Chapter 36 Jo
thirty-six
Jo
Mabel hugs me tight. “You be careful now, you hear?” She sniffles, and a watery laugh leaves me.
“I’ve been in tighter situations before, Mabel-cakes, don’t you worry.” She only squeezes me tighter at my words, making Turnip squeak between us from her place in my jacket pocket.
“Oh!” Mabel lets out a shocked little laugh. “Sorry, Turnip.”
My little friend chitters, climbing out of my pocket and onto Mabel’s shoulder, where she nuzzles her snout against my sister’s cheek.
“You’re just a sweet thing, aren’t you?” she coos, rubbing a finger under Turnip’s chin.
Turnip squeaks in approval before disappearing back into my jacket pocket.
“I am pretty sweet, aren’t I?” I can practically hear Hayden’s shit-eating grin as he steps behind me.
I roll my eyes. “Mabel is worried about me,” I inform him. “Can you please tell her she has nothin’ to be worried about?”
“Mabes, I watched Fireball take down Kole yesterday. She can handle anything.”
Mabel blanches as she glances across the yard to where Kole is loading up the old reliable pizza van. “Really?”
The grin that stretches across my face is nothing but self-satisfied. “I trained for years, remember?”
Declan passes by, carrying a duffel bag, and mutters, “It helps that she has the blood-thirstiness of a damn wolverine.”
Mabel freezes, but Declan doesn’t stop. He doesn’t even glance at her. He keeps going, straight to another white van where Brooks is currently residing, bound, gagged, and handcuffed to the inside of the van.
Declan insisted we use one of his other vehicles, but I’ve grown rather partial to the pizza van, even if the smell of my heat spike has pretty much faded from the inside.
Good memories and all that.
Mabel’s eyes stay trained on Declan for so long that I have to reach out and touch her arm to get her attention. “Mabel?”
She jumps slightly, then shakes her head. “Sorry. I’m…I’m gonna go inside. Stay safe, okay?”
“I’ll see you when we get back,” I confirm, nodding. “Tomorrow.”
And then she’ll leave. The wave of sadness hits me so suddenly, it nearly takes my breath away. Hayden’s arm wraps around my shoulder in response to the emotion, and in the next ten seconds, Sam and West are with us as well.
Mabel’s face softens in understanding when the guys come around me, but she doesn’t waver in her resolve. “And then I’ll give the guys that five minutes…” Her gaze goes to Declan again, who is disappearing into his house. “And then I’m leavin’ with the twins.”
As much as her words break my heart, I know it’s what she needs to help her heal.
“You will need to have us visit so I can do your tattoos, yes?” Kole asks warmly. “And call if my brothers are unruly assholes.”
Mabel gives him a genuine smile. “I would like that.”
“Any time you need us, you call, okay?” Sam orders gruffly, making me grin. “Even if it’s just to rough up some patron who stiffed you on a tip.”
“I will,” she promises, and then I’m turning around to face my guys.
“She’s not leavin’ until we get back, so why don’t the four of you go wait in the van while I finish up?”
When we’re alone, I turn back around, wrapping my sister in one last hug. “I love you so much. Please don’t get any crazy ideas like runnin’ away while I’m gone.”
Mabel laughs. “I got nowhere to go, Jojo. Don’t worry about me. Besides, I wanna see with my own eyes that you get back safe.”
She lets me go, and I watch as she disappears back into the omega house.
Sighing, I turn around to see everyone waiting for me by their cars.
Roland, Ozzy, and Fuzzy are by one van, Illya, Luka, and Alexei are waiting by a black SUV, Declan and his pack are in another van, and my guys are standing in front of the “Mission Im-pizza-ble” delivery van.
Helaena holds Fuzzy by the face, kissing him like he’s a man going off to war. When she steps away from him, my brows shoot up when Ozzy takes her hand, pressing a kiss to the back of it. She blushes furiously, but doesn’t pull away.
My eyes dart to Fuzzy to see how he feels about the move Sam’s daddy just pulled, but he only looks at the beta lovingly.
Interesting.
