by J Bree
I try to stay calm.
“What are you doing here?” Blaise croaks, and my heart breaks a little more at the haunted tone in his voice.
Casey Morrison steps forward and wrings her hands nervously, clutching at the - holy fuck - baby strapped to her chest. “I wanted to see you. Your agent called me about your contract, I know how hard you worked for it and I can’t believe you’d throw that away for… for a girl.”
Oh.
Hell.
No.
I step around Harley and cross my arms, pegging this weak and fucking gutless excuse for a mother with a look that rivals the Beaumont’s in ice. She winces and gives me a watery smile.
“I didn’t mean it like… no, I did but that was before I heard the song. It was beautiful. You both sound so lovely together.”
I try to ease my glare up a little but it’s impossible to shift. Blaise shakes his head at her but his eyes are glued to his little brother.
“So you’ve seen I’m fine and now you’re going to, what, leave? Scurry back to Dad? Fuck, I can’t call him that anymore, can I? Go back to your husband, Mrs. Morrison. I’m fine, my girlfriend is none of your concern, and my choices are no longer yours to help shape.”
Casey takes another step forward and looks around at the other parents here, at the teachers all watching their little reunion with badly veiled interest. Being the wife of a billionaire in this level of society must be like living under a microscope.
“I am still your mom and now I’ve left your father. He… he’s left me with nothing and our pre-nup has protected his right to do that but I can’t live without you in my life. I thought… I thought I could but I was wrong.”
Ash snorts and steps up to Blaise, angling his chest until he’s covering his best friend from the prying eyes, the same way Blaise had just done for me.
He looks at her like she’s nothing, and says in a low voice, “If you had ever given a fuck about your son you would’ve stood up for him against that miserable, egotistical excuse of a man years ago. Choke on your apology. Come on, Morrison. We have a family dinner to get to.”
Then he stalks off. Avery shares a look with me and then follows. Harley tugs at my hand and I nod, shooing him away after his cousins until I’m left standing there with broken mother and faltering son.
Blaise sighs. “Give me your number. I’ll call you later and we can… figure something out.”
Casey smiles and I try not to stare at how much she looks like Blaise when she does. It must be all the fucking sadness in her eyes but I’m not letting her off the hook. Not at all.
Blaise takes the baby from her while she fumbles around for her phone. He smiles down at his little brother and my heart clenches in my chest at the look of wonder.
Lord help me.
“Isn’t he cute?” He mumbles at me while he pulls faces and I clear my throat.
“He looks like you, so yeah he’s cute.”
Blaise grins and tries to hand me the baby.
No.
No, thank you. I do not hold small humans. Not ever.
Blaise cackles at the terrified expression on my face, snapping a photo on his phone because apparently, he can just ninja the baby around in his arms like a freaking wizard without dropping it. I feel a little lightheaded and kinda wish I’d left with everyone else.
“Calm down, I’m good with kids. I’m surprised you’re not.” He says and I roll my eyes at him.
“I have enough on my plate keeping you lot alive, I don’t have time to… hold those things.”
Avery will not stop laughing over the photo.
“I’m framing it and hanging it above your bed, so you remember even during coitus that you shouldn’t ever get pregnant.”
I side-eye her but nod, because I should never, ever have a baby.
Ash scoffs at her. “I was told very sternly by her doctor that those decisions are hers alone, Avery.”
Avery hands him a glass of bourbon and says, sickly sweet, “I have far more say in it than you ever will. Besides, how would that even work? Would you guys draw names out of a hat to see who gets to pass their DNA on?”
Fuck this.
I join Harley on the couch to hide from their snarking and he folds me into his chest easily. Blaise is distracted, tapping away on his phone to his mom and I chew my lip as I watch him.
“We’ll be on suicide watch by the end of the week,” Harley whispers.
I wince but I think he’s right. “He can sleep here tonight. I’ll see if I can talk him into keeping his expectations low.”
“Good fucking luck.”
