All Hail - J. Bree Page 0,5
can’t think about what really happened in that room.
I blink away tears and clear my throat until the lump shifts a little. “The Jackal is dead. The hurt is all that’s left to worry about and I need some quiet to heal from that. I promise, if there was something you could… kill or avenge for me, I’d tell you. There’s nothing left to do but get through this.”
He nods and shifts to put my feet back down on the ground before he tugs me into a hug. “Ash isn’t the only one who breathes for you, Floss. I’d level fucking cities for you, any of us would. If you need some quiet then it’s yours, just… just don’t drown in it.”
Chapter Two
The bus arrives in the early afternoon, empty but with a driver who barely bats an eyelid at Blaise and Harley snarking at each other. Lips looks a little wary of him but when he ignores the rampant PDA she’s getting from all three of her guys she relaxes a little.
The bus is packed and ready to go in no time and I start to go about hugging them all goodbye. Blaise is the quickest and easiest, I swear he’s still half convinced that if he hugs me for longer than a second Ash will assume we’re secretly in love and kill him which is utterly ridiculous considering they’re both dating my best friend.
Harley’s hugs always feel as though he’s trying to break my heart in half because I feel every inch of the sadness and loneliness in him that I did the very first time we hugged after we got him out of juvie. Maybe it’s just in my head, maybe he really is whole now that he’s found his place in the world, but still I feel gutted when I finally let him go to pull Lips into my arms.
She hugs me without hesitation now, clinging to me just as fiercely as I cling to her.
I might be the one pushing for this time apart but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to miss her so badly my heart is hurting in my chest. I have to focus on my breathing to keep it even, to stop the panic from clawing at my throat and stealing the ability to speak to her.
I’m not just saying goodbye to my brother.
I’m saying goodbye to the last four years of living and breathing my family, these four people who have occupied every second of my time and energy.
It’s six months away from each other. Six tiny months but it might as well be all of eternity, my heart breaks the same way.
“Call me. All the fucking time, just text me for no reason at all. I’m really going to miss you. Is it too late to run away together? The Caribbean is still an option.”
I snort at her and blink quickly to stop any tears from falling. “I think Harley would duel me for your hand. Ash would throw the biggest tantrum about it too, I couldn’t deal with it without bleeding him out.”
Lips chuckles and pats the knife strapped to my hip. “You could too. I’d pay to see you use it.”
And then there’s Ash.
He hugs me like he’s scared I’ll disappear the second he lets go.
I hug him back the exact same way.
It doesn’t matter how much our lives change, we came into this world together and from our first breaths we’ve been at each other’s sides through all of the hell we’ve been put through. Even these six months apart might just be too much but I have to try.
I have to get some space to work through what was done to me.
There’s the sound of a car pulling into the drive and Ash turns me until his body is covering me entirely as though we’re about to be shot at, ignoring me when I huff at him in annoyance.
“What the hell is O’Cronin doing here? Did you know he was coming?”
I ignore the snarl in his voice and carefully step around him to find Aodhan and Jack in the driveway, getting out of the car and grinning at Harley.
Harley doesn’t look like either of them. Where he’s all fair hair, blue eyes, and gold skin, his Irish cousins are dark hair, green eyes and roguish grins. Aodhan is just as tall as Harley and just as broad but without the muscle mass Harley put on in the last few years of hitting the gym hard