Then Roland puts a hand on her shoulder, saying something so quiet I can’t hear it.
She nods once, looking back at Fuzzy before stepping back.
“Did you see that?” I whisper to Sam as we come up to our van.
“What?” Sam frowns, looking between me and Ozzy.
“We’re heading to Leslie’s house,” Ozzy calls out. “We’ll text ten minutes out, and wait until we get an all-clear from you to make a move.”
“Got it.” Declan nods, and Fuzzy pulls out of the driveway, heading out of the compound.
Helaena watches after them, her hand on her chest.
“Are your dad and Helaena banging?” Hayden leans forward, grinning.
“What? Of course not, she’s clearly with Fuzzy—”
My pyro laughs. “And we all know how impossible it is to share a woman, right guys?”
West cuts in. “That was a purely platonic, blush-inducing, kiss on the back of the hand.”
“That was pure fucking romance, is what it was.” Hayden chuckles quietly.
Sam’s brows furrow as he watches his dad disappear into the van. “Romance?” He shakes his head. “I don’t know what that was. Dad hasn’t dated anyone since Mom died.”
“That you know of.” Hayden snorts.
“I am this close to shoving you face-first into Jo’s pussy again,” Sam growls, turning on Hayden, and his words send a shiver through me.
“Try telling me something that will discourage me, Daddy-O.”
“Would you all shut the fuck up?” Declan snaps. “I don’t need to hear that shit.”
“At least someone's getting laid,” Nolan mutters, making my eyes widen in surprise.
Declan covers his face with his hands. “Let’s just fucking go.”
I double-check myself—my knives are strapped to my legs, and I have my handgun holstered on my hip under my sweatshirt.
When I double check on the guys, Hayden holds up his trusty lighter and pats the gun at his side, and Sam has his grenade launcher and a shotgun strapped to his back.
Kole only needs his bare hands, but he compromised with me by carrying a single knife and a handgun.
West is also strapped with a pistol, and can I just say my men look sexy as hell?
Because they do look sexy as hell.
Illya and Luka, who had watched the whole interaction with mild expressions of bewilderment, merely exchange a look before double checking their own weapons and getting into the car. Kole reaches down, cupping my cheek before pressing a lingering kiss to my lips.
Sighing against his mouth, I pull him closer to me by the back of his neck. He presses his forehead against mine. “I hate that I must leave you.”
“It’s only for a little bit,” I kiss his nose, “after y’all make sure we’re not gonna get any surprise forces gunnin’ us down, you can come be all growly at Xavier with me.”
Kole sighs, running his hands down my arms. “Yes, yes. Just no back-of-the-pizza-van sex without me, yes?”
“Promise,” I grin, pressing one last kiss to his lips while Hayden curses behind me.
The urge to smack his ass as he walks away is strong, but I keep myself in check. The look he gives me before he shuts his door has my stomach fluttering.
Aidan looks up from his phone. “Bowen has just exited with Adela in tow. Vander is not with him.”
I frown. Is Xavier turning over Adela without Vander’s knowledge? Or are we going to have to worry about him showing up and going against us? “I don’t know what to make of that.”
“We can’t worry about it right now.” Declan shakes his head. “We proceed as planned. It’s an hour and a half drive to Thornfield, so let's get a move on.”
Aidan nods. “Agreed. The meeting is at six, and I’m already in the Monroe family security system. That gives us precisely two hours and six minutes to arrive safely at Thornfield.”
We move to get into our vehicles, and Hayden shouts, “Jo and I call reverse-shotgun!”
“I should probably know better than to ask…” Sam sighs as he opens the driver’s side door. “What’s reverse shotgun?”
“It means we get to sit in the back, duh.” Hayden grins, grabbing my hand and pulling me into the back seat with him.
“No arguin’,” I give Sam a look in the rearview mirror. “We gotta make sure we’re at Thornfield by the time Ozzy and Fuzzy secure Hudson.”
“I know, Trouble,” Sam grins as he meets my eyes. “I’ll get us there.”
I send a wave of love through our bond. “Of that, Sammy-boy, I have no doubt.”