All Hail - J. Bree Page 0,4

she admits it everything will fall apart.

I know the feeling well.

Ash huffs as he sits down and knocks back the entire glass of bourbon Blaise poured for him in one go. I roll my eyes.

The dramatics are about to start.

He opens his mouth and Lips cuts him off. “I can’t eat if you’re going to argue. If you want me to finish my plate then you’ll have to leave it off for tomorrow.”

Blaise snickers at the end of the table. “Way to shut him down, Star.”

Ash shoots a glare at him but Harley elbows him. “Just leave it. You’ve been fucking ranting for weeks about it, Floss is fine. She’s a big girl, she can make her own choices.”

Ash doesn’t look at all like he’s going to back down but then Blaise distracts him with some stupid plan for their trip and Lips piles on with plans for picking up her little sister Posey from Mississippi.

I need to have a full background check on Poe’s entire MC family before they make it there. If there’s anything that flags, we’ll need to get her out of there. Now, I know that chances are the Devil himself will have been thorough about where he allows his beloved sister to live but it can’t hurt to look into it myself.

I’m not very fond of bikers.

The Boar is very firmly on my shitlist for lying to Lips about their relation for so long. They were both members of the Twelve for years and not once did he bother to mention to her that not only did he know who her father was but that he was actually her uncle.

He might have helped take down the Jackal but he’s still not someone I will ever trust.

Once dinner is over, I scrub the kitchen down and deep clean the oven. Lips hangs around with me for a while before Ash drags her off to bed, still pissed off at the world and probably wanting to hate-fuck his angry right out.

Thank God for the sound-proofing I thought to put into this place.

There’re things a girl doesn’t need to hear her brother doing and my bestie is one of those things.

When everything is finally shining to my standards and the chaos in my head has settled a little, I park myself on the couch with my phone to work through some leads I’m already chasing on the Graves siblings. I get the TV going in the background with something that won’t draw in my attention at all and none of my old favorites that are sure to make me spiral into a self-pity party.

I leave that to Blaise.

It’s quiet for over an hour and I assume I’m the only one awake so when Harley creeps into the living room and sits down next to me I hold in a sigh.

I knew he was too accommodating at dinner.

I toe my slippers off and then prop my feet up in his lap because if I’m going to be forced to listen to whatever he’s going to throw at me then I should get a foot rub in.

He huffs at me like he always does but gets to work anyway, his thumbs pressing into the arch of my feet just the way I like it. I’d won a bet against him for free foot rubs in freshman year and I’ve never been so happy with being right.

I knew he’d fall for the Mounty girl, I just didn’t realize at the time that we all would.

“I need to know that you’re not going to do anything stupid while we’re gone.”

I side-eye him. “Since when do I do stupid things? That’s your job.”

He huffs at me again and keeps his eyes on the reality show on the TV. He looks so much younger and calmer than the guy I’ve spent the last four years of high school with. He looks happy.

Still, I desperately want to feel the same way.

“Floss, you haven’t been… right since the Jackal took you. I don’t know what happened in there and Aodhan has promised me that he was with you the whole time but I know something happened. I know you. I know something hurt you too deep for you to talk about it and Lips told me to leave you alone about it but I’m not sure I can wait you out.”

The soft and sincere tones cut right through me.

I don’t want to cry and I can’t afford to slip into pity for myself or worse. I