by J Bree
Avery huffs and pulls me into the study den. There's a group of students packing up and at her sharp look they high tail it out of there.
“I know you don't trust me and I deserve that. I'm going to give you something as insurance so we know we’re both in this for the right reasons. That is, if you want a friend?”
I do. Desperately really, but how can I trust this girl that looks like an angel but is really a crossroads demon, bargaining and making deals with mere mortals for their souls. She can be just as twisted as Joey, they were siblings after all. I know in my heart she wasn’t a sociopath like him but she could be just as ruthless. She could survive the Wolf, my mind whispered unbidden. She was probably the only girl I’d ever met who could.
“Why did Joey call a ceasefire?” she asks with a raised brow. It’s a test, one last hurdle to leap before we can be friends. Could I do it? Could I take the leap?
“We have a… mutual acquaintance. Joey thought this person was under his thumb but he was wrong. He was told that under no uncertain circumstances could he harm me again.”
Avery leans forward and whispers in my ear, “The Jackal?” and I nod. A smile flits at the corners of her mouth.
She hands me an envelope. I open it and, after leafing through the papers for a second, I scrunch it up hurriedly. I’m holding the missing piece of the puzzle. I’m holding the records of the Beaumont’s mothers death. Alice Beaumont, nee Arbour, was murdered.
“Why the hell-”
“That's your insurance. It would destroy both me and my brother if that got out, I've spent years keeping that out of peoples hands. Everything I do is to keep Ash and the boys safe. Everything I did to you was to keep us safe.” She doesn't look sorry at all, like my year of torture was reasonable. I don't know what to do with that or with the envelope in my hand.
“I want a friend I can trust to have my back completely and no girl has ever looked at me as anything other than competition or a way to get in with my brothers. You took everything I threw at you and you're still here. Unbroken. Are you in or not?”
God help me, but I was so in. My hands begin to shake.
“I don't want you to speak to them for me. The boys.”
“Well, I don't want to speak to them at all so you're safe there. I promise I won't tell them to be nice but if we're friends then I'm on your side from here out.”
I bite my lip. I want this so bad and the envelope in my hand makes me believe this is legit. I might regret it later but I nod.
“Friends it is then.”
“Best friends. Now, how do you feel about helping me destroy Rory’s entire existence for what he did to me? I'd love your input.”
I smile and tuck the papers into my satchel. I can hear the sounds of teachers breaking up the beating and Avery’s eyes have that wicked glint in them. A shot of excitement shoots through my blood. This could be fun.
“I have a few ideas, actually.”
“Let’s just agree that from here on out we only ever tell each other the truth. If we can’t discuss something then we come out and say so.”
I’m sitting in Avery’s room and watching while she packs. It took me three minutes to pack my entire room up and Avery had moaned about how jealous she was I was finished. I was kind enough to point out that she actually has the opportunity to own things which is something I’m more than jealous of. It’s utterly ridiculous how quickly we’ve fallen into a relaxed hang out.
There are boxes everywhere, suitcases full of clothes, stacks of boxed up shoes that are taller than we are, and still Avery is shoving random items into bubble wrap. I expected her to pay someone else to do this.
“I guess I can handle that.” I say, shoving a fistful of popcorn into my mouth and flicking through her record collection. It’s mostly classical music and scores from ballet recitals but she also has every single Vanth Falling record, first editions and signed, and I’m trying not to tuck them under my arm and make a run for it. I put one on and she cackles at me from the bathroom where she’s trying to pack the equivalent of an entire Sephora store’s worth of makeup and hair care products. Ash wasn’t wrong, she has a lot of stuff.
Avery arches an eyebrow at me and grins, “I don’t expect you to tell me all of your secrets tonight. I was thinking while we’re on break we can text each other one secret a day. When school starts again in the fall we can do the same each morning. It’ll be a fun little bonding experience.”
I shrug in return as I tap my fingers along with the song. Some things can’t be sent digitally, texts and emails can be hacked. I’m sure I don’t have to explain this to her and I guess it’s a way to ease into things. “I’m not sure you’ll ever know it all. There’s stuff I’ve done… I’m a dangerous person to be around. You need to know that from the get-go so you can tap out now if you need to.”
She flops back on her bed dramatically. Her face is no longer the blank mask I’ve seen every day, it’s open and a little vulnerable. “My cousin is a mobsters son. My brother is a sociopathic murderer. My father is… my father is true evil. Whatever you have following you, we can sort out together, the same way I’ve worked at sorting everything out for Harley. I’m all in, Lips.”
I sigh and crawl up to sit on the bed beside her. Maybe we will get there. Maybe I’ll offer her the same protection as I’ve given Harley. Ugh, thinking about him makes my chest ache and leaves me with too many questions. Seeing as this is my first opportunity to get some answers I ask her, “Where does Harley go during the summer break?”
