Jax
There was a hole in my chest. It was deep and jagged-edged, carved out by Nate’s betrayal and expanding every minute of silence that followed. I felt like I was shouting into a void. There was nothing. No hope. No fucking light at the end of all this.
“Princess?” My voice had reached new levels of pathetic.
Beside me, Ryle sniffled. He hadn’t spoken since we left Nate behind. I waited for it—waited for the guilt, the regret, the cussing me out—but it seemed our resident optimist had lost his spark. Him and me both.
I wanted to sleep. More than anything, I wanted to get so blindingly, ridiculously drunk that I couldn’t tell my ass up from my boots.
“Alpha?”
Olivia’s voice floated into my ear. I stopped in my tracks, relief chasing away the exhaustion.
My girl was alive.
“Thank fuck. Are you alright?”
“Yeah?” But it sounded like a question. I frowned at the dark trees ahead, as if I could see her face if I squinted hard enough. “I see Ca—Ginger coming down now. Um, I found Molly.”
Ryle staggered in shock beside me. I echoed the sentiment. “Is she…?”
“She’s…alive.” Again, it sounded uncertain. I didn’t like the hesitation in her voice. Something had happened.
“Madoc is hurt.”
My blood turned to ice.
I took off at a sprint, no longer caring about being quiet. When I burst out from the treeline, slipping recklessly across the dunes, I found the bodies. Piled next to each other like a mass grave. I recognized Madoc’s handiwork, the cleanness of his kills, the almost ritualistic placement of them.
My eyes scanned the beach, finding too much movement—Callum and the girls, a lone figure on the dock, another one near the shoreline. I found Madoc a bit further along, separated from the rest. I chewed up the distance between us, ignoring the pain in my ankle, the dull throb in my chest.
Remembering myself too late, I pumped the brakes, kicking sand up at him. He gave me an unimpressed look as he dusted himself off. His left arm was tucked tight and awkward against his side.
“What happened?”
He stared at me. It wasn’t his usual needling stare—it was deeper, like he was searching in every crevice, looking for something that he needed. I would give it to him. Tell me, and it’s yours.
When the distance between us still felt unbearable, I reached for him. “Can I just…?”
He nodded tersely.
I stepped forward and dragged my hands over him, starting at his face, his jaw, down his neck, and across his shoulders. He jolted suddenly, a hiss escaping his lips. There was wetness on my fingers, and when I withdrew them, they were dripping with blood.
“Jesus, fuck, Madoc.”
“I’ll live.”
The hole in my chest widened, threatening to swallow the rest of me. My hands clutched at him, no longer searching but just holding on. “Put pressure on it, you dumb fuck.”
Madoc rolled his eyes. He searched my face, mouth pinching. “Sentimental idiot.”
My cheeks warmed.
Knowing what I needed but couldn’t ask for, Madoc tipped forward. His forehead knocked into mine, our cheeks brushing, and his warm breath tickled my chin. We didn’t embrace often, or ever, really. Tactile as the rest of them were, Madoc wasn’t a fan of physical touch. He put up with me
Sentimental idiot was right.
“Nate,” I exhaled into his temple. “He fucked up.”
Madoc stiffened and pulled back, and I already regretted opening my mouth. His eyes were hard and laser-bright. “What’d he do now?”
I swallowed bitterly and told him everything. I expected his anger, but Madoc surprised me by becoming weirdly distant, like he was reflecting on something.
“What is it?” I asked.
His lip quirked up on one side. “Funny.”
I gaped at him. “You hit your head as well?”
“Molly.”
“What?”
“She shot me.”
I reeled at that. “The fuck?”
“Your little girlfriend saved my life,” Madoc said, giving a half shrug and then wincing when it jostled his shoulder. “Apparently, some of us are redeemable.”
“Not him,” I said, unwilling to let go of my anger, my last thread of sanity. “I can’t forgive that shit. He could’ve got us killed.”
“He has one functioning brain cell. He thought he was saving us.”
I frowned at him, waiting for the punchline. “Since when are you the forgiving type?”
He gave me a flat look in return. “I’m not in the mood for your sulking.”
“I don’t sulk.” My voice sounded sulky, and I coughed harshly to clear it.
“You’ll forgive him eventually.”
“Not fucking likely.” I shoved him in outrage, remembering too late his injury. “Shit. Sorry.”
Groaning at myself, I reached into my pocket and pulled out my cigarettes. It barely touched my mouth before Madoc stole it. We shared it between us, silent and bleeding. I tracked the beach with foggy eyes and found my target. For a moment, nothing else mattered but her.
I didn’t like how she made me feel, or the fact that she made me feel anything at all.
Jesus, I’d known her less than a fucking day.
I’ve had one-night stands that have lasted longer.
It definitely wasn’t long enough to justify the sheer possessiveness that roared in my chest. I wanted to grab her and shake her and trap her and keep her.
