21. Dax
DAX
When the elevator doors opened, and the apartment was revealed, my jaw dropped. “Holy shit.” I gasped.
“Yeah, we were in another one that you’ll be staying in one floor down, but when this became available, I made them snatch it up,” Harper shared. “I mean, look at that view, and it has direct access to the roof. The guy who owned it before clearly was an idiot to give up something this amazing.”
I gave her a sideways glance, then l turned to look at the brothers, who were doing everything possible to avoid making eye contact. “Totally, real stumper on why something like that would happen.”
“Come on, let me give you a tour,” Harper urged, dragging me up the stairs. “We have our room and two others for guests or whatever the future might bring for the four of us.”
That had me digging in my heels, looking at her strangely. “Are you?”
“Oh goodness no.” Harper laughed, waving off my question.
“Is that what you think? They got me pregnant and now I’m marrying them?
No, this is the real deal for us, I know it seems so fast and most people will judge us, but when you know, you know.
” She grinned at me with a shrug. “What am I even explaining this to you for, Miss I Have Seven Husbands?”
Chuckling, I followed her into the master bedroom, finding it had pretty much just a giant bed in it.
Dressers were built into the window seat along one whole wall giving them storage.
It was an interesting concept and for New York, where every square foot counted, it was smart.
The bathroom had me jealous, but we didn’t spend long in there before she was whisking me away to the next room.
This was clearly her sewing room with fabric lying all over the place with sketches pinned up on the wall. A large table with a sewing machine took center stage, and I could tell just by looking at it that it was no Walmart purchase.
“Damn, girl, do these men have any money left in the bank?” I teased since the whole room smelled new. “You’ve only been back for like what, a week and a half?”
“What can I say? I was inspired by all the traveling we did. Have you ever been to Bali? It’s amazing, and I hope we get to go back sooner than later after all this.
There is just so much life, color, and sights to see there,” Harper gushed.
“The guys took me cliff jumping in the most beautiful place.”
I grabbed Harper’s arm and looked at her from head to toe. “Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?”
Harper rolled her eyes at me. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, very funny. I know I wasn’t all that into adventures, but the guys have made it their personal mission to make sure to try new things.
Well, before we got back and I was once again hiding from Marco.
Did you know he sent someone after us in Bali?
Thanks to your mission, we got out of there just in time. ”
That bastard is tying the noose tighter and tighter each day.
“Whoa, no need to go all dark and broody, Dax. I’m fine, we got Prim out of Russia, smuggled in your tank, and now we’re back together.
To be honest, I’m glad we had to come back and face things head-on.
There’s no way I can be on the run my whole life, and he’s going after my family too.
You, Wes, and your other guys are my family besides the triplets.
It’s been killing me not being able to fight.
Always running and hiding is going to get us nowhere. ”
I pulled Harper into a hug, realizing how much I needed my best friend right now. My guys had been right to make this call. Being here with her and the brothers was best. “God, I missed you, Harper.”
She hugged me back just as tightly. “Not as much as I missed you. Now, let's head back down and make sure the guys haven’t come up with some crazy idea in the name of bonding.”
“Oh shit, if Ghost and Cognac take charge, this is going to be so bad,” I muttered, running down the stairs to see Ghost with lighter fluid in one hand and a lighter in the other. “Stop right there,” I ordered.
All the guys looked at us with surprise written on their faces.
“Did you not want to grill out tonight?” Ghost asked, cocking his head in question.
“Loba, the man went out and bought a grill just for us to use tonight. It’s even a charcoal one that will make everything taste like it should, unlike those gas ones,” Cognac explained, coming to stand next to the man he was defending.
Harper was behind me, trying to cover her giggles, but she was failing epically.
“No, I don’t have a problem with grilling out tonight.
That actually sounds amazing. What I was worried about is that you two had cooked up some plan to burn your arm hair off of each other or something equally asinine.
” The two of them looked at each other with excited expressions.
“Hey now, that was not a suggestion or encouragement to do it,” I barked.
“Oh, I get it,” Jaxson interjected. “Madam Two Tricks here is worried if we join forces and gang up against her, she’ll lose.”
That had Cam smirking. “I do know Harper would be on her side. Do you think the ten of us could handle the two of them?”
