Page 39 of Gather the Storm

He’d issued an order, one I had to follow if I wanted the Beasts to stay.

I stood up from the bed, my earlier defeat eclipsed by something new, something mobilizing: anger.

These fuckers. They worked for me, and yeah, I’d agreed to Jace’s rules, but I’d done it because it had served my purpose.

I was going to have to remember who was really in charge here. Jace could tell me what to wear and when to eat, but everything else was on my terms. I needed to be smart, play the game, let Jace order me around when it didn’t matter and push back when it did.

I needed to take up some space or I was going to be swallowed whole by the three men downstairs.

And I wasn’t going to let that happen.

I texted back.On my way.

I added a middle-finger emoji just for fun and stood, then pulled up the boxers to show even more of my ass. I looked in the mirror and tugged the cami down until it barely covered my nipples.

Jace had invented this game. I was going to play it.

Chapter 21

Daisy

It was a happy coincidence that they’d ordered Indian food from Saffron, my favorite restaurant in Blackwell Falls. I loaded up a plate with spicy aloo gobi and creamy paneer masala, plus a couple pieces of butter naan, and tried to ignore the breeze on my ass cheeks where the fabric of my teeny-tiny boxer shorts ended.

Otis’ eyes had widened when I’d come downstairs and Wolf had swallowed hard enough that I’d seen his throat move before looking away from my barely covered chest, but the real triumph had been delivered by Jace, who’d glared like I’d put him into checkmate when he hadn’t been paying attention.

I settled on the sofa, as far away from Otis and Wolf as I could get, and dug into the food.

Apparently victory made me hungry.

They were still playing some kind of shooter game and I felt a weird kind of déjà vu, the sounds of the game transporting me back to the days when they’d played with Blake in the media room at home.

I’d never been invited to join — Blake had made it clear that he didn’t want me around his friends — but I’d been able to hear the game and their occasional conversation from the hall as I’d passed to go to the kitchen or to my room.

It felt strange to be in my mom’s house with the three men who’d been a mystery right up until the day they’d confessed to killing my brother, like I was in an alternate universe where all timelines were happening simultaneously.

If I squinted in one direction, I could almost see Blake sitting on the sofa next to me, a game controller in his hand. Across the room, my great-great-grandfather would be smoking a pipe by the fireplace while his wife — I didn’t even know her name — bent her head to her sewing.

Weird.

I finished my food in silence, glad Jace had taken a spot in one of the chairs instead of on the sofa. The only good thing about this whole situation was that he seemed as eager to avoid me as I was to avoid him.

I told myself it was because he was a dick — which was pretty much indisputable — but if I was honest it was also because hehada dick and I was more than a little curious about it, like a fly was curious about the shimmer of a spiderweb strung on a porch light.

When we finished eating, I grabbed my phone and went over my lists for the next day.

At some point, Wolf bowed out of the video game and went back to his guitar, strumming something soft and sad at one end of the sofa.

“What’s that?” Wolf asked, looking at my phone while Jace and Otis shot aliens onscreen.

“Lists for tomorrow,” I said. “Grocery store, lumber, protective gear… We need to get to work on the house.”

His blue eyes met mine over the guitar, and for a minute, I felt like I was falling into a deep clear sea. “I’ll go with you.”

“You don’t have to do that,” I said.

“I know.” He held my gaze. “But if you’re afraid to be alone with me you can just say so.”

I sat up straighter. “I’m not.”

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