After dinner has finished, and Harley and Ash have gone back to their room, I cuddle into Blaise’s chest and sigh. He rubs his cheek against my hair and whispers, “I promise I’ll be okay, Star. I’m not going to let her drag me under again.”
I wish I could believe him.
Chapter Thirty-Six
My phone pings after midnight and I have to wriggle out from under Blaise to reach it, my rock god boyfriend wrapped around me like a second skin. He doesn’t falter in his feint snores and Avery’s headphones are in her ears blaring still so neither of them have woken at the sound.
The dining hall. Now. Don’t bring your little friends unless you want me to slit their throats while you watch.
I stare down at the Jackal’s text and a cold wave of dread takes over me for a second. Then I get angry.
Really fucking angry.
I slip out of the bed and into one of Harley’s hoodies and some yoga pants because I’ll be damned if I let that psychopath see me in booty shorts ever a-fucking-gain. My knife gets slipped into my pocket and, after a moment of hesitation, I slip my gun into the waistband of my yoga pants.
Then I stand over Avery for three minutes, my heart in my throat, debating telling her but, fuck, she might follow me down there or call for back up and that’s a bad situation looking to turn nuclear.
When I’m out of the room, door locked firmly behind me, I text Illi.
The Jackal is here. I’m going to meet him. If you don’t hear from me in thirty minutes call Diarmuid for backup. Tell the boys I love them and Avery she’s the best fucking thing that ever happened to me.
It’s sappy as fuck, and Illi will give me so much shit for it, but I need them to know how much they mean to me if I’m… dead. Fuck, I hope I’ll be dead and not taken.
But I’m done bowing down to this man’s whims.
I walk slowly, calmly, down the silent halls of Hannaford as if I’m not heading into the very hell I enrolled here to escape. Luca is waiting outside the dining hall doors with three other flunkies. I dip my head and for once Luca doesn’t grin and flirt.
“He’s not very happy with you, princess.”
No shit. “He doesn’t have to be happy with me. He’s forgotten he’s an equal to me in our world.” I’m proud of how strong my voice sounds.
Luca just looks at me for a second longer, his eyes searching mine, and then nods.
I give him a nod back like I’m not concerned in the least, and he opens the door for me. I keep my eye on Luca and not the man dressed in a sharp suit, sinfully handsome and utterly soulless. He ushers me in with a firm hand at the small of my back I try not to flinch away from and helps me to my seat across from the outwardly calm Jackal.
He’s sitting in Harley’s seat.
He knows everything that happens in this school.
I meet his eyes and, fuck it if he doesn’t look menacing in his suit. I suppress the shiver that tries to take over my body. He looks calm, with his hands on his knees below the tables, but that only intensifies the dread clawing at me.
“Good evening, little Starbright. I hope I didn’t wake you?”
I raise my brows at him. “Don’t you know? I assumed you’d have found a way to get a camera in my room by now.”
He smirks at me and tips his head. “But of course. I have to say, I’m not a fan of watching those boys defile you.”
; I fucking refuse to blush or think about him watching us, watching me during my most intimate moments. He could be bluffing. He’s probably not but I hold onto that hope for now. “What would you like, Jackal? What are you really here for? Because I’m not going to leave with you. I’m content here and who shares my bed every night is no concern of yours.”
He twitches. His little tick when he’s trying not to attack someone coming out in full force. I’ve watched him torture, maim, humiliate, pulverize, and destroy a thousand times before and I know his every tick.
He wants to break me.
“You will leave here with me tonight. I’ve grown tired of our little game, Starbright. I was hoping to wait for you to be a little older, a little wiser, before I claimed you but you’ve pushed my hand.”
I cross my arms. “Claim me? What are you, a fucking caveman? I’m not yours.”
He leans forward, the gentleman mask melting away and leaving nothing but the sociopath behind. “You are mine. You’ve been mine from the second I saw you. I’ve fixed every single problem you’ve ever had. You owe me and there’s no way I’m going to let some little rich cunts take what’s mine.”
