Page 6 of Little Fury

“Yeah, sent.”I sigh.“It was an odd situation. I was adopted. There was a stipulation in the adoption contract that stated, if anything was to befall my parents and they died or were unable to continue to raise and provide for me in the manner as to which was agreed upon, I would be sent to Harry.”

“Harry has a last name?”

“He does, but it’s not important. Harry’s place was not a run-of-the-mill situation, but I was raised to be polite and do as I was told. Stoicism was the family motto.”I chuckle a bit at that, remembering my parents.

“I got out of the hospital two days after the accident. I had no injuries except for some bruises and a fewcuts. I think I had about a dozen stitches here and there.”I stop for a moment, feeling the sadness of that day, remembering what I lost that day. Jake grabs my hand, lacing his fingers with mine.

“A woman named Beth was there to pick me up from the hospital. She took me to my home and helped me pack my things. Books, clothes, some toys, Mr. Waffle and Miss Mushroom.”

“I’m sorry?”

“What part is confusing you big guy?”

“Ava.”exasperation and warning in his voice.

“Stuffed animals, Jake. Squirrel and goat, respectively.”He turns and looks at me, seeing if I’m joking. When he sees I’m not, he scrunches his eyebrows and nods at me.

“Anyway, after I left the hospital, I was sent to The Ranch. The ranch is not a ranch as much as it is a school of sorts. What I learned there was unconventional, but all of it useful. Just useful to a very niche market.”Jake doesn't push and doesn’t ask for more details. He lets my words fade out.

Why the fuck is he taking this all so well?So, in stride—like it’s a story he’s heard before.

Jake shifts on the bed, bringing me out of my thoughts. I take another grape from the tray and pop it into my mouth. I’m about to continue when I hear my phone. I look at Jake with a silent question.“I went to your car and grabbed your phone and bag for you while you were in the bathroom,”he informs me.

“Ahh,”I say.“Thank you.”I rise to get my phone, but Jake stops me and grabs it for me. If I had to guess, I'd guess Harry is calling me. He’s old and hates texting, so he usually calls me. Jake hands me my phone, and I sigh at the 30 or so notifications. There are three missed calls from Harry and one text from him that reads,

You better be alive, you little shit, or I’m going to drag you back from the afterlife just to kill you again myself.

As far as texts go from Harry, that one is quite lengthy and shockingly typo-free. I know instantly that Beth texted it for him; I can picture Harry handing his phone to Beth and telling her what to text and Beth cleaning up his wording and only allowing the term“little shit”because he is communicating with me.

The other messages are from three of my guys. They all say the same thing:

• Are you alive?

• Harrison had to return home.

• The house is spick and span

• it’s a beautiful day for a drive.

We have a simple code but it tells us everything we need to know in as few words as possible.

Three of the four are safe and have made sure to get out of the city fast using whatever escape plans they each had in place. I feel the tension I was holding loosen, knowing that 3 of them are still alive. Losing Harrison hurts; I adored that old Englishman, and his abilities with a rifle and scope were things of beauty. He would sing some bawdy old songs when he drank too much, and we enjoyed making fun of him for it. I feel my eyes sting, so I head into the bathroom to splash some cold water on my face.

When I return to the bedroom, Jake isn’t there, but I watch as the lights turn off on his path back. I’m just standing in the middle of the room when he returns. Unsure of what to do now. I know I need to leave. I need to get as far away from here as possible. No matter how careful I was, what if someone knew about Jake? Him dying because of me wouldbreak me. I know it would. That little bit of humanity I still have would completely cease to exist.

Jake comes up behind me and nuzzles into the back of my neck. He reaches up, removes the towel from my head, and lets my hair tumble over my back. He drags his hand down my arm and clasps my hand as he starts to lead me to the bed. I resist him.

“You promised me you would rest for at least a few hours, Ava.”

I don't bother arguing and reminding him I never promised, but I don't want to leave him yet, and I’m exhausted.

I let him lead me to the bed and get into it as he pulls the comforter back. He pulls the blanket around me and moves towards the door to turn off the overhead light and close it. The room is cast in a soft glow from the lamp on the bedside table. He pads back to the bed and slips his shorts down over his hips, letting them fall to the floor. I watch him, enjoying how his body moves.

He gets in the bed, choosing to leave the lamp on. He moves closer to me, slipping his arm under my neck. He slides one of his legs between mine and pulls my leg to lay over top of his. He drapes his other arm across my hips carefully to avoid the injury on my side.

We’re silent for a while, lying together, my face buried in his chest. I breathe him in. He smells of whiskey and citrus, always with the subtle antiseptic note from working at the hospital. I love how he smells. He smells like Jake, like everything that makes him who he is. His scent envelops me, making me feel warm.

He runs his fingers up and down my spine, eliciting shiver after shiver from me. My nipples harden more with each pass of his fingers on my back. I move closer to him, trying to feel as much of him as possible. I feel him grow hardagainst my stomach. My nipples harden in response to his body

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