Page 99 of Bleed the Shadows
Bailey popped a piece of cheese in her mouth and took a drink of the wine, then looked at the Butchers.
“So… you’re the three guys who stole my best friend.” For a long moment, no one said anything. I was getting ready to rush in for a rescue when Bailey spoke again. “Hurt her and I’ll kill you.”
After that, things were easy. Bailey told them about her job as a marketing assistant for a natural skincare company and the Butchers hedged around her questions about their work. I had to stifle a snort of laughter when Remy said they were “liaisons between local government and Blackwell Falls residents.”
Bram’s eyes had twinkled with humor over the beer bottle he’d tipped to his lip, and it felt good to know we were on the same side of the inside joke.
I brought out the second round of appetizers and Bailey asked questions about the loft: how long the Butchers had lived there, who’d designed it, and whether they ever got tired of hiking up the stairs to the second floor.
Poe hadn’t had much time to work in his studio lately, but he told Bailey about his art, and he took her down to show her his work in progress on while I cleaned up the appetizers and set out bite-sized cherry tarts and fudge-dipped chocolate chunk cookies with crumbled candy canes on top.
It was getting late when Bailey joined me in the kitchen to clean up. I bagged up some leftovers for her to take to her family — she was heading there to spend the night for Christmas after she left the loft — and waited for her to give me her verdict.
“You’re one lucky bitch, Maeve,” she finally said.
I laughed. “I tried to tell you.”
“I didn’t expect them to be so… civilized.”
I grinned. “Thought they’d pull me to the bedroom by my hair?”
“Maybe,” she admitted.
“They only do that when I want them to.”
“Rub it in, why don’t you.” She reached into the bag of cookies and stole one before I could seal it up. “God, I miss your food.”
“Well, now you can come over anytime.”
She studied my face. “You’re not coming back to the apartment, are you? Like, ever.”
I drew in a breath and pushed the leftovers toward her. “Honestly, I don’t know. We’re working on the… Ethan Todd thing. I can’t really think about the future until that’s over. Plus, I don’t know how I’ll explain this to my parents.”
“Charlotte willdie.” Bailey always called my parents by their first name.
“Right? I feel sick when I think about trying to explain it to them.” I wasn’t ashamed of my feelings for the Butchers, but there was a lot for the average person to process: their terrifying appearance, their work, the fact that there were three of them and one of me.
“You didn’t let me finish,” Bailey said. “Charlotte will die but then she’ll get over it. David will be worried but he’ll get over it too. They’ll just want to make sure you’re okay, that you’re safe, and no one can talk to those three hunks of burning love and know you’re anything but safe.”
“What makes you say that?” Of all the things I’d expected Bailey to say about the Butchers after meeting them,safehadn’t even made the list.
“Because of the way they look at you, Maeve. It’s obvious they would kill for you, and I think you know it because that’s what they’re getting ready to do.”
60
REMY
It wasthe best Christmas I’d had since being a kid. Or maybe ever.
Maeve spent the night with Bram, but even though I was jealous as fuck, I didn’t mind. Bram had a lot of catching up to do with Maeve. I wanted them to be okay, in part because I was a selfish bastard and I knew the only way it would work for Maeve to stay was if she and Bram were okay.
Maeve was up early, like a little kid, and she crept into mine and Poe’s rooms with Ray to wake us up when it was still dark outside. Bram came too, jumping on the bed like a fucking savage, acting more carefree than I’d ever seen him.
I wasn’t sure what to do with this version of him, but he was my brother in all but name and I was starting to believe that maybe Maeve was the antidote to all the heavy shit he’d been carrying around his whole life.
If anyone could bring him into the land of the living, it was Maeve with her new dog and her amazing food and her laughter ringing through the old warehouse making it feel like a real home instead of just an old building haunted by living ghosts.
I made a show of groaning but I was as excited as she was, and we all went downstairs together.