It’s Avery’s turn to sigh. “He goes back to his grandfather’s place for two weeks each year. It’s part of seedy deal the old crook cut with a dirty judge. Then he either stays with Blaise, touring or whatever, or I get him a hotel. He can’t come to our house, my father would never allow it.”
“Wouldn’t he know you’re helping him though? Where else do you get your money?”
She laughs and pulls out a black nail polish from the box she was just packing, tugging my hand until I let her paint my nails.
“My mother, and Harley’s mom were twins, did you know that? Twins run pretty strongly in our family. They were heiresses themselves, if you trace our family line back far enough you hit Russian royalty. My grandparents disowned Aunt Iris when she ran off with Éibhear O’Cronin, they were horrified their blue blooded daughter had been seduced by the handsome degenerate.” She fluttered her eyes and pretended to faint, I giggled for probably the first time in my life, “So my mother was the sole heir. Now my father, the asshole, had a prenup to say that all finances were to stay separate because her hundreds of millions were nothing compared to his billions. When my mother died her will said the money was to be split and shared three ways.”
“So you and your brothers each have a share of the millions and no parental supervision on how you use it? Fuck, you are the luckiest kid in this school.”
She grins and tips her head back. “My mother left her money to Ash, me… and Harley.”
My jaw drops.
Avery grins and nods. “Best day of my life was seeing that murderer’s face when he realized he was getting nothing.”
“So then why doesn’t Harley have the money?”
“His grandfather stole it. Sort of. His grandfather had custody of Harley when my mother died so he it put in trusts and bonds and offshore accounts then told Harley he could have it the moment he swore in. He’s using the money as leverage to get Harley to join the family business.”
Liam O’Cronin is not the brightest man.
One of the very first lessons you’re taught as a sponsored candidate for the Twelve is that loyalty can only be given freely. Yes, you can hire someone but there’s always the risk someone will offer them more money. You can torture and break someone, bend them to only serve you, but there are limits to what a broken person can do. Blackmailing Harley into the family would only succeed in letting a bomb tick in you organization.
Fucking dumb.
“Harley can�
��t go to his grandfather's house anymore.”
Avery looks up from where she’s blowing on my nails to dry them. “Oh? Is this part of your little agreement? His grandfather will kill him if he doesn’t.”
I don’t want to talk about the mess I’ve made to protect Harley. I need some time and space to figure it out before I discuss it with her. Now I know a little more about the situation I can make a plan. So, instead I say, “He can’t kill him. I’ve tied the old fucks hands for the moment. Now I have a little more information I’ll see what I can do about getting Harley out of there permanently.”
Avery swallows and her eyes grow glassy. “I started to come around to the idea of being friends when you started messing with Joey. No one has even been brave enough to take him on. When Harley showed up with his mom's necklace and told me we were done messing with you I knew you would fit in with us.”
“I think Ash would disagree with you strongly there.” I mumble. I’m still smarting over his dismissal of me and how easily he believed I was sleeping with Joey.
“Ash will get over his issues. He’s angry with himself more than anything. He thinks he’s responsible for taking care of me and he’s pissed that he failed.”
I cock her head at her. “Are you pissed?”
She shakes her head with a little frown. “I’m only upset that he doesn’t trust my judgement of you. He’s hellbent on you being in league with Joey, it’s clouding his decisions.”
I don’t think he’s upset. I think he’s decided I’m evil and I’m going to spend the rest of my time at Hannaford fielding both of Avery’s brothers and their desires to get rid of me. At least Ash doesn’t want to kill me. I groan and Avery smiles ruefully.
I shake my head to clear it. “Back to Harley, I’ll pay for a hotel for him for the entire summer break. He’s my responsibility.”
She raises her eyebrows at me with the shadow of a smile on her face. “The bill for the hotel he stays at comes in at seventy thousand dollars if he stays for the entire break. Then I give him a credit card with a fifty thousand dollar limit and he uses that to cover food and boy stuff. He usually uses about ten grand of it. Do you have a spare eighty grand lying around to fund his summer holiday?”
“Fucking rich people, who spends seventy thousand dollars on a hotel?!” I sputter.
Avery throws herself back on the bed and laughs so hard tears stream down her face. I’m laughing too but it’s more of an angry sound. “I’d pay ten times that if he’d let me pick where he stays. The hotel is on the coast, right on a cliff so he can be moody and watch the waves and mope. That’s all these boys are good for really.”
I groan and grab my phone. This is my mess, I need to be the one to clean it up. “Does he have a bank account? Give me the details and I’ll transfer the cash across. I’ll do eighty-five so he has a buffer. Fucking boys.”
Avery’s head snaps around so she’s scowling at me. “You have money? You have enough money to pay for that?”
I let a little smug grin creep onto my face. “I do. I’m going to be working over summer break, I’ll just take an extra job to cover his break.”
“Take an extra-what the hell is happening right now?”
Chapter Thirty
I call a taxi to pick me up from Hannaford by 8am the next morning.
