All Hail - J. Bree Page 0,65
Lips. I have the recording, I can show it to you whenever you’re ready.”
She hums, a habit she’s picked up from me, and says, “I will. I’ll watch it when I get home, for now I’m happy to just kill the VP and deal with the rest when this tour is over. Anything else? How is Aodhan? And Atticus, Illi has been telling me he’s been a dick but that’s kind of his deal these days.”
God.
That’s the perfect opener and I take a deep, deep breath. She’s my best friend, my ride or die, and if I can’t tell her this absolute mess I’m in then there’s something fucking wrong with me.
One last breath. “I think I need a girl chat about the entire situation and it’s killing me that you’re not home for it.”
She huffs out her trademark laugh at me, the throaty one my brother would bleed men out for the rest of his life to hear. “I’m surprised you didn’t just climb onto your private jet to come find me for the night.”
I sit up in the bed, restless now, and prop my chin up on my fist. “I thought about it but Ash would throw a tantrum about it and we wouldn’t get a second alone. How is he? He only ever gives me safety reports when I call him.”
“He’s… good, I guess. This trip has been kind of— I mean, it’s been great, but I think we’re all still just in a weird place.”
I don’t like the sound of this. “What does that mean? Has something happened? You just told me things were great.”
She sighs. “No, nothing has actually happened but it’s like we’re all holding our breaths waiting for the bus to fucking blow up or something. Like, we can’t possibly be lucky enough to be alive and happy. It’s just… weird.”
I get it. That’s exactly how I was feeling before I found myself busy with men and politics and death threats. “I have something I want to tell you but I need two things from you first.”
“Anything, you know that.”
I’ve really missed the hell out of her. “I need to know that you’re completely alone and there’s no chance of any of the guys hearing this conversation and I need you to hear me out… to hear the entire story before you say anything. You can’t hang up on me to call… anyone else and order a hit.”
There’s complete silence on the other end of the line, then she takes a deep breath and says, “Okay. Okay, I’m definitely alone and I promise I’ll hear you out. I also promise I won’t order a hit because from the sounds of it I’ll be coming home to do the killing myself.”
It’s sweet and blood-soaked and entirely a Lips thing to say.
I move to lie back down, it’s impossible to get comfortable, and stare up at my ceiling.
And then I tell her everything.
I tell her exactly what happened in the Jackal’s lair, I tell her about Luca finding us there and keeping my secret, I tell her about the deep ache in my chest that I still feel for Atticus but there are butterflies that Aodhan has somehow freed deep in my gut and the way that I’m now desperate for them both to love me. How maybe now it’s impossible to decide between the two of them. I tell her about the dead end I’ve hit with her other siblings and the file that Atticus handed over to me about Nate’s alleged murders. I tell her about the new photo-mapping of connections I’ve started in my basement that I’ve been losing more hours than I’d like to admit just staring at and getting lost in all of the possible plays that are happening at once.
I tell her about how scared I am of how Ash and Harley will react if they find out about what the Jackal forced me to do to Aodhan and the fact that no matter how much people will try to play it off as his fault… I made the choice, not him.
Then I sit there in silence and just think about it all until she finally speaks.
“If I could go back in time and do things over, I’d be the one cutting the Jackal’s head off. Fuck, I think I would have just fucking blown the entire shithole up and been done with it.”
I laugh at her but the fact she hasn’t immediately started asking questions is soothing to