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“Heads up,” I said, warning the others.
Jaeg leapt to his feet, putting the scotch behind his back and probably shitting his pants that it was Hettie. His shoulders sagged when he saw it was his little sister. “Ads, hey. What are you doing up?”
She stopped partway down the steps. “There was a light in the backyard, and I saw you out there in Grandma Hettie’s shed.”
Fuck. Aderyn’s bedroom overlooked the backyard, and the light she saw had been our flashlight as we rifled through the garden shed.
Callum reached for the bottle of scotch from behind Jaeg’s back, not caring if Aderyn saw it or not. And why would he. His father was a fuckin’ crime lord who orchestrated illegal fights beneath his stables that were full of expensive thoroughbreds. Hettie was a grandmother who drove a Mustang convertible and had tea every day at four. I’d still place my bets on Hettie though. She had pull in this town, and nothing scared her. Not even a crime lord.
Jaeg walked over to the stairs. “Go back to bed, Ads.”
Aderyn peered at Saint, Callum, and then North before her gaze landed on me. She bit her lip, and I saw tears pool in her eyes. “I… I stole Yoda yesterday. I’m sorry, Vic. I didn’t mean to. I saw it under your bed when my ball went into your room, and I took it.”
I stiffened, eyes narrowing.
“Yoda?” Jaeg asked. “What Yoda?”
“This one,” Aderyn said, uncurling her arms from around what I now knew was the stuffed Yoda. My stuffed Yoda. No, it wasn’t mine. It belonged to the little girl with the ocean-blue eyes. Macayla North.
I felt four sets of eyes drilling into me. There was no way I could deny it, and I wouldn’t. It would make Aderyn look like she was lying, and she wasn’t.
“Since when have you been a Star Wars fan?” Saint asked.
Callum chuckled. “Or sleep with stuffed animals.”
Jaeg, Callum, and Saint laughed. North was silent, his piercing eyes glued on me.
I pushed off the wall and walked to the stairs. “Thanks, Aderyn. I thought I lost it months ago,” I lied.
Her eyes brightened, and she smiled as she passed it to me. “Really?”
I nodded. “Yeah, kid.”
Jaeg strode over to us. He pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her head. “Go back to bed before Hettie sees you.”
“Okay.” She peered past me and glanced at Saint. He winked at her, and she smiled before she took off running up the stairs.
Jaeg snatched Yoda from my hand and tossed it to Callum. “So, Vic Gate sleeps with Yoda.”
I remained silent as the boys howled with laughter. Except North. He was still watching me.
I walked over and pulled the darts out of the board. Yoda flew through the air again, and Saint caught it. “He’s kind of cute. Are you jerking off to him?”
More howling.
I tossed a dart toward Jaeg, and it penetrated the drywall right beside his head.
“Hey, dickhead, you nearly hit me,” Jaeg said.
“If I wanted to hit you, I’d have hit you,” I replied.
Saint tossed Yoda across the room to North, but he didn’t catch it because he was still eyeing me. The stuffed Yoda hit his chest and fell to the floor at North’s feet. He bent and picked it up.
North’s fingers tightened around Yoda’s neck, and if the thing’s glass eyes weren’t already bulging, they would be now. He flipped it upside down and examined the tag.
Fuck.
His head slowly lifted, and his glaring eyes landed on me.