The little priss was never allowed to leave my sight again.
“You’re thinking too hard.”
I finished our cigarette and nursed it in my hand until it cooled. “First time for everything.” Then I tucked the butt into my back pocket with the rest of them.
Madoc arched his brow curiously at the action.
“I’ve been saving them,” I admitted to him quietly. “I know you care about the birds and shit.”
He gave no reply, so I slanted him a careful look. My gut twisted at his intense gaze, like he was trying to needle under my skin. “Why?” he demanded coldly.
I sighed and looked up at the stars. “Because I’m a sentimental idiot.”
And I love you, you giant asshole.
Madoc hissed a furious sound. I knew if he wasn’t injured, he would’ve punched me for it. Instead, I simply turned and stared at him, trying not to succumb to my overwhelming love aggression. Don’t squeeze him. He’s injured.
Madoc wrenched himself away. “Fuckhead.” He flicked his good hand toward the others. “Go bug the drama queen.”
“Which one?”
Madoc rolled his eyes. He was still too pale for my liking, but I knew my fussing would go down like a spoonful of razorblades.
“Get Callum to patch you up properly,” I said, wasting my air. Madoc would do only what Madoc wanted to do.
With a weary sigh, I walked away, my boots sinking heavily into the sand. My headache was back, the band tightening around my skull. I took a quick inventory: Zola had the painting, Callum and Ryle had the girls. I checked my watch. The boat would arrive in less than three hours.
Talk about a long working day.
My gaze stalled on the pale blonde sitting on the dock. Even from a distance, their similarities were shocking. Molly was taller, but her face was heart-shaped like Olivia’s, her nose slightly upturned. They had the same frown.
Before I could react, steps pounded toward me, and a body flung itself against my chest.
“Don’t,” Olivia said, her voice muffled in the fabric of my t-shirt. I lifted her up and crushed her against me. Her legs locked automatically around my waist.
She inhaled deeply, as if memorizing my scent. I knew I probably smelled like a cheap whorehouse, and the little priss wrinkled her nose in confirmation.
“You stink,” she said.
“Nobody told you to sniff me.”
Apparently, it wasn’t bad enough to stop her from doing it again, her nose sliding along my collarbone. I patted her down, looking for injuries. My hands swatted at her ass, and she giggled breathlessly.
“You alright, princess?”
She shrugged against me. “I have no idea.” She pulled back and tried to wriggle out of my grip. I smirked and held her tighter, pinning her against me.
“This has been the longest day of my life,” she said quietly. “I keep thinking the whole world has moved on and we’ve been stuck here in purgatory.”
I knew the feeling. “Most jobs feel like this.”
“Bet they don’t end like this.”
I glanced around at the broken girls and dead bodies.
No, it wasn’t usually like this, but the heaviness was familiar.
We’d made it through another job, pulled off another impossible heist. Hell, we were even a few million richer, not that it mattered anymore.
The painting could go to hell with its former owner.
I looked at Olivia, finding the stars in her tired eyes, the collapsing galaxies. “I found Molly,” she said, like she couldn’t believe it. But there was no relief in her voice—just a deep exhaustion that I felt just as profoundly.
Fuck, I wanted to sleep.
Without warning, I dropped down onto the sand, causing her to yelp as she scrambled into my lap. I adjusted her easily, slotting her against my side. She shivered, clinging to my warmth.
Around me, my crew orbited and dropped one by one. Even Nate, who I couldn’t look at, not without grinding my teeth and wanting to drown the fucker. But Callum was near him, making sure he didn’t expire prematurely from his injuries. I appreciated that more than I should.
My burning eyes stared unseeingly up at the night sky. Olivia shifted beside me, her head resting on my chest. There was a tiny smile on her face that made my heart blip. I could tell from the way her smile widened that she’d heard it.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked slyly, leaning up on her elbow. I drank in her face, my hunger stirring.
“Kissing you,” I lied. Well, mostly. I wanted to kiss her as much as I wanted her to straddle my lap and ride me into a coma.
We’d run out of time, and I genuinely grieved the loss of never having her like that.
It was a crime not to know whether she was just as ballsy in bed, just as demanding and bratty.
My exhaustion vanished at once, replaced by a sharp throb of want.
Olivia hummed, her eyes narrowing like she didn’t believe me. Then the little minx licked her lips, making them glisten in the moonlight. “Trauma porn,” she said with a rueful grin. “I think I’m becoming a masochist.”
“Not unless you want me to hurt you.”
She said nothing, and my mouth went dry at the very pointed silence. Jesus fuck.
Olivia chuffed in amusement. “Now you’re the one who swallowed his tongue.”
“Maybe,” I said, reaching up to grab her chin, framing that wicked mouth. “Help me find it?”
She didn’t move quickly enough, and I was too impatient, so I swooped up and kissed her.
My head went silent, and this time, I welcomed it.