All Hail - J. Bree Page 0,51

that even Illi won’t be able to catch the words, “Do you need me to call la Loup? Or Ash?”

I realize my hands are trembling.

I look over at Illi and he’s staring at me like he’s expecting me to start screaming and breaking his plates. I mean… they are the worst shade of red I’ve ever seen. It’s as though Illi wants everyone to think he’s serving food in bowls of blood. There’s a whole plethora of reds he could choose from and he goes with that shade?

Unacceptable.

“O’Cronin, take her home and leave her alone. If she starts smashing shit, don’t stop her,” Illi says, and I roll my eyes at him.

Aodhan looks mildly confused but he gets up.

“I’m fine.” My voice doesn’t sound right even to my own ears.

Illi huffs. “No woman who has ever said she’s fine in the history of women was actually fine. Between the spit on your shoes and the idea of the Crow stooping to that level you’re done for the day. I’ll call the kid, let her know to call you later.”

I very carefully straighten up and shake my hands out but nothing stops the shaking.

Joey was bad before he started taking drugs.

He was vicious and violent, he was petty and jealous of Ash and I. Mom loved us both a lot more than she loved him, even though it upset her to feel that way. She knew there was something wrong with him but nothing she ever did would fix him. He was jealous that Ash loved me too. He was jealous that he wasn’t going to have a partner in crime, that Ash would rather walk into my father’s rooms of pain and death and die for me than ever let that horror touch me.

The drugs just made everything worse.

The fights Ash and I would have when he and Blaise first started smoking weed together, I was so angry at him for daring to touch it. What if he changed? What if the drugs made him hate me too?

What if the violence in him suddenly shifted and became like the violence in Joey?

I only let it go because it helped with his anxiety and insomnia, but I would never have accepted him taking anything stronger. The handful of times Blaise had tried harder drugs I threatened him with rehab.

How could Atticus do this?

“Fucking Christ, that’s why you don’t let little rich bitches come play with the big hitters. Can’t even handle a little bit of blood, why the fuck the Wolf would keep you around is beyond me. Unless she’s fucking you too, what’s one more in her bed?”

The fog of my panic lifts just enough for me to notice the room get very quiet, very quickly.

I run my hands down my legs as a very dangerous calm settles over me.

Harbin lets out a breath. “I’m not gonna dig you outta this. I’m just gonna watch you bleed.”

Roxas scoffs at him. “And who the fuck is gonna make me bleed?”

Illi glances over at me and then smirks. Aodhan’s eyes haven’t left me but I look back over to him and shake my head a little.

I’m over this bullshit.

I kiss Odie’s cheek and murmur a quiet ‘au revoir’ to her. I grab my purse and walk past the table, stopping at Roxas and then I lean down until I’m in his face and smirk.

I use the same tone I always do when I’m dealing with some piece of Mounty trash that means nothing to me as I tear the little illusion Roxas has built for himself to pieces, “You think you’re tough because you ride a bike? Hang out with your little friends? Or is it because your body count is so high? I wonder what would happen to you if some of those skeletons came back to bite you because you weren’t always as smart as you are now, were you? No, back before you lit your old identity on fire and started again in the Bay you were nothing but a little crackhead baby in the slums of New York. You thought I wouldn’t recognize the accent, you thought I wouldn’t make sure I knew everything about every last ally of my family? Please. You’re a worthless, poser biker who thinks killing a few men makes you brave. What happened to you as a child broke you and now you’re making it all with that patch of yours. Still, you’re trapped because you signed your life away to the Boar