Chapter 21 #2
Ray tossed his napkin to the side. “Am I useless in your eyes or something? You don’t think I can protect Lyra?”
“No comment,” Briar answered for Adelaide, sliding a glass in front of her.
Ray pursed his lips, ducking behind the bar to fix a glass of ice water and a soda. He brought both to me, letting his hand linger on my back.
“Can I get you anything else?”
I shook my head, collapsing into one of the leather-lined booths. Adelaide joined me, coughing into a tissue.
“If I wasn’t riddled with germs, I’d be right there with you tonight.”
“It’s not your fault, siren.” Logan massaged Adelaide’s shoulders, and she stared up at him with affection.
“Of course not.” She whacked Jesse as he slipped in beside her. “It’s his fault for getting me sick in the first place. Now, are you going to tell me what happened?”
I gave Adelaide the details of the night while our men mingled around us. Briar offered me the medical bag with a wordless nod, but Jonah took it from his hand.
“Eat first. I’ll fix you up after.”
I looked at the spread on the table, and my stomach cramped with hunger. But I couldn’t make my body respond. Adelaide reached under the table and gripped my hand. She missed nothing. Logan was filling two plates, one for him and one for Adelaide. Ray jumped up as soon as he noticed.
“Leave it to me, mia volpe. I know all the best dishes.”
He bumped Logan out of the way, snatching up the beef birria Logan eyed.
“How bad is it? Be honest.” Adelaide flattened her lips. “You don’t have to sugarcoat things for me.”
“Don’t have to remind me.” I caught a laugh in my tight throat.
“Well, you do have a habit of trying to do everything on your own. Don’t get any ideas about it, understand? My men are loyal. Say the word, and we’ll do whatever we can to get Beck back. Or do you not care what happens to him now?”
Adelaide pursed her lips when I paused. How could I tell her I’d discovered the opposite? Ray laid a plate in front of me a millisecond before Logan. I stuffed a corn chip, dipped in guacamole, to stop from answering. Everyone ate, and murmurs hummed in my ear, but I didn’t know what to say.
No, I knew. The truth took processing. I felt stripped bare, more than ever before.
Secrets didn’t exist between Jonah, Ray, and Beck with me anymore.
They’d always been a buffer, diluting my feelings for them, then had come the betrayal, bitter and thick.
It kept them away as solid as any wall. But after tonight, that was gone too.
I’d seen Connall, and that was bitterness made permanent.
It poisoned his blood, turning him into someone I didn’t recognize.
It was there in the fading light of Ellington’s last breath.
The way his sharp smile melted off his face as death took him.
They were two sides of the same coin. I didn’t want to die with all of that on my chest.
Adelaide got a call, and as she moved to the front, Logan, Briar, and Jesse followed. Her silent shield. I remembered how they were before they threw themselves into Adelaide’s world. They were sharper now, more ruthless. Nothing would get between them and their heart.
Ray’s head turned, following a slow-moving car outside, and Jonah strode from the chair and pulled the curtains closed. He hurried back to my side, his thigh melding against mine in the booth. With a full stomach, I was getting drowsier, and it was hard to keep my eyelids from slitting.
“Protective much?” Adelaide laughed as she tucked her phone into her pocket.
Ray chuckled, feigning amusement for Adelaide. I felt them like wind buffeting my sides. They craved to be my shield. Jonah dragged the medical kit toward him and pulled out the supplies.
“You’ve got—” Ray dabbed his napkin on the corner of my mouth.
Was there even something there or was he making excuses to touch me? Either way, my chest ached.
“That was the airport. They have a plane on standby for us wherever you want to go.”
“What’s the plan?” Ray leaned around me to look at my wound.
Jonah peeled the shirt off. Dried blood made it cling to the wound, but I didn’t make a noise. Jonah dabbed the area clean.
“The Unseen has a base of operations. It’s where we train, and the council meets. They’ll take Beck there for interrogation.”
Adelaide frowned, watching Jonah clean my wound with a detached air. I knew she was thinking of logistics. How to run interference, who she could call for favors, surveillance, and how the hell we would get out, if we could even get in.
