Page 60 of Call It What You Want
Jackson’s voice is tight. “No fucking clue.”
“Do we know what they were after?” Lucas asks.
“Ava, obviously,” Jackson says, sending a ripple of fear down my spine. “They came straight to this room after breaking in.”
Lucas rakes a hand down his face. “I’m going to state the obvious here, but this wasclearlyShadow and Ash.”
Christian throws a sharp look at his brother. “You don’t know that. We have a million-fucking-enemies. This could have been anyone.”
Lucas’s shoulders tighten, and he’s on his brother in two quick strides, jaw clenched. “Bullshit. You and I both know this is about that cunt currently rotting in our basement. Everything leads back to him.”
Okay, now I finally understand why Eve and Wyn have been so desperate to fix this rift between the twins. The tension between them isthick,and watching them argue is like watching a bomb ticking down, ready to blow.
Christian doesn’t back down. He pushes up on his brother. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, I don’t?” Lucas says, his voice deathly calm, the promise of violence simmering just beneath the surface. “You’re fucking Sin’s sister. We’ve got him locked in our basement. And now, out of nowhere, armed men break into this house and go straight for Jackson’s wife?” He releases a sarcastic laugh. “Yeah, you’re right. No connection there at all.”
Christian lunges first, swinging a heavy fist toward Lucas’s jaw. Lucas ducks, just barely, and Christian’s punch smashes into the wall behind him, cracking the plaster.
Christian spins, targeting Lucas again, but Lucas manages to sidestep and grab Christian’s arm, twisting it behind his back. Gritting his teeth, Christian jerks his head back and head-butts Lucas, causing him to stagger back and break his hold.
Before the brothers can do any real damage, Jackson untangles himself from me and steps between the twins, a fist pressed to each of their chests. “You both need to chill the fuckout,” he growls in warning. “Someone broke intoourhouse, and we need to figure out who. We can’t do that if we’re at each other’s throats.”
With a disgusted scoff, Lucas takes a step back. “We should’ve slit Sin’s throat and dumped him in the oceanweeksago. But no, we had to spare him for Eve’s sake. Now Shadow and Ash are coming for our women.”
Eve. The girl with the dog I met in the kitchen. The same girl who snuck down to the basement and asked me not to tell anyone. Sin is herbrother?Holy shit.
“It wasn’t Shadow and Ash,” Ember’s voice cuts in, and everyone turns to look at her.
“Em—” Jackson starts, his tone patronizing and dismissive.
She appears in front of us, arms crossed over her chest. “It wasn’t.”
“How could you possibly know that?” Jackson’s voice is sharp, suspicious.
Ember clamps her mouth shut and glares at her brother. “I just know.”
I can feel the tension practically radiating off Jackson, and I’m sure he’s wondering why she’s so confident it wasn’t Shadow and Ash.
In the end, I guess he doesn’t want to get into it here, because he says, “We’ll talk about this later.” Then he turns to the twins with a pointed look. “Check if Vaughn can dig up anything on the dead one. Then see if Cash’ll take him. His grandparents’ funeral parlor has an incinerator.”
Christian lifts a brow. “He’ll expect a favor in return.”
Jackson pushes out a heavy breath. “Yeah, I know.”
There’s a brief hesitation, an exchange of glances between the twins, before they throw each other dirty looks and slip out of the room without argument.
Ember’s empathetic gaze lands on me. “God, Ava. Are you okay?”
“I think so,” I say, my voice a bit shaky. “Thank you for coming in when you did. If you hadn’t?—”
She waves her hand, stopping me. “You were a badass with that lamp,” she says with genuine admiration in her voice. “I’m just sorry I didn’t get here faster. I heard something, but I thought—” She glances at Jackson, frustration flickering across her face. “I thought it was society shit I was supposed to stay out of.”
“I’m glad you were here,” Jackson says to his sister, but the words are strained, like it cost him something to admit it. He flicks his chin toward the hall. “Now, back to your room while we get this cleaned up.”
Em rolls her eyes, muttering something under her breath, but Jackson’s voice hardens before she can move.
“And, Ember—one question before you go.”
