Page 87 of Undisputed Chaos
"You'll need backup for the final conversation," Connor said, already strategizing. "Three men are more intimidating than one."
"Absolutely. Plus, I want you both there," I bounced on my toes, that familiar restless energy crackling under my skin.
"Need you to keep me grounded. Can't have me going full psycho like—" I cut myself off, but the unspoken memory remained heavy in the air.
Connor's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. Jax's hand stilled. They knew. They'd always known about that night when I was seventeen, when years of burns and belt buckles finally snapped something inside me that should have stayed whole.
"Won't happen," Connor said quietly, voice carrying that protective edge that meant family. "We've got you."
"What about Isla?" Jax asked, smoothly redirecting as he glanced at his screen, where Estelle was navigating the academy halls.
“You planning to introduce her to our girls?”
My grin shifted into something softer, warmer. "Actually, yeah. But not some stuffy dinner at my place."
I could already picture it—neon lights, screaming rides, cotton candy, and three beautiful women laughing while their monsters watched from the shadows.
"There's that end-of-summer carnival down by the bay. Perfect for a little chaotic bonding."
"A carnival?" Connor raised an eyebrow, but his lips twitched with enjoyment. "That's very... you."
"Exactly! Ferris wheels, haunted houses, rigged games I can actually win." I gestured wildly, already planning it out.
“Bee can cling to Connor every scary ride, Star can eat poor people food again, and Isla can paint the whole damn thing from memory later."
Jax huffed, amused, the sound echoing through the gym. "Estelle only eats the best. But they’d love to meet the girl who finally tamed the wild animal.”
“Tamed me?" I scoffed, flexing my knuckles. "Please. If anything, she's unleashed something worse. More focused. More..." I trailed off, remembering the feel of my knife handle inside her, the way she'd begged for it. "More dedicated to protecting what's mine."
"That's what makes you dangerous," Connor said quietly, his eyes knowing. "You with a target is one thing. You with a purpose is a fucking apocalypse."
The last time I'd had real purpose—survival, escape, revenge—my parents had ended up in pieces.
"Noah Brown has no idea what's coming for him. No idea what happens to men who touch what belongs to us."
As if on cue, my iPad pinged with a motion alert. Isla was stirring, stretching like a cat in the morning sunlight, her blonde hair spilling across the pillow.
The three of us paused our conversation, watching our respective screens with undisguised hunger.
"You're fucking whipped already," Jax observed, though his own eyes never left Estelle.
"Proudly," I confirmed, watching how the light framed Isla’s blonde hair in sleep.
Jax and Connor nodded—the silent communication of men who'd pulled me back from edges I shouldn't have approached, who understood the monster that lived behind my playful exterior and loved me anyway.
"Just try not to make headlines," Jax drawled, but his blue eyes weresharp with protective approval. "Some of us have a public image to maintain."
I placed a hand over my heart in mock offense. "When have I ever been sloppy?”
"That first time," Connor muttered.
"Not with her," I assured, my eyes finding Isla's sleeping form on the screen once more. "Not when it matters this much."
The smile that spread across my face would have terrified most people. But not my brothers. They just grinned back, ready to help me bury another threat to our family's happiness, and ready to pull me back if the darkness got too deep.
Time to show Noah what happens when you touch what belongs to a monster.
CHAPTER TWENTY
