turn my insides to mush, and toes off his shoes at the window to leave them with mine. “You’re becoming a seasoned escape artist; I think I’ll always be chasing after you at this rate.”
I shrug at him as he stalks into the bathroom, shedding his clothes on the way but holding onto them to throw them all in the washing basket in there. There’s no laundry in the loft that I've been able to find, so I guess he takes it all with him when he goes back to the O’Cronin compound.
He showers while I finish up with the desserts, waiting until the pan of brownies cools enough to dish us each up a bowl with huge scoops of ice cream. I have no idea if he’ll even enjoy the sugar explosion after his day, but Lips never said no to my panicked dessert baking and I need the sugar right now like I need air.
I do the cardinal sin and I sit in the bed to eat it.
I never, ever, eat in bed.
Ever.
But there’s something about this loft that makes me… different. I know it can’t actually change me as a person, I still eat so freaking carefully so I don’t spill anything, but it’s as though I can be the most calm and relaxed version of myself here.
The best Avery Beaumont I can be… without the manic, deranged psycho destroying everything with a scrubbing brush. Well, today anyway. Maybe after a good nine hours of sleep, I’ll be back to my wicked ways.
Aodhan gets out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel, raising his eyebrows at the bowl waiting for him on the counter, but he takes it without a word. The stag tattoo on his chest is magnificent, my eyes drawn to it, and the way it moves with his chest is captivating. If my mind wasn’t busy running through my conversation with Lips, over and over again, I might just be fantasizing about running my tongue over the edges of it until the shape was burned into my mind for the rest of time.
“If you’re cooking up sweets then we’re all in trouble, not that I didn’t already know,” he says as he lowers himself down onto the mattress, groaning a little.
The edge of the towel splits a little and shows me his entire leg right up to those sculpted thighs of his. I don’t want to move my eyes away from them, but there’s too much information hanging in the air around us.
Instead of saying a word, I get my phone out and I hand it to him with the photos showing.
I’d thought a lot about what I would say to him about this, whether I should lie about it or withhold the details until Lips and I had figured out a little more about what the hell is going on.
But I don’t lie to Aodhan.
Not about Atticus, not when he’s been far too understanding about the entire situation and always respected not only my feelings but my decisions when it comes to the other man who holds my heart.
“Fuck. Fucking Christ, was this in his house? Is he the one threatening you? Trying to drive you into his arms or some shit? Fuck, even Jack is up there.”
Jack and Aodhan and a handful of other O’Cronins I’ve never met before, but Lips had listed them all off to me to make note of. There were only four people she couldn’t name in the photos, but she’s going to send them through to Illi because she’s sure he’d know.
I’ll ask Aodhan too. “It was in his secret basement. Unlisted in the house plans, the Coyote didn’t even know it existed. Lips—Lips and I are still trying to figure out his motives; we have a few leads. I’m sorry I freaked out. Seeing Ash up there… broke me.”
Aodhan nods and flicks through the photos again, the spoon hanging out of his mouth. “Our night was just as bad. I think I’ve seen every inch of the human body from the inside today. Illi is too fucking good at carving people up, and he hasn’t taken the photos being out lightly. He— fuck, Queenie, he loves you the way a big brother does. He might even be more fucking fierce than Ash.”
I smile at him with the tiniest of shakes of my head. “You haven’t seen my brother in full Beaumont mode. Don’t get me wrong, Illi is definitely the Butcher and he lives up