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Later, I asked Liam what that moment was about, and he informed me they all have tracking chips implanted in them, behind their ears. While that concept was baffling, it explained Ivy’s confidence in the guys finding us. I get why sharing that in the warehouse would’ve been too risky, but I’m not sure how I feel about Ivy never telling me before. I get it, the need for tracking and for secrecy. But it’s a reminder of being on the outside. I’m trying not to dwell on it.
Wells confiscated my phone, forbidding me to have any contact with my family or anyone else for that matter. Apparently, my mother’s phone was somehow infiltrated by the Skulls, so Natasha’s texts and mine were informing them of my whereabouts. That’s how Pruitt ended up at La Lune Noire on the correct night, how they knew I’d be visiting New Orleans in the first place so Scott Filmore’s father could slyly contact my grandfather, and how they knew we’d be at the dress shop.
The safe house we’re headed to is nine hours from New Orleans, in the Smoky Mountains near Gatlinburg, Tennessee. It’s dawn, so we must be nearly there. We drove straight through. Well, Liam did. I cuddled up under blankets, barely stirring.
The last remnants of his honey tone and buoyant laughter on a phone call, along with the brilliant tangerine bursts of rays anchoring the mountaintop to the sapphire skies, awaken me. An artistic portrayal of who we are together. My man who rescues me from the darkness and the symbol he used to express that colliding.
He sounds far lighter than he did last night. Maybe the stress faded away with the distance. When he hangs up with a sweet goodbye, I realize it’s Ivy that he’s so bright for this morning.
I shimmy upright, fixing my chair to meet my straightened back and checking myself in the mirror. It’s not pretty, but I had the foresight not to wear makeup, so no raccoon eyes. Bonus. Snatching my lip gloss from my bag, I dab it on and pinch my cheeks, so I don’t look like death. My hair has one of those purposefully messy dos happening—cute and wispy in a way that generally takes far too long to appear natural and can never be re-created—so I go with it.
“Morning, gorgeous,” he says, tapping my nose with a megawatt grin.
Waking up to that will never get old.
I return his smile and the greeting. “Good morning, handsome. What was that about?”
He quirks an amused brow, seemingly still lost in the humor of the conversation. “As I’m sure you know, Ivy can be a brat.”
“One of her best qualities,” I avow.
He chuckles, a mischievous twinkle sparkling in his eyes as he keeps them on the winding road. “I don’t disagree. And given the right circumstances, Wells doesn’t either. But she makes him crazy, and he flips out. So, a while back, she proposed a rule that he couldn’t punish her for indiscretions that involved the whole house. If she makes a decision he doesn’t like that involves all of us, we all get to vote on how it’s handled. So, she was calling to convince me to vote in her favor.”
I shake my head, giggling and rummaging around for my water bottle. Their dynamic is so bizarre. “And did you?”
“Absolutely,” he asserts, plucking a bottle from his door and passing it over. He’s been reading my mind lately. Endearing and a little creepy.
Swigging a gulp and swishing it around my mouth to freshen up a little, I try to comprehend how situations like this work between them all, especially since the punishment is probably of a sexual nature. Knowing Ivy, that’s why she made the rule—to irritate the hell out of Wells when he’s mad and domineering even though she craves his methods of discipline.
“Why absolutely? Would you have voted that way if you were Wells?”
“Those questions don’t really belong together, Ace. I voted in her favor because Ivy is always true to who she is, and there is no realm of possibility in which she would’ve let you be taken. She had no other option. And I’m fucking proud of everything that girl is and does.”
So many conflicting thoughts flit through my mind with that explanation. I love how Liam views Ivy. She deserves to have an army of people who see how amazing she is. But I’m a little hurt by Wells being mad because she chased me down even though I agree wholeheartedly.
“But Wells disagrees?” I ask, staring out the window at that arrogant rising sun. “He would’ve preferred she let me be abducted without her, even knowing that it was only Ivy’s chip that led you to us?”
His fingers clamp down on my thigh, playful squeezes following until I award him with my attention. “Don’t go getting your feelings hurt. He would’ve still risked his life to save you without question. We would have done things differently to ensure we didn’t lose you.” He sighs softly, as though he’s reconciling both sides—my wounding and Wells’s aggravation. “But when it comes to Ivy, he only sees the right option as the one where she’s safe at home, preferably in his arms.”
“Yeah,” I concede, knowing that’s the truth. The thought of her putting herself in danger vexed me. I’m sure it was utterly tormenting to Wells. “I guess I see that.”
“Hey,” Liam croons, clutching my hand in his. “You’re important to him. He told me you were family, not because of Ivy and not because of me. He respects you. Other than Natasha and of course Tom before he passed, no one outside our house makes that list. But he can’t breathe without Ivy, which means when she’s involved, everything gets blurred.”
“And if your wife did what Ivy did, you’d be different?” I swallow, keeping my best poker face intact, not sure where I’m even heading with that inquiry.
“Fuck no.” He kisses my knuckles, winking at me in a quick side-eye ogle. “I’d spank her ass so she couldn’t sit down for a week.”
That has me both laughing and squirming a bit in my seat. We’ve yet to venture into spanking. “But you told him to let her off the hook,” I argue.
“Exactly.” He snatches his sunglasses from a pouch above his head, the morning light finally becoming blinding. “Because she’s mine in a completely different way. I get the freer part, to honor the spirited side of her. That’s what makes our relationship special. We’re there for each other, able to see one another with a wider lens. And I never have to worry because I know Wells will take care of her. He’s got her covered. I wouldn’t change a thing.”
I wish my mom could hear him talk about Ivy. She’s been so hung up on how they all fawned over her at Tom’s funeral and how they all live together now. But Liam’s love for Ivy isn’t the threatening kind.
Pulling my legs up to my chest, I twist sideways to face him, my hand still clasped inside his. “My mom and dad have a beautiful marriage, and Tom and Natasha did too. I grew up, hoping for that. As I got older, it seemed like a shot in the dark. But Ivy and Wells put it all to shame. They’re so passionate. It’s not something you see very often.”
“No, it isn’t. But we make shots in the dark easily,” he quips with that beaming smile again. “I’ve never seen anything like Wells and Ivy falling in love, but there are no two people more deserving.”
This moment is so intimate, the mountain road leading us into the radiant sky, puffs of white outlined in threads of gold, Liam soft and open. I want more.
