whole episode at Mystic Whispers. Obviously, it had scared the shit out of me at the time, and because there was so much that happened since then, I hadn’t stopped to think about my reading.
“Well damn! I guess she was right,” I replied.
“I told y’all not to be messing with that witchcraft-hoodoo shit. Or whatever you want to call it. You see what happened?” Saria claimed, and she was so serious that I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“You can’t seriously blame Ms. Cleo for that fucker Onassis thinking I was Jevry and then coming here. Really Saria?” I scoffed and shook my head at the nonsense.
Saria only shrugged.
“Some crazy bullshit for real, though,” DeArie pointed out as the house suddenly was teeming with chatter.
I scanned the living room and kitchen, looking for Beau. I saw Ace and a few of the brothers who were at his and Jevry’s wedding. I nodded hello to them, not remembering their names for shit, but smiled in thanks, nonetheless.
I didn’t want anyone thinking I was ungrateful, nor did I want to be rude, but my main concern was one of the two men I saw coming through the French Doors that I hadn’t even noticed before.
“Beau,” I whispered as the door closed behind him and Remy.
I didn’t even give him time to fully survey the room and settle before I ran across the space to him. I jumped, and he caught me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. He winced but held me.
“Gotdamnit; you scared me,” I murmured into his ear.
He chuckled but held me tighter. “Me too.”
“I love you,” I announced, placing kisses on his neck.
“I love you too,” he answered, taking my lips in a kiss that seemed like he was a man starved.
Remy clearing his throat broke us apart, but he had the decency to at least look apologetic.
“If we want this to work, we need to get the grill going and let the guys clean up some.”
Beau nodded, and I slid down his front, feeling the hardness of his cock as I did. I raised on the tiptoes to reach his ear and whispered, “We’ll take care of that later.”
“Yes, we will. Now go get cleaned up in Remy’s room,” he instructed, swatting me on my ass as I turned toward the stairs. As me and the girls climbed the stairs, Beau announced to everyone else that they should take turns cleaning up and for someone to turn on the fucking music because there was a party going on.
I smiled realizing this scary, craziness was going to be my life from now on.