All Hail - J. Bree Page 0,33

idea of a good time. I’m safe. You can check in on the cams whenever you need to and I promise that I won’t let anyone touch your cars. I love you. I want you to be happy.”

He exhales for long enough that I’m sure he’s torn but finally he says, “I love you too, Floss. If anything happens to you again… none of this is worth it if you’re not safe.”

I swallow roughly as the doorbell rings and I hang up to answer it.

The takeout delivery guy is young and definitely not from around here because he stares at my house in awe. It’s funny and not something I used to so I try to

He hands over the bag and turns away, his feet stumbling a little.

“Oh. Did you… ah, did you know about this photo here? I think someone is pulling a prank on you.”

My stomach drops as I turn around.

The guy points at the other door, the side I didn’t open and when I take a step out to look at it, slowly bend down to set the bag of food on the ground so it doesn’t slip through my fingers as I stare at the photo of myself that’s been nailed to my front door.

My eyes are crossed out in blood.

Chapter Nine

It’s annoying to have to call Illi right back to my house but there’s no way I’m sleeping here alone tonight if I have some crazed stalker sending me death threats. I think twice about messaging Atticus about it and instead I call Aodhan to tell him.

He comes right over.

I open the door for him and he grins at me, leaning down to kiss my cheek and I take in a deep lungful of his cologne. He smells like he just got out of the shower and my mind starts wondering about what it is that he’s been doing while my life was getting more complicated.

The smirk he gives me is all sorts of teasing Irish charm. “Do you ever wear normal clothes? Like, shirts and sweatpants? You always look like you’re about to have dinner with a diplomat when shit goes down.”

My legs should not get weak at the rasp of his voice, I’m better than that, but the sound of it tugs my mind back to that little bubble we were both in… when my mind forgot that the Jackal was the one making the decisions. I shrug. “These are normal clothes for people who aren’t Mounty street urchins. You might want to raise your bar because I’m not lowering mine.”

I ignore the flutters in my stomach at the low chuckle he gives me, his hand slides slowly down the bare skin of my arm until his finger thread through mine. “You raise a lot of things in me, Queenie, don’t worry about that.”

There’s another booming knock at the door and Aodhan groans as I pull away from him to let Illi in.

“This is high school all over again,” Illi snarks out, his hair wet like I got him out of the shower to be here, and Aodhan quirks an eyebrow at him.

“I can’t imagine you walking the halls of a high school but I’ve got to tell you, it was nothing like this for me.”

I roll my eyes at them both but I am happy to see them getting along a little better. “He’s talking about my high school experience. It was full of stalkers and serial killers. All we need now are some heads to show up in cardboard boxes.”

Illi tips his head to the side like he’s considering it. “Look, that might be exactly what we need here. Maybe you should call Lips and set something up with the psycho.”

I stiffen a little but Aodhan doesn’t make a comment, thank God. Something about Atticus’ reaction to Nate makes me nervous for Aodhan to know about Lips’ brother.

“That is an option on the board… I knew taking care of the Jackal and Senior wouldn’t be the end of things but I was hoping for a break at least.”

Illi huffs and runs a hand over his face. “Please don’t tell me you have an actual murder board hung up somewhere in this fucking place that the pigs just got an eyeful of? The Feds will end up on our fucking tails if I have to go kill them all.”

I could keep it a secret.

I could but I won’t because while my family is away these two have become my safety net and