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“Then let’s go.”
I checked the surveillance app on my phone for the fifth time this morning as we made our way through to the loft.
On the live feed, I watched Carson shouting manically at whoever was currently stationed to watch him. There would be at least three Saints there, surrounding the cage in the underbelly of Sanctum. Having to listen to him squawk and scream for hours at a time without reprieve. Whatever switch he’d managed to keep off in his brain all this time had been flipped and the true Carson Bates was out to play in all his pathetic glory.
This feed was the only reason any of us could stand having her be alone without one of us there with her. Though she rarely was. One of us crawled into her bed in the loft with her almost every night. Taking turns. Last night Corv stayed with her so he’d already be there at her side.
It was harder than any of us wanted to admit not to take a little detour into town and carve off pieces of him to bring back and lay at AJ’s feet. But he washersto do with what she deemed fit. She would get the first taste of blood, and the last. Once she was ready. And today, with the all-clear from the doc for her to move around more than the twelve hundred square feet of the Nest allowed, it was time.
Her drains came out a few days ago and with the breathing exercises, her lung was expanding as it should be. The bullet wound was healing nicely. The scar almost a perfect match to the one Carson put in her best friend.
Marking them as sisters. Twins.
“Shit, did you do the decorations?” I whisper hissed before we reached the loft. I’d completely fucking forgotten. We were supposed to set them up after her sleep meds kicked in.
“Took care of it early this morning. Couldn’t sleep,” Rook whispered back. “You should see Corv when he sleeps with her, I’ve never seen the guy so relaxed. Had his fucking mouth open and everything.”
“No shit?”
Rook nodded, waving an arm for me to hurry up and fuck if I wasn’t excited. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d looked forward to a Christmas this much. Diesel did his best for us, but we were already mostly grown when he adopted us and the season seemed to always remind him of Jacqueline We’d do a big turkey dinner and he’d hand us a stack of bills and a beer and say not to spend it all in one place.
This one was going to be different.
The tiny box in my pocket felt like it was going to burn right through and my mouth went dry again, worrying about whether or not she would like it.
Rook flipped on a switch when we entered the loft on quiet feet and hundred tiny lights flickered on, illuminating the space in white and red light. They draped across the ceiling, wrapped around the columns, draped over the headboard. Fanned across one entire wall.
Corvus startled awake, reaching for the gun under his pillow before he saw us standing there amid the pinkish glow. He rubbed his eyes, looking around himself like he’d just woken up in fucking candyland.
He might as well have. “What the fuck did you do?” he hissed quietly, trying not to wake her, rubbing his eyes.
“You like? I think it’s gotpizzazz,don’t you?”
AJ stirred, letting out a small groan as she turned from her back onto her side, pulling her knees in close as she squeezed her eyes tighter. “No,” she moaned, her voice still raspy, but nothing could ruin the perfection of slightly grouchy, sleepy AJ. She held up a hand. “Five more minutes.”
“It’s Christmas,” Rook argued, going to kneel at her bedside, trying to pull the covers down from her face.
She dropped three fingers. “Two minutes then.”
“Come on, Ghost, open your eyes.”
“You better have coffee.”
I winced. We forgot that part. Probably my fault.
“On it,” Rook said, jumping to his feet, giving me a look that fully confirmed it was in fact my fault before racing through the Nest to get our girl her cuppa.
Corvus cleared his throat, still eyeing the lights like he might try to shoot out each one individually as he pushed up to lean against the headboard. “How the hell did he manage to do this while we were sleeping?”
The question was clearly rhetorical, but AJ answered it anyway. “Admit it, you’re a big softy for your Sparrow.”
She poked him in the ribs and he growled, shooting her a glare.
I folded myself on the edge of the bed, and she reached for me blindly, the mound of covers sighing as her hand found mine. I gave her a squeeze and felt something lurch in my chest.
This felt so right. Her here. All of us together.
I ran my fingers over her knuckles, and she peered at me from beneath her covers, her brows lowered in concern. “Hey, Superman, you okay?”
