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I agreed, too, but I couldn’t say it out loud. I couldn’t give voice to that fear or I might jinx my fate and make it happen. Manifest the worst or something.
Just then, I heard footsteps streaming into the kitchen. We’d been sitting around the island watching Ryker make dinner. I was still covered in blood and had just come in moments before. But I hadn’t been able to keep it to myself before my shower.
I turned to see who walked in and found Amara with a face of pure frustrated rage.
“What the fuck did you do to Thackeray?” she demanded.
“What does it matter?” I asked.
“It fucking matters,” she spat. “Itsofucking matters. You’d have to be an idiot to think you could get away with this!”
“I guess call me an idiot, but I followed my instincts. I had to follow them, they were like a voice in my ear screaming at me what to do.”
“Screaming at you?” she raged. “Next time you hear that voice, know that it’s mine! I’m the one screaming around here, and I’m screaming at you to keep your shit together and keep the family safe!”
“Okay, since you’re such an expert,” I sneered at her. “You tell me what you would have done if that opportunity had come up. How does this hurt me? How does it hurt anyone other than his family who just didn’t know about what a fucking monster he was.”
“It hurts because it puts the whole Organization on high alert. That makes it more difficult for those of us who are monitoring them, because they’ll take everything into the shadows. They’re scared now, and they’re hiding their faces.”
“You can’t expect me to come through everything that’s been done to me and act like a kitten,” I said, reining in my anger. “After what happened, it turned me into a fucking lion.
“She’s got a point,” Ryker said, staring at Amara. “You can’t expect her to fight for freedom and let you put a leash on her. Everly isn’t that kind of woman, you should have figured that out by now.”
“She isn’t being leashed,” Amara said, exhaling a long expulsion of breath. “Fuck, you lot are annoying. I haven’t asked any questions about what’s going on here with your little love fest but it’s fucking irritating to have five against one.”
She waved her hand at the group of us, and I realized she must know what our relationship was all about but hadn’t asked about it before.
“We’re fucking,” I snapped and glared at her. “If that’s what you need to report back to dear old dad. I’m fucking all of them.”
“That’s not, I didn’t mean,” Amara sputtered and her cheeks went a scarlet red. “It’s none of my business. But I would hope they could talk some sense into you when things needed to be said.”
“We’re on her side, always,” Kingston said with a low, dangerous tone. “Never forget that, and tell everyone around here. We will always do what’s best for Everly, and we will always follow her lead.”
Amara’s head snapped to Archer and Valen and she said, “How about you two? You’re the rich kids with the most to lose, what do you say about all this?”
“Everly is the heart of us, our little queen,” Archer said, raising an eyebrow. “There’s no way I’d go against her.”
“You heard them,” Valen said. “I mean, I know I’m just repeating what everybody else said at this point but it’s all true. Everly is the heart of our group, she runs the show. If she felt like slicing that fucker’s throat was the thing she needed to do, then we support it. It will help her heal after all the shit she’s been through.”
“And it seems to me that if you or her father were so worried about her, maybe he should have been here all along,” Ryker said, his eyes piercing and accusatory.
“Where was her dad when she was being molested and abused for the Organization?” Kingston added.
“Why wasn’t he there to keep her safe?” Archer asked.
“If he didn’t want to deal with her killer instincts, he should have been in her life,” Valen agreed.
“So there you have it,” I laughed and turned to her. “You’re not going to get anywhere if you try to turn them against me. They’re loyal to me and my needs above all.”
“I see,” Amara said, and then her clenched jaw softened and she tilted her head. “And I’m sorry, Everly. I don’t know the reason Ivan wasn’t around, your father I mean. But I do know that we should have known the Organization would use you to hurt him. Staying away didn’t protect you, we should have been there for you.”
“You weren’t there when I was broken,” I said, “and you don’t understand how these guys have healed me. They’ve put me back together. But you’re here now, and you can see it now. Tell my father he needs to come to me if he wants a say in how I behave. If he doesn’t, then he can get the fuck out of my way.”
“Message received,” Amara said, and looked around at my gorgeous guys. “You’re a lucky girl. Despite everything you’ve been through, you’re damned lucky.”
“I know,” I grinned. “I seriously thank whatever god brought them to me every day.”
Amara left then, and I had to go shower and throw my clothes in the washer. I didn’t want one of Archer’s staff finding them covered in blood and freaking out about it.
