23. Julian
Julian
“That’s enough for now, babydoll.” I keep my voice low and steady as I reach down and lift her out of the chair. Her body is rigid at first, then she folds into me like she’s been holding herself together by threads.
The video is still glowing on the monitor behind us, but I turn her away from it.
She doesn’t need to see any more of her sister’s face twisted in pain right now.
She’s in shock, grief’s slamming into her all over again, and I can feel the fine tremors running through her as she presses her face into my shoulder.
“I’m going to kill him. And anyone else that was part of the project,” she says. Her quiet words are a vow.
I tighten my arms around her and press a kiss to her head.
“I’ll help you, Lee.” Elliot’s voice comes from behind us, calm and certain. “He’s out of the country, but he comes back in four days. That gives us time to plan and release everything to the media.”
She’s shivering harder now. I don’t argue with Elliot’s declaration. I just carry her the few steps to the couch and set her down gently. Ettie is terrible about eating when she’s this upset. Her body gets small and tight, like she’s trying to disappear. I won’t let that happen.
The cabin kitchenette is barely more than a narrow strip of counter and a single burner, but it’s enough. I pull the yogurt she likes from the fridge along with the granola she sprinkles on top.
Elliot doesn’t strike me as a yogurt man, so I heat up the leftover pasta from last night instead. I’ll have to learn what he actually likes to eat. I meant it when I said we needed to get along.
Marge proved this kind of arrangement can work.
And she has an extra boyfriend, and two of her boyfriends are boyfriends.
That isn’t the kind of relationship I want with Elliot.
But we are going to be family. I’m going to marry Ettie.
She’ll take my last name. Not sure how he’ll take that news yet, but it isn’t up for discussion.
I turn with the plates in my hands and catch sight of her leaning into Elliot’s shoulder on the couch. Something warm and solid spreads through my chest at the picture they make. Ettie needs us both. She doesn’t have to carry any of this alone anymore.
I set the food on the coffee table in front of them. Elliot glances up, and the corner of his mouth lifts in that half smirk.
“Thanks, man. If this is what being a brother husband is always like, sign me up,” Elliot says before biting into his food.
I shake my head at that. “Brother husband is weird,” I tell Elliot.
Lee pulls her legs up onto the couch and sits cross-legged with the yogurt bowl in her lap.
She still looks too pale, but some of the shaking has eased.
“Pretty sure having two boyfriends is the definition of weird,” she says, and the tiny snort that follows is the closest thing to a laugh we’ve heard from her in hours. “Thank you for the yogurt, Julian.”
I give her a small smile and watch the color rise in her cheeks. That soft flush does something to me every time. Even now, with grief still clinging to her, she reacts to me like this.
When they finish eating, Elliot stands and carries the plates to the sink. The water runs while he rinses them off, the sound oddly domestic in the small space. Lee stays curled on the couch, spoon tracing slow circles in the empty yogurt bowl.
“Lee, there’s more I need you to see,” Elliot says quietly. “Fuller will be back in the country soon.”
She nods, but she doesn’t move right away. Then she sets the bowl aside and stands. “All right. Let’s get this over with. Thank you, Elliot.”
“For what?” he asks, drying his hands on a dish towel.
“Believing in Emily and me enough to search for the truth.”
He holds out his hand. She takes it without hesitation, and the two of them start toward the hallway that leads back to the monitor room. She glances over her shoulder at me, eyes still glassy.
“Are you coming, Julian?”
“I’ll be right there.”
They disappear around the corner. I stay where I am for a moment. The weight of what I’m about to do pushes down on my chest. With a dreadful step through the front door, I go on the porch. The door shuts behind me softly enough it doesn’t click.
My cell phone burns in my hands when I make the call. I use the satellite connection Elliot rigged for us. It’s secure, rerouted, nothing that can be traced back to this location.
“Thomas Frost. It’s Julian Jameson. I’m going to need a favor from the Eligere.”
He clears his throat, and I can already hear the calculation in the silence that follows. “You know what this will cost your family. No matter the level of favor you need.”
“I’m well aware.”
“Well, don’t keep me in suspense. It must be terrible to offer yourself as an unbound.”
He’s such a smug asshole it takes all my strength to keep my voice even. “I need someone cleared of past and future federal crimes. I also need the parties responsible in the federal project called Vine removed or terminated.”
He lets out a low whistle. “That’s the Loft house. You’ll need to be more than an unbound for Samuel Loft to help.”
