wears with ease. “You know how this goes, I’m not answering to that name.”
The guard grimaces and snaps again, “Fine, Arbour, sit your ass down.”
Avery jolts away from the glass.
I know the decision but I’m still shocked that Ash is the one to voice it out loud.
“Get him out.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Aodhan spends the night with me after the failed attempt to add to my roster. I barely sleep, the pent-up rage and disgust at the entire Crawford family and that bitch Donnelley eats away at me until I end up down in my basement looking at the murder wall again.
I should really stop calling it that but after Illi had declared his intentions to wipe half of them from the face of the earth to clear up our schedules a little the name had stuck.
I’m completely on board with killing the Crawfords.
Holden always was a creep but seeing him last night confirmed that he needs to die whether Atticus likes it or not. He’d always told me how much he hated his family… well, he hinted at it. He was never vocal about them enough to actually say that he despised them but his disapproval of their… lifestyle was always clear.
Maybe I read that wrong.
He wasn’t happy about me being in that room but Senior always lied to my mother about what he spent his days doing as well. She found out about his true depravity the day she died and tried to leave.
Has my love and obsession with Atticus blinded me in the same way?
Sometime after the sun comes up, Aodhan finds me in the kitchen, baking out my rage and frustration with French Patisserie goods. He wisely doesn’t comment, just takes the freshly brewed cup of coffee from me and takes a seat at the breakfast bar to dig into the fruits of my insanity.
“I’m gonna get fat spending all this time around here. How the fuck is Harley jacked up and not a fucking beach ball?”
I scoff at him and push the tray of jams in his direction. “Maybe because he spends half his life either working out or chasing his Mounty around like a little lost and very horny puppy? I’m sure that in itself burns a lot of calories, he could probably afford to ease up on the weights.”
Aodhan chuckles at me and I try not to preen under his predatory gaze. He watches me like he’s coveting me, planning out everything that he’s going to do to me the moment he can, and after the pleasures I’ve had with him I’m not going to stop him.
Except if he tries anything in my kitchen.
I’m not a savage.
I’m rolling out pastry for three dozen croissants when he gets a call from Jack about a job they’re doing for the Boar and he has to head out for the day. He doesn’t look happy about it but honestly, I’m expecting a quiet day of planning and assessing before I call Lips and discuss what the hell we’re going to do about everything.
She’s on her way to Texas to kill a biker for her half-brother.
I don’t want to distract her from that job but I’m also very aware that she works best under pressure and with all of the facts. There are too many blank spaces on that wall of mine and if I want to fill them in, I’m going to have to talk it through with both her and Illi. I need to know what they’ve heard of the Crawford family. Lips has other contacts, I’m sure we’ll find out more of their story and know how best to strike them.
She could call Nate and ask him to look into it.
I brush that idea off the moment it enters my head. If Atticus is looking into Nate and what it is that he does when he’s not killing for his sisters, then we don’t want the self-aware psychopath coming back to the Bay or digging around in our delicate politics.
Aodhan presses me into the kitchen counter to kiss me senseless before he leaves, my head cradled in one of his big hands and the other on my hip to draw me in closer.
“Call me if anything happens. If Crawford shows up here, I wanna know about it. I have a few things to say to him.”
I roll my eyes at him but he doesn’t back down, holding my gaze until I give him a halfhearted nod. I’ll call him but I highly doubt Atticus will be back