“Yes—” I cut her off as she opened her mouth to argue. “I have it all thought out. Jonah, Ray, and I will extract Beck. But I need you to find us a way out.”
Adelaide paused for a beat, but Logan nudged her shoulder. “You’re too sick to be a part of her mission, and you know it.”
“I’m not staying here.” Adelaide narrowed her eyes.
“We didn’t say that. Just that we’ll hole up somewhere with blankets and soup.” Jesse peeled off his jacket and put it around Adelaide’s shoulders.
I trembled as Jonah dabbed my wound with more gauze. Ray hooked his hoodie over his head with one hand and draped it over me. He squeezed my shoulder when I gave him a questioning look.
Were they competing with Adelaide’s guys?
I pulled over a stack of napkins and outlined the plan, including everyone’s role. Jonah finished cleaning my wound, fixing a bandage over the top. It didn’t need stitches, and I would have to be careful with it until it healed.
“Role-play,” Ray winked. “We’ve got this.”
“Gross.” Adelaide screwed up her face. “Never use innuendo in front of me again or I will cut out your tongue.”
Ray fell back against the booth. “But if I don’t have my tongue, how will I ever get Lyra to come back to me?”
I shook my head, shoving the napkin in his direction.
“This is going to be messy, but we don’t have a choice.
The Unseen will keep Beck alive until they get the answers they want, especially now that Ellington is dead.
But we also don’t know whether the entire organization is corrupt or only a few of the council.
Connall screwed us over before we could trace it back fully. ”
The guys tidied up the food, and Ray left a stack of notes on the table as a thank you to Martin. Adelaide and I sat together, cuddled for warmth.
“Something changed, didn’t it?” She whispered.
It hurt to breathe, but I steadied my heartbeat with a deep lungful before I answered. Adelaide had been here. Her guys hurt and betrayed her, and she’d vowed to never forgive. But in the end, their love had been too much for her to deny.
“I know what you’re thinking.”
That I was weak. Adelaide squeezed my hand.
“Remember what you told me when I wavered? My love was drowning under secrets. Well, I hate to break it to you, girlie, but so was yours. Sweet love isn’t our prize or our path.
We chose to be powerful, unstoppable, and dangerous women.
The men who can handle our hearts are few.
I know what it’s like to be in love with three idiots.
If they hurt you again, I’ll help you castrate them. Deal?”
After Ray closed up the restaurant, and Adelaide left to make the final preparations, I stepped out into the slight drizzle. I flattened my hand, letting the rain cool my heated palm. Jonah pulled me back under cover with a growl.
“Don’t get wet.”
Ray flanked my other side, and I knew he had something inappropriate on the tip of his tongue by the way his smile twisted. I pressed my finger to his velvet lips with a shake of my head.
“No, I’m not wet, and I’ve no interest in you getting me wetter.”
Ray chuffed out a soft laugh, his dark eyes like melted honey.
“Not what I was going to say. Whatever happens, you can rely on us. Chief will be alright. I think the reaper himself is frightened of Beck.”
I nodded, and my knees buckled. Jonah caught me, sliding his arm around my waist.
“You need to sleep.”
I let Jonah scoop me into his arms and fold me against his chest. I yawned as Ray unlocked the car.
Adelaide’s words echoed in my mind. The men who could love me were here, beside me.
I could be dangerous and powerful, but also soft when I needed to be.
They didn’t begrudge me either. They loved me in all my facets.
“We all do. This won’t be easy.”
Neither of them replied. Jonah fixed my seat belt and brushed a lock of sweat-twisted hair from my face. His lips hovered over my cheek, and his heated breath was a kiss of sorts. Ray drove carefully for once, following the directions Adelaide gave for a new safe house.
The lights of the city bled into soft orbs as my breathing slowed. Our plan was crazy and reckless. But a new day was here, dark purples and blues bled like veins across the sky. I felt safe with Ray and Jonah beside me, and in the days to come, I only knew one thing.
The Unseen would learn what happened when they tried to leave more scars on my heart.