“Name the price.”
“We will be in touch. Send me the details, and I will talk with Samuel.”
My fingers tighten around the phone until the edges bite into my skin.
The reminder lands exactly how he wants it to.
They will own me for this. Every favor the Eligere grants comes with chains.
But for her, it’s worth it. Ettie can’t carry this.
My girl is a badass, but this is too close to her heart.
She won’t see the reality of what needs to be done.
So, I’ll do it for her. At least she’ll have Elliot when it’s over.
Motion from the window catches my eye. Jasper is climbing through the blinds to get a better view outside.
He really is a terrible cat. Not that I would say that out loud. We’ve been here a few days, and he’s clawed the back of the chair, knocked over multiple glasses, and woken me up nightly. He doesn’t even want anything when he does it.
I get up anyway, making sure his box is clean, he has food, water, and the pile of cat toys Elliot brought here. He just wants me up with him. He’s too cute and fluffy to say no to.
When I walk back through the front door, he’s hanging from the top of the blackout curtains. He looks at me with his head tilted. Then he throws it back and howls.
I sigh and run a hand down my face. The curtain is completely fucked.
“Come on, buddy,” I mutter, staring up at the furball currently clinging to the fabric. His eyes are wide and scared, like he is the victim here. “This wasn’t the best idea, huh?”
Jasper lets out another wail. It’s loud and dramatic as he digs his claws in deeper. The curtain sags under his weight, and I hear the fabric rip.
I step closer and reach up, sliding my hands under his chubby little arms. “Let go. I’ve got you. I know you’re scared,” I say, keeping my voice soft and steady as I start to pull, “but I’m your cat dad. I’m not gonna let you fall.”
The second his back paws leave the curtain, he launches himself at my chest with a panicked yowl. I catch him against me, one arm cradling his squirming body while the other tries to keep the ruined curtain from falling completely off the rod.
He stays plastered to my shirt for half a second, breathing fast, then suddenly leaps down and bolts toward the bedroom like the curtain is going to chase after him.
“I don’t know why you’re running like that, buddy,” I call after him. “You’re the problem. I’m not taking the blame for this.”
I’m still trying to drape the ripped fabric back over the rod when I hear the bedroom door open and then the sound of cabinets being yanked open in the kitchen.
Ettie storms in like a hurricane.
She doesn’t even look at me at first. She just starts ripping open drawers and slamming them shut again, the sound sharp and angry in the small space. Elliot walks in slowly behind her, eyes wide. He catches my gaze over her shoulder and mouths, help me.
“Baby, are you still hungry?” I ask carefully, keeping my voice even. “I can cook something for you.”
“Don’t you baby me, Julian Jameson.” She whips around, eyes blazing. “I’m going to kill you. And you—” She jabs a finger at Elliot without looking. “I’m going to kill you dead. Slowly.”
She yanks open another door in the kitchen and slams it shut.
“Where are my pills?”
I swallow hard and look at Elliot. He looks just as lost as I feel.
She moves to the island and starts opening and shutting every drawer, the metal runners scraping loudly with each one.
“Lee, I know, okay?” Elliot says. “I shouldn’t have been watching you.”
She slams the cupboards now, moving around the plates. She’s not going to find them in there either.
“Oh, you know that now?” Her voice is dangerously calm. “Now that I’ve seen your creepy little stalker folder?”
Another cabinet slams. She turns fully toward me this time, eyes narrowed to slits.
“Where are they, Julian?”
I clear my throat, but it doesn’t help the dryness in my mouth. “I threw them out.”
“What the fuck?” she says, voice rising to a high pitch. “Why? And when? And mostly why?”
“The first day we came to the cabin. They were in your go bag. I was checking for anything that might be trackable. I didn’t like them.”
She stares at me for a long second. Then her gaze slides past me to the ripped curtain still half hanging off the rod.
“So you’re ruining the drapes now as well as sabotaging my womb. Again, why?” she repeats, slower this time.
Behind her, Elliot laughs. It’s a short, rough sound he immediately tries to swallow. He puts his fist over his mouth, and he coughs trying to cover it. It’s too late. She's already staring him down.
“Because I want you to give me babies,” I tell her. My voice is a plea.
Her shoulders sink, and she stares at me like she’s deciding if she’s going to kiss or kill me. Then she turns back to Elliot, glaring at him once more.
“What about you, psycho stalker? You want me to pop out some kids too?”