I laugh at him, so clearly I’ve gone insane, but the haughty, arrogance of the boys fills me. I’ve had a steady diet of it for months and now I can breathe that same fire, even if it gets me killed. “You killed my mom. You destroyed my leg. You took my voice away. You murdered any person, man or woman, that tried to be my friend. You did everything you could to cut me off from any help that may have been offered to me. You’re not a good man, Matteo. You never have been.”
He laughs back at me, flicking a hand at me dismissively. “And you think Johnny is? He’s far crueler than I am with his kills. He taught me half of his tricks, back before the French slut ruined everything.”
I grit my teeth. “That’s your problem; you don’t want friends. You want to own people, and Illi and I have never been the type to bow down to your rules.”
He drums his fingers against the table, glaring over at me and then nods at me like I’ve agreed with something he’s said. “I can see you’ve been tainted here. I think your time at Hannaford is over, little Wolf. We need to go home and wipe you clean of all of these new ideas. Rich people can have dreams, and love, and free will. But we are not rich people. We are the lurking shadows.”
I grip my knife and his eyes track the movement. I don’t care that he knows, that he’s watched me just as closely as I’ve watched him. I’m not going with him without a fight.
“You’re a rich man now, Matteo. You may still stand in the shadows but you’re richer and more powerful than god. Just not to me.”
He stands and I see the gun in his hand, he’s had it pointed at me the whole time. I knew it but seeing it pisses me off. Fine. We’ll play this his way for a little longer. I just need to be patient.
“Let’s go, Starbright. I’m looking forward to wiping you clean from all that this school has done to you.”
I stand and keep my hand around my knife. He smirks at me and puts his gun away, motioning for Luca to get my arm. I force myself not to tense as his fingers wrap around my elbow but he’s gentle enough with me that it’s not so hard.
The moment the Jackal is no longer watching me, Luca drops his hand away and when I glance up at him he gives me a stern look. I frown.
The Jackal walks ahead of us, lazy and confident in his stride and he never sees it coming.
Luca wraps an arm around his neck and squeezes.
Holy fuck.
Holy. Fuck.
I stand there like an idiot as the Jackal scrambles against his most trusted and loyal supporter, a man who’s been with him since the very beginning, but Luca is bigger and stronger than Matteo and holds firm, even when his arms begin to bleed from the deep gouges Matteo leaves.
The door to the dining hall bursts open and Ash storms through, gun drawn and wild looking, with Harley on his heels. I stare at them both, at the blood on Harley’s hands, and then back to Luca who is now laying an unconscious Jackal down on the floor.
He’s not dead, not yet.
“WHAT THE FUCK MOUNTY?!” Harley roars, and I blink at him.
I think my brain is a little broken.
Luca gives me a wry smirk and then shocks the shit out of me. “I’ve been waiting to do that to him for years, princess. It felt as good as I thought it would.”
I turn to look at him but I can’t get my head around his words. He’s never been anything but loyal to the Jackal and now he’s standing over his prone body. I just… I can’t figure this out.
He chuckles at me and I glance out the now open doors at the other flunkies but they’re all on the floor, bleeding and groaning. Fuck, I forgot how good Harley and Ash are.
The sound of feet slapping on the wood floors has us all tense and then Blaise and Avery bolt through the door, looking frazzled and desperate.
“Good fucking use you two are!” Ash snarls at them both, but Avery ignores him, stumbling over to me and wrapping her arms around my waist. I’ve never seen her so shaken.
Luca plants a foot over the Jackal’s throat in case he wakes up and says, “Atticus sends you his personal regards and would like you to know he’s been watching you for a long time. Now he is sure Miss Beaumont is guarded by such a capable and competent friend he would like to assure you he will not hesitate to offer you any help necessary. That includes me.”
Holy.
Sweet.
Lord.
He’s a double agent. A spy. A fucking made man in the Jackal’s den, spying on the psycho’s every move, and I never would have guessed it. The Jackal clearly hasn’t either. Luca has been trusted with everything since the very beginning of the Jackal’s reign of terror in the Bay. Fuck.
