family. They have no idea what’s happened, only that Aodhan has had to remove me from Atticus’ care once again and they’re out for his blood.
Thank God they’re thousands of miles away in Texas dealing with bikers, blood and death.
“Did he hurt you?” Jack murmurs again, his eyes sliding off of the road to look me over again. I shake my head and he frowns at me, clearly thinking I’m lying.
“I didn’t see him. I didn’t see anyone, I just… found something. I wasn’t safe there, especially if he found out that I’d seen it.” My voice is too soft, too fucking fragile once again, but he finally looks as though he believes me.
We make it through the busy downtown and past all of the seedy bars that Lips spent her teenage years working her jobs in, collecting information and doing hits on unsuspecting criminals. I know nothing about what it means to frequent those places, but I know everything about what it takes to be the Wolf. Every scenario that Lips has ever run me through flicks through my head as if on a movie reel, the ways she was cornered and fought back, all of the times she took down men three times her size with nothing but her knife and an uncanny ability to read the situations she was in.
I’m constantly in awe of her.
“The loft is secure and private. Barely anyone knows it exists and only mo rí and I know he’s the one who owns it. I’ll stay with you.”
I nod and try to smile at him, but it’s stiff at best. We’re only a block away from Illi’s warehouse apartment when he turns into an old grocery store parking lot, parking the car in the darkest corner possible. It’s filthy and not at all what I was expecting, with a few cars parked closer to the store’s doors. It’s a twenty-four hour place, the type you expect to get shot in for a dollar, and I’m instantly uneasy.
“There is absolutely no way on this Earth that I’m going in there,” I say, my tone exactly that of a spoiled rich brat.
It makes complete sense.
“Relax, Queenie. This is just the hiding place for the entrance. Nobody comes here, no one except some old gang members marked by the Ox and working girls who’re desperately flirting with death. No one would ever guess the loft was here too.”
I grimace and nod because he’s correct, I would never guess that Aodhan would willingly sleep near this place. Jack gets out of the car and walks around to get my door, giving me an arm to hold like a gentleman. I almost stumble on my feet because I’ve forgotten that I’m wearing flat shoes, my outfit completely out of my usual attire.
No wonder Jack was so worried.
“It’s through here; we should move quickly so we’re not seen,” Jack murmurs quietly even though there’s no one around us, and I let him lead me past the grocery store building and down the alley to an old fire escape.
Never had I ever thought I’d be climbing one of these but tonight has been a nightmare so why the hell not?
Jack ushers me up first, following closely behind and promising he’ll catch me if I slip and fall. It’s sweet and everything, but I hadn’t even considered that I might slip and now my knees are shaking like a freaking leaf.
When I finally get to the top, there isn’t a door waiting for me at all, only a small platform to stand on and a window that is barred with a blackout curtain on the inside so I can’t see a thing. When Jack heaves himself onto the tiny platform with me, I start to panic a little that maybe he’s not such a good guy and he’s going to throw me off of the side of the building.
He grins at me and pulls a key out, sliding into a hole I hadn’t noticed in my freakout, and the window swings open like a mini door.
“After you, Queenie. Your tower awaits.”
Chapter Two
The loft is… something out of a dream.
Nothing in it is to my specific taste, I can’t imagine ever picking anything in here out for myself, but it’s all absolutely freaking perfect. The floors are all old wood, worn and warm, the kind of beauty that can’t be bought new but has to be broken in over decades.
There’s a new rug in dark greens and grays in the kitchen area,