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If I swung that way…
“Ava Jade,” Rook said, and I hadn’t heard him say my real name in so long that I startled at the sound of it leaving his lips, my stomach flipping. “Do I need to be worried?”
He glanced between Becca and me, speaking just loud enough for me to hear him over the music.
I snorted, shaking my head as I swatted him. “No. But just because I don’t order from that menu doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the options.”
“Hey,” I grabbed his chin hard, tugging his gaze back to me. “I can read the menu. Not you.”
His lips split wide, teeth grazing over the ridge of his lip ring as he looked down on me.
“Aves!” Becca shouted, and instinctively, I bent at the knees, hand reaching for a blade.
“What are you doing?” she asked, holding out the small bottle of whiskey to me with a raised brow.
Fuck.I needed to relax. Just a little.
I shook my head, accepting the bottle to take a small sip, just enough to wet my tongue and feel a burn down the back of my throat. Tonight wasn’t the night to lose control, no matter how much I’d have liked to. I still couldn’t fucking believe Diesel’s nerve.
That jacket was nine hundred bones. The most I’d ever spent on an article of clothing, like, ever. The only reason I’d spent the money was because it was gang income. Money I’d earned from the diner hold-up and my winnings from fight night. With the Crows covering literally all of my other living expenses and now with a free ride at Briar Hall, what the fuck else was I going to spend it on?
A girlish voice whispered beneath the hard shell formed in my mind… shoes. Bras. Those pretty lacy panties I’d seen in Becca’s laundry. I wondered how much a pair of those cost.
I handed the whiskey back to Becca and shivered as Grey ran a fingertip down the back of my arm, slipping his hand into mine, our fingers twining. He grinned at me before leaning over to say something in Rook’s ear that I didn’t catch. Rook grinned eagerly, his black eyes flashing on me.
“Come on,” Corvus shouted, leading the way to the raised stage at the back of the space, his body a long, rigid line.
I grabbed Becca and towed her along with us as we weaved through the crowd, Rook pushing ahead to catch up to Corvus.
Around us, I saw how everyone stared.
At all of us, but mostly at Corvus.
It was easy to tell if they were staring because they knew him as The Bone Man, their eyes bright and expressions filled with a devout sort of admiration. Or… if they were staring because they now knew him as the sole survivor of the Lennox Cult Murders.
Some of those looked on with pity, others with disdain. I released Becca, flashing my blade at the latter with a warning in my stare that had them turning their heads real fucking fast.
Corvus stepped up onto the stage, looking down on Rook with his brows lowered like he didn’t particularly like something he’d just said. Axel and the others returned from their office drop off, settling onto the sofa atop the dais.
“Hey,” Grey said, leaning forward to talk to Becca on my other side. “You good chilling here with Axel and the others for a minute?”
Her face screwed up, and she cocked her head at him. “I mean, I guess so, why, what’s—”
“We need to talk to AJ real quick. Won’t be too long.”
Becca’s lips popped open in a little ‘o’ and clearly she was catching on to something I wasn’t. “Ah,” she said after a second. “Talk. I got you.”
She brushed against my shoulder. “Have a wonderful conversation,” she said in my ear, giving me a knowing look as she sauntered up the two steps onto the dais and plopped herself down on the sofa between Axel and Crowley. Axel’s eyes flicked up to meet mine for a second before he shifted a few inches away from Becca.
“So, what exactly do we need to talk about?” I asked Grey, catching sight of Corvus and Rook over his shoulder a few feet away at the edge of the raised stage, arguing about something.
“You’ll see.”
“What’s going on?”
“Trust,” he said simply, lifting our joined hands to press a warm kiss to the back of my palm. The sly gleam in his eyes gave me goosebumps, and I thought maybe I knew what they wanted to talk about.
Grey grinned, tugging me toward the door to the Red Room.
