Make My Move (Hannaford Prep #5) - J. Bree Page 0,115

Avery takes over, babbling about her dance recital that we’re going to on Monday that she’ll no doubt be the only shining star of. It takes Lips another ten minutes to get back to eating, but eventually she tucks back in. Every time it looks as though she’s about to stop eating, Ash stares her down until the entire plate is empty.

None of us are in a rush to split up and head to class, so we stay put even as the entire dining hall starts to empty out. Now that we’re done with exams I don’t want to go to class at all but Lips has to thanks to her day off yesterday, and I’ll go to watch out for her.

She looks around the room, a little too tense for my liking, and then clears her throat. “I feel like we should be talking about the dangers of doing this. I mean, we can’t even sit here and have a conversation without my…baggage coming into it.”

Fuck.

Here it is, here’s her attempt at giving us all a ‘get out of jail free’ card; I should’ve known it was coming.

Avery takes one look around the table and decides she wants nothing to do with this conversation so she clears her throat, kisses Lips on the cheek, and then walks off with her phone to give us all some privacy.

I wasn’t expecting it from her, but fuck I am glad to have it.

I cross my arms over my chest. “We’re not in this for the bet and until you get the Jackal situation under control we’ll just be more… discreet about what's going on. Our only other option is to wait until he’s not a problem anymore and I don’t want to do that. ”

Ash hums under his breath as he watches Avery across the room, ready as always to charge over there and kill anyone who dares to speak to his twin. “Is there a plan to get him to back off? Do we have any idea of how long it will take?”

Lips shrugs nonchalantly as she pushes her plate away from herself. “There is a plan but it’s not underway yet. It hasn’t been my focus. I’ve been working on more pressing issues.”

More pressing than being stalked by the Jackal?

Highly fucking doubtful.

Ash is the one who says, “I think it’s now the most pressing issue.”

Her cheeks flush. “I understand that it’s important but there’s still other things that need to be dealt with. Joey, Senior, the O’Cronin family, all of them are important to take care of as well.”

Fuck my family and their manipulative bullshit getting in the way.

I shake my head, but Morrison answers for us all. “No, top priority is now dealing with the Jackal. Your life is the one at stake and the other situations are…survivable.”

She nods and blinks like she’s worried she’ll cry, and once again I want to charge down to Mounts Bay and kill anyone who’s ever made her feel like a worthless little Mounty girl.

Myself and my family included.

I spend the entire week in Lips’ bed.

I’ve never slept so well in my life, and it terrifies me. I find myself panicked at the idea of leaving her behind to head up the coast to see my mom for more than just the obvious reasons, because after living on so little for so long, I don’t want to give this up.

The week passes us by too quickly.

On Friday, Avery demands that we clean out all of our shit from her room while she heads out for her end-of-year ballet party. There’s boxes fucking everywhere because she has a fucking ridiculous amount of shit.

I have never seen her wear a scarf, why does she have dozens of boxes of them stashed in her closet? It’s just fucking stupid.

Lips sits on her bed and radiates stressed-out energy the entire time we search for and pack our shit away. It’s nothing overwhelming or obvious, but I’ve spent too long watching her to miss it.

I start folding shirts that Avery left in a pile on her bed for me and shoving them in a bag to stay close to her. “Where are you staying in Mounts Bay? Like I said, I’m taking two weeks to visit Ma and then I’m staying in the Bay. I can get a hotel or stay with you, your choice.”

She glances around at each of us slowly like she’s reading the room. Avery is throwing things into her dance bag so she can