Atticus is good.
“I guess he’ll know now that you’re a spy,” I say, breaking the silence.
We all stare down at the Jackal and Luca shrugs. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll drop him home and head back to the Crow. I’m sick of watching the sick fuck hurt people anyway.”
I nod and then pull away from Avery to hold my hand out to him. “Thanks for breaking your cover for me. I hope it was worth it.”
He grins at me and tugs me into a hug. “Like I’d let him kill you, princess. Even if I wasn’t on orders from the boss, I’d have figured a way out for you. It’s time for me to go home, it’s been too long.”
Ash finally lowers his gun but he’s still staring at Luca like he wants to shoot him. Harley shakes himself out of his stupor and stalks over to me, so fast I don’t realize he’s moving until he’s pulling me away from Luca’s arms and running his hands over me to check for blood and bruises.
“Are you okay? Did he touch you? Tell me he didn’t touch you, babe. What the fuck were you thinking?!” He says, voice hoarse and panicked. I catch his wrists in my hands and pull away.
“I was thinking he wasn’t leaving without seeing me and I needed to face him. He would’ve killed you if I had brought you guys. It’s fine, I told Illi-”
“We know what you told Illi, who the fuck do you think called us?” Ash snaps, and I glance up to see him staring down at the Jackal, his eyes like black voids. Luca steps in front of the Jackal’s prone form.
“You can’t kill him. The Twelve will come after the Wolf if you do. There’s a process that needs to be followed.” He says, hands out placatingly.
Ash’s gaze doesn’t waver from his perusal of the Jackal. “The Twelve are choosing sides as we speak and we have Atticus, don’t we? Without this dickhead, we’ll be able to take on the rest.”
Luca shakes his head. “He’s been recruiting. There are other members who have sided with him. They don’t like the Crow cleaning things up. There’s a lot of talk about the Vulture’s business being disbanded. They’re criminals for a reason, they don’t have morals. Even the Bear isn’t happy with the skin markets being gone. He used to sell in them as punishments to his followers. We have to let him g
o and do this the right way.”
Ash sneers at him and I sigh, stepping in. “He’s right. The Crow can’t defend against nine other members.”
Luca shrugs. “Five. The Jackal has five that have followed him. He’s working on the Boar but he’s very reluctant to side with him over you.”
I startle. “Over me? Why the fuck would he side with me?”
Luca shrugs again, grabbing his phone and tapping out a text. “We can’t figure that out either. The Jackal is going fucking insane over it, but the Crow can’t find a reason why either. He just says it’s a blood thing. Whatever the fuck that means. Bikers are a strange breed.”
I groan. Will anything ever be straightforward and simple?!
“Fine. Take him and drop him off. I’ll call the Crow later and we can… discuss plans.”
Luca nods and grins at me again, swooping down to kiss my cheek and making Harley growl at him like a rabid fucking dog.
“I guess I’ll have to carry him out myself now you’ve incapacitated my men, O’Cronin.” Luca jokes and Harley snaps at him, “It’s Arbour, dickhead.”
We head back to the room for a debrief and Avery’s handshakes in mine the whole walk back. I feel awful for not warning her and also a little shocked at how badly this has affected her. I mean, I’ve known all along we’re family now but to know just how much she cares is still jarring.
Harley won’t stop touching me, clutching at my hand if I move away from his arms, and I think I made a mistake in going down without telling them.
Avery makes us all tea, even though we all said no when she offered to make them, and I clear my throat in an attempt to move the lump in my throat. “I’m sorry I didn’t wake anyone. I didn’t know Luca was a plant. I thought I’d have a better chance getting him out of here if I wasn’t worried about him killing one of you.”
Blaise nods but he’s staring at his feet, refusing to meet my eyes. Fuck.
Ash takes the cup Avery hands him but doesn’t sip it. “There were a lot of options you had, Mounty. This won’t work if you don’t trust us. Not just the relationship, the whole fucking family won’t work if you run off towards the threat to sacrifice yourself at every sign of danger.”