24. Harper #2
“Yes, doll,” he answered, cupping my cheek.
“Dax needs us to get a move on this. She’s putting her own plan into action, and we are part of that.
The four of us are no longer sitting on the sidelines.
We are making it known we choose to support Dax, and it is going to stir up some trouble. You ready for that?”
“If it’s to help Dax, that’s not even a question. She is family, and family always comes first. Whatever she needs us to do, we’ll make it happen,” I stated.
Magnus pressed a kiss to my lips before picking me up off the stool and setting me on my feet. “Just keep that in mind when you learn what the job is because none of it is going to be legal or subtle.”
“Whatever it takes, whatever she needs, it’s what I said, and I’m sticking to it,” I announced and headed off to the bedroom to gather what I needed.
Not knowing how long our flight would be, I hopped in the shower wanting to feel as fresh as I could before getting smooshed together with a bunch of people on a plane. I found a tote bag on the bed with a notebook and pen on top. It seemed Jaxson had been serious about his plan.
Knowing Magnus said we were looking at a high of seventies, I put on leggings and T-shirt, and added a cardigan to my tote for when I got cold.
As I looked around the room, I realized I didn’t have a whole lot to bring with me.
When we left California, I’d brought the things Dax packed for me, but none of that came to this part of the adventure.
I glanced at the stack of fabric I bought sitting on a shelf but figured there was no need to drag that along from house to house.
It would give us a reason to come back here and spend more time.
As much as I wanted a purpose to my day, I was beginning to love living in Bali.
Maybe I wasn’t meant to be an LA girl, slave to the whims and changes of fashion dictated there.
“You find what you need?” Jaxson asked, leaning at the entrance to the closet.
I looked up from the fabric and shrugged. “Not much of my things here to begin with. Other than clothes and bathroom things, it’s all yours.”
Jaxson reached out a hand which I took, letting him pull me to his side.
“Gorgeous, did you forget that you’re ours now?
That means everything that was once just belonging to us men now belongs to you as well, including the houses we own, the money in the bank, vehicles, all of it.
Anything you can touch that was once just ours is also yours.
By no means does that mean we want to keep you from having your own things and your own space.
What I’m trying to say is you can make it yours too.
If you want to paint the place a different color, change the pillows, or even buy new furniture so you feel comfortable in the space, we will make it happen. ”
“Where is home? When you think of the one place you guys return to, where is that?” I asked, peering up at him.
“You’re going to laugh,” he muttered.
“I promise I won’t,” I said, crossing my heart.
“LA, because you were there. Before that, we just went where the work took us, not really stopping to enjoy where we were. Then when we discovered you, we got a place so we could be close anytime we didn’t have work.
We would take breaks instead of jumping from job to job,” Jaxson explained, a slight blush to his cheeks.
“That has to be the most romantic thing anyone has ever said,” I admitted. “Which shows just how much I’ve changed if I think someone buying a place in LA to stalk me is adorable.”
“We warned you we’d rub off on you. Stalking done the right way can be extremely romantic,” Jaxson said with a chuckle. “Come on, Mag is getting antsy as he does before every new job. I was hoping having you come along would get him to mellow, but I think it’s making it worse.”
I slipped the tote bag over my shoulder and headed out.
Sure enough, Magnus was in the Jeep, engine running, waiting impatiently for us.
Ghost was locking up the last few things and jogged after us, hoisting himself into the back seat.
I settled in beside him, pulling back my hair since it was a windier day.
“So, how did you guys get flights so fast? Do you have a connection with an airline or something?” I asked as we pulled out of the drive.
“Angel, are you under the impression we are flying coach?” Ghost asked, looking confused.
“Aren’t we?”
He burst out laughing, shaking his head. “Not a chance. Magnus and Jaxson have their pilot's license, so we fly ourselves. How do you think we got you here? No airlines would let us take an unconscious woman aboard a plane.”
“I figured you had an exit plan since you knew you were coming to get me. I figured Dax had it set up or something. She can smuggle guns out of the country so why not a person?” I muttered, whacking him in the stomach. “Stop laughing already. It’s not that funny.”
“Oh, yes, it is. God, I just have visions of us going on our jobs trying to explain why we have a sniper rifle with us,” Ghost hooted.
“Crack one more joke, mister, and I’m cutting you off from sticking your dick in any of my holes,” I snapped.
“Whoa,” Ghost cried. “That’s not cool, angel. You better write that down in your notebook of things we need to talk about. Sex cannot be used as a weapon,” he demanded, pointing at my bag. “Come on, write it down.”
It was then I realized he was serious and actually upset I’d said that. “Ghost, I didn’t really mean it,” I explained, resting a hand on his thigh. “I’m sorry I upset you, but I was joking around.”
He seemed to relax a little at this and ran a hand through his hair. “Ah hell, I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have freaked out like that. There was a girl I kind of dated, and any time she got mad at me, that’s how she’d punish me. Or, as she called it, trained me in how to treat her.”
“You dated someone on your own?” I asked, not having considered that.
Which I should have with the story I learned about Magnus’s first love. They were together exclusively, so why wouldn’t the other two have done the same? Deciding to date one person together seemed like a thing you learned when you dated people separately and it didn’t work.
“It only lasted a few months, nothing major or serious like Mag. Jaxson and I both dated here and there, but the moment they would get upset that we were always together, we sent them packing. They didn’t like that we didn’t make time for just them as often as they wanted.
The fact we all live together in every place didn’t help things either,” Ghost explained.
Then a thought popped into my head. “Wait, you said you typically always shared one room…”
“Yeah, when we were doing our own thing, we kept separate rooms,” he said with a smirk, knowing what I was thinking.
“That and while Sage was with us, she always had a room to herself that Mag would go to before we got a place big enough for each of us to have our own rooms. Then when we decided to just share one person, it wasn’t as important to have a bigger space.
You’ll notice the range in our homes. Some will have lots of rooms, some just the one. ”
“How many places do you have?” The way he talked made me think it was quite a lot.
Ghost pursed his lips as he tapped his chin, thinking. “Uh… I think fifteen. I might be forgetting one or two of the older places we don’t really go to anymore. Mag never lets us sell a place just in case we might need it.”
Rolling my eyes, I laughed. “That sounds like dear old Maggie.”
“Hey, just you wait. One of these days, it’s going to save our asses,” Magnus hollered back.
Ghost and I continued to laugh as we turned onto a busy road, and I had to hang on for dear life.