Chapter 31
THIRTY-ONE
brOOKS
The shout has me bustling forward…then promptly screeching to a halt as I fight a smile.
Thorn—surly, grumpy, taciturn Thorn—Wilkenson is jerking like he’s being electrocuted, arms and legs shooting out to the sides, back bending in odd angles, curses raining from his lips as a tiny ball of white fluff crawls up his body.
Calf. Thigh. Hip. Back…
The ball of fluff doesn’t stop moving until it’s settled itself on Thorn’s shoulders.
“Meow!”
Hell if that isn’t a cry of victory.
The room is silent, the girls looking at each other with wide eyes and smothered smiles.
Thorn is glaring down at his shoulder—though it has to be noted that he hasn’t made a move to dislodge the interloper.
“Should I?” Briar asks, stepping toward him.
Chrissy loses her fight with her smile. “I think Thorn has been claimed.”
Thorn glares at her…but still doesn’t remove the critter. Instead, he nods at Briar. But when she tries to lift the kitten off him, the kitten digs its claws, making him curse again.
“I…uh…”
“I think this means he’s staying for dinner,” Rory says, her mouth curving up.
“No—”
But there’s a knock behind me and the next ten minutes are a flurry of unpacking the food Jean-Michel and Rome have brought, releasing the rest of the kittens from Kitty Jail and the baby from Car Seat Lockup, the arrival of Jace and Marie, and finally convincing River to sit down and take a break for a change.
Through it all Thorn doesn’t move.
And neither does the kitten.
My lips twitch as Chrissy offers him a plate. He takes it with a scowl, jabbing his fork into the pasta and salad.
“Here.”
I turn, see that Briar is standing beside me.
The dark circles beneath her eyes are softer, the sharp edges on her face from not having enough to eat already gentling. River is working her magic.
“Thanks,” I say softly, taking the plate she’s holding.
A nod before she turns away.
“Briar?”
Her eyes come back to mine. “You okay?”
She nibbles at her bottom lip. “I’m fine.”
My mouth hitches up and though I expect her to walk away, she pauses, her brows coming up. “Why are you smiling?”
“I’m just thinking that some things never change.”
She frowns.
I lean in, brush my thumb over the V that’s formed. “You always say you’re fine. Aliens could be invading and the human race at risk of extinction and you’d still say you were fine.”
Her nose wrinkles. “I want to argue with you.”
“That’s new,” I quip when it’s clearly not.
The Briar of the past was beyond sweet, yes, but she was also tough as nails when something really mattered, and once I made my way past those thick, icy walls of hers and she trusted me, she hadn’t shied away from making her wishes known.
I expect her to glare at me.
Instead, she smiles.
“What?” I ask.
“I’m remembering that time on the island.”
Warm sand. Crystal blue water. Waves lapping at our toes, the sun setting in the distance, and…Briar yelling at me.
Our first argument ever.
“I don’t even remember what we were fighting about,” I say, daring to move a little closer.
Her eyes flare…exactly as they had on that beach. “Seriously?”
“I feel like it had something to do with you being completely unreasonable—”
She gasps in outrage, smacks my arm. “I was so not being unreasonable. You were being your typical pushy, billionaire self, and I was just trying to cook a meal.”
“You kicked the chef out of the kitchen so you could take over.”
“I gave her the night off because she’d been working so hard!”
“And then rearranged her kitchen,” I say dryly.
Her eyes narrow. “I was just organizing.”
“So she couldn’t find anything?”
“Excuse me for—”
Someone clears their throat and Briar and I freeze. Slowly, I tear my gaze from her beautiful face and remember…
We’re not alone.
And everyone is watching us.
There are smiles all around—on every face except for Thorn, that is.
But he’s not scowling, which is a freaking miracle in and of itself.
“Here’s your plate,” Chrissy says brightly, bringing it over to Briar.
“Thanks.”
The quiet stretches for a moment before Rory says something outrageous, making everyone laugh as they eat.
Then Chrissy’s baby starts crying and Rome jumps in with diaper duty while she preps a bottle.
King and Jean-Michel start discussing the team’s upcoming road trip game while River fusses over everyone—though she at least makes her way through her own plate as she buzzes about.
It’s chaotic and loud and it’s far from the first time I’ve been swept up in the whirlwind of people that Jace brought into my life.
At first, it was weird, overwhelming.
Then it became like home.
But is Briar feeling the same?
Or is she—a woman who’s spent far too much time alone—stuck in overwhelm like the other day?
My gaze keeps going to her, watching, waiting for any sign this all might be too much. But though she’s quiet and subdued, sitting on the floor next to the giant ass cat tower that now dominates my living room, a pair of kittens in her lap, she seems relaxed.
She absently pets the cats, her mouth curved into a small smile as she takes in the craziness that’s become my normal.
“You okay?”
I turn to Jace, though it’s remarkably hard for me to tear my gaze from Briar. “I’m not the one who’s been through a nightmare.”
His eyebrows lift. “Haven’t you?”
“I shouldn’t have walked away,” I mutter. “This shit is all my fault.”
“I think this shit is much deeper than any of us realize—Jean-Michel’s ex showing up after everyone thought she was dead and creating a nightmare for him and Chrissy, not to mention all that shit with Cam and Attie—”
Cam plays for the Eagles and his wife is an FBI agent who was shot during the investigation of Jean-Michel’s ex and a group of human traffickers linked to the Lyons.
“—not to mention the attacks on our companies and the blackmail and letters and everything that happened with Briar.”
I blink. “You think it’s all connected?”
“Do you somehow think it’s not?”
“I didn’t even know Jean-Michel until you started working with him,” I hedge, though somehow, I know he’s right.
“And when was that?”
I still, start thinking back. “About three months before you began your first project with him. So you’re saying…” But I trail off because I don’t know what he’s saying. The connection is Jean-Michel or Jace or none of us and we have no clue what the fuck is really going on?
“I’m saying there’s more here than we understand.
And Thorn isn’t immune either, his company was the victim of corporate espionage a few months back and some investors have been trying to take over the board.
” He shakes his head. “Me. You. Thorn. Jean-Michel. We’ve all dealt with attacks on our companies—though you and Jean-Michel are the only ones whose attacks were personal.
I don’t know if it’s because Thorn and I didn’t have anyone important in our lives when we were targeted or if it’s deeper than that.
I just know my instincts are screaming that all of this shit is connected. ”
I open my mouth to reply—to agree—but I don’t get the chance to.
Because Pascal is suddenly in front of me.
“We need to talk.”