“Depends,” Magnus said, rubbing his chin. “I think if we keep our fun to something that shouldn’t get us killed, they might give in.”
Void scoffed. “Then what’s the point in doing it? If the threat isn’t there, then it takes all the thrill out of it, don’t you think?”
“Hmm, I’m thinking if our goal is to not end up in the hospital, that leaves enough wiggle room,” Eagle added his two cents. “Two of us are already on the mend, so it might be better to keep this gathering on the tamer side than come up with something really epic later.”
Ghost clapped his hands together, then shot two finger guns at Eagle. “I like the way this man thinks. Get him a beer.”
Harper tugged on my shirt sleeve and leaned in. “Is it just me, or did they all just become best friends?”
“Wes is keeping his distance, so we might not have lost them all, Sprocket’s also been pretty quiet, but he could go either way,” I murmured out of the side of my mouth, trying not to draw attention to our conversation.
Jaxson, Cognac, Ghost, and Cam left to deal with starting the grill. “Take a fire extinguisher out with you,” I hollered after them.
“Such a mother hen, today, spitfire,” Picasso said, pulling me to his side. “What happened to the woman who was more than happy to bust our balls at any given chance on the ride up here?”
I glared up at him. “Look, each of you spread the crazy around between all seven of you. Some have more. Some have less. Those three, yeah, they got my level of cray jam-packed into each of them.”
“She’s not wrong,” Harper announced. “They are batshit crazy for sure, but in some strange way, I find it incredibly sexy.”
Magnus moved over to wrap her up in his arms, kissing her forehead. “Is that so, doll?”
“I might be screaming and swearing at you while it’s all happening, but you always have a plan,” Harper answered with a shrug as she entwined her arms around him. “Can we just make sure we don’t burn the house down? I just got it how I wanted it.”
Magnus tipped her chin up and kissed her deeply before letting her go. “I’ll go keep an eye on them.”
“Might as well come with you, not that Cam will listen to anyone but Dax,” Eagle muttered. “Like a damn dog, that one, but he’s ours, so I’ll try and keep him alive.”
Grinning, I leaned more into Picasso, loving how everyone was interacting, even if I feared something idiotic would happen. With Harper practically being my sister, I really wanted the guys to get along because I’d hoped we’d be spending a lot of time together once this was all behind us.
“Why don’t we take drinks and hang out on the patio? It’s lovely out, and that way, we can talk about what's going on while they cook?” Harper suggested.
Wes walked over to her and pulled her into a hug.
“Damn, it’s good to have you back, Harper, but it’s really strange to have you involved in this part of things.
We’ve spent so long keeping you in the dark it’s hard to remember we can just be open and honest about it all.
You’ve got as much skin in this game as we do now. ”
“I hope you mean that figuratively and not literally because having someone’s ick all over me once is more than enough,” Harper explained, shivering in disgust.
“What?” Wes asked, looking at me in confusion.
“Oh, ah yeah,” I started with a little laugh. “Remember that guy we met who knew Harper? So his son tried to make a move on Harper and Magnus shot him point blank in the head while he was still holding onto her.”
“Damn,” Sprocket commented. “That absolutely would have been messy. I don’t blame you for not wanting to go through that again.”
“Anyways, let’s grab drinks and bring out a cooler for the others, and we’ll make a party out of this night yet,” Harper decided, putting us all to work.
The night seemed to take on this surreal quality that made me almost believe there was nothing wrong in the world. I had my men, my best friend, and the guys who were clearly over the moon about her. Everyone laughed, ate, drank, and just enjoyed hearing stories about our adventures apart.
“You really asked him to pee on your leg?” I laughed. “Girl, don’t you know that’s just some made-up bullshit?”
“Now I do,” Harper said with a pout. “How was I supposed to know that Friends would do me dirty?”
I laughed so hard my face hurt, and I was about to cry. “Damn, that is the best story I’ve ever heard.”
As our laughter died, Magnus pulled out his phone and frowned. “Looks like we have visitors, but they won’t get far unless I let them.”
He flipped the screen around so I could see what he was talking about. There was Tommaso and Francois talking as they stood in the elevator. “How the fuck do they know where we went or where you live?”