I'm the only student who doesn't have a car of their own or parents who send a chauffeur to collect them but it's not at all surprising to me. What is surprising is that Avery helps to carry my pathetically small amount of belongings down to the school entrance. I carry the bag with the safe tucked in it.
We had spent two hours in her room last night getting to know each other. The switch from bully to best friend had flipped so suddenly and completely that I felt like I had whiplash. She was actually really funny, and smart with it. Before I went to my own room for bed she had put her number in my phone and made sure I could text her.
Now, standing together by the gate, we laughed about the shocked looks from the other students. “They should know by now that I do what I say I will. You should find next year much easier to tolerate.”
I laugh and she grins at me.
“Avery.” Ash steps up beside us and I flinch. I can't hear his voice without thinking of how he wanted to destroy my life. Avery stiffens and then turns to him with sharp eyes.
“Please stop ignoring me. Whatever happened, I can help you fix it.”
She laughs and it sounds like the one she had always used with me; cruel and lacking in humor. “Lips fixed it and wanted nothing in return so don't concern yourself.”
“Floss-”
“Don't you dare.”
She had told me last night about how much she loved Ash and how she had spent years fixing his entire life. She wouldn't be angry at him forever but it would be a while before she got over him ignoring her call.
“I beat him for you. I'll fucking kill him if that's what it takes to get you to stop looking at me like that.”
My taxi rolls in. She shakes her head at Ash and walks up to drop my bags in the trunk. I move to follow her and his hand shoots out to grab me.
“Whatever you've done to get her on your side, I will fucking end you for it. You think my brother is bad. You have no idea what I will do to you next year.”
“Why don't you want her to have friends?”
The glare he leveled at me was so dark a shiver ran up my spine.
“She can have friends, just not Mounty trash.” he sneers at me, his eyes icy blue.
And in that moment I don't care if I am signing up for another year of hell. I give him my own dark glare.
“Fuck you.” I pull my arm out of his grip and I give Avery a quick hug before I drop into the taxi. Ash glares at me as Avery waves cheerfully and then the taxi takes off down the driveway and out of the huge ornate school gates. My grin is plastered to my face. I survived Hannaford and I made a friend.
The ride back to Mounts Bay is over an hour and I enjoy watching the scenery as it changes from the lush sprawling, reticulated green to the urban, coastal wasteland. It feels like coming home. I’m going back to where I belong and where I’m running from even if I do feel nostalgic looking at it all.
I’m lost in thought when my phone buzzes in my pocket.
Club party next week. Be there.
I roll my eyes as the taxi stops outside the dingy apartment I've rented for summer break. It's an absolute hole but it was cheap and wouldn’t be too much of a drain on my dwindling stash of cash. Originally I’d planned to rent a tiny townhouse in a gated community that cost four times what this place does but now that I have a pampered, rich guy I have to fund I am on a budget. I didn’t tell Avery but part of why I have to pay for Harley is to make my protection legitimate. If Matteo starts to look into his life and his financials and he sees he’s being supported by someone else he would kill him and tell me he was a snitch. I am just going to have go to the Club party next week like Matteo wants me to and pick up some extra jobs.
My phone pings again. Avery’s text made me smile.
Ash is a nightmare, Harley is pouting, and Blaise is pleading with me to seek therapy. I’m going to enjoy taking these boys down a notch or two. I’ll text you tomorrow x
It went against my better judgment to trust this girl but I did.
And I couldn't wait for school to go back.
Acknowledgments
To Greg: Thank you for believing in me and this lifelong dream of mine. Thank you for the writing weekends away, for hanging out on the couch by yourself all night while I tap away at the keyboard, thank you for telling everyone you know about my dream and how proud of me you are.
To my Mum and Dad: Thank you for everything you have done for me. For making me who I am today, for endless babysitting and support, for cheering me on, for always being a phone call away. Thank you for living across the road and popping over at the drop of a hat. Thank you for all the coffee, cake, and therapy.
To my sister: Thank you for che
ering me on and helping out whenever you can. Thank you for loving my kids like they’re your own and thank you for letting me do the same with yours. Thank you for listening to me ramble endlessly about things you don’t know or care about with a smile on your face.
To my children: I love you. Everything I do is for you. Please take longer naps so Mummy can finish the next book on time.
And finally to my readers: thank you for giving this book a shot. Lips, Avery, and the boys have lived in my brain for many years and it’s been a fun ride letting them out to play. I hope you’ll join us right through to graduation.
Author Bio
J Bree is a dreamer, writer, mother, farmer, and cat-wrangler. The order of priorities changes daily.
She lives on a small farm in a tiny rural town in Australia that no one has ever heard of. She spends her days dreaming about all of her book boyfriends, listening to her partner moan about how the wine grapes are growing, and being a snack bitch to her two kids.
If you want to know when J’s next book will come out, please visit her website at http://www.jbreeauthor.com, and sign up for the newsletter or find her on Facebook at J Bree Author.