AllFreeNovel
Share Us
There’s a mischievous sparkle in her eyes as she walks over and grabs her water bottle, uncapping it and taking a sip before she answers me.
“Zander said that you were the chef of the group.” She says as she sits down on one of the bar stools at the island. “I could see that after you taught me how to cook an egg, but for some reason, I couldn’t see it at your parent's house.” She gives a one-arm shrug as she wipes at the condensation on her bottle without looking at me. “I can see it here.”
I don’t know what to say to that, though I have the urge to strangle Zander for giving her that tidbit of information.
I let out a sigh as I set my water bottle down. “Yes, well, considering I designed this kitchen, I guess that checks out.” I have to resist the urge to ask her what I really want to. I’m not sure how you ask if someone has imagined you cooking without sounding like a crazy person. So instead, I decide it’s best to change the subject.
“Let me show you to your room.”
I don’t care to talk about myself, and whether she realizes that or just has nothing else to say, I’m grateful when she lets the topic drop.
We make our way out of the kitchen and through the living room back to the foyer. There’s another set of stairs that are less over the top in the rear of the house, but considering the way her eyes took in these ones when we entered, I figured she would prefer them.
“So, why were you at your parent's house if you guys have a house?” She asks as we make our way upstairs. I look back at her, where she walks just a few steps behind me, but her attention is too busy jumping around the room at anything and everything.
As if she can feel me looking at her, she looks back at me, and once again, I pull my gaze away. I don’t know why I keep finding myself looking at her, but I need to stop.
I should have just let Zander show her around, but something in me wanted to do it.
“I mean, I understand that you guys were watching me for the last two weeks, but the night your mom brought me back to the house, you guys were all there, and that was before you were told to keep an eye on me.” She explains when I don’t answer her. “I just assumed that you all lived there.”
I can see why she would think that, but the idea that we operate so high up in Vengeance and live at home is ridiculous.
When I say as much, she just shrugs again. “Not to me, it’s not. I don’t really understand your position with Vengeance, and I understand money even less.” We turn the corner down the hall with all of our rooms, and I find myself matching her pace instead of staying ahead so we can easily talk.
“I’m not stupid. I know this place is expensive, but I could never put a dollar amount to it, and for all I know, Vengenace could be small time.” She says, and I can see her point. Jade has never had a dollar to her name. She wasn’t just poor; she literally had nothing. So it makes sense that she doesn’t understand it. For most of her life, she was the damn currency. The thought makes my pulse jump and my jaw clench.
I give her a nod, “Well, our parents have always been well off, and their money has only grown over the years as they climbed higher in their careers. Zander, Spencer, and I always wanted to be separate from them, though. I just wanted to prove I could, but the guys have their own reasons. So we put our sights on joining Sin when we were younger.” I tell her with a shake of my head, what a dumb idea that was. “Thankfully, Vengeance made us joining them impossible when they took over because knowing what I do now. We would have never been okay with how Sin ran anything.”
We stop walking now that we’ve reached her room, but we don’t go in, instead standing outside the door to continue talking.
“What do you mean?” She asks.
“Well, Sin was something we wanted to be a part of without really knowing what they were. We knew they were powerful, and we wanted that.” She nods but doesn’t ask for more information, and for some reason, I feel the need to explain.
“After time with Vengeance, we know that Sin was one of the first to bring trafficking to the city. They paved their way to the top with that. We thought they were tough and honestly helping the city, but we were wrong.” Some of my anger bleeds into my voice. I hate that we even wanted to be a part of Sin, but I know it wasn’t our fault. We had no way of knowing, and it all worked out.
I shake off the thought and get back on topic. “All of that aside, we ended up in Vengeance, and we were able to move up the ranks pretty quickly. We took anything we were given and found a use for our skills, like Spencer's love of tech, my business background, and even Zander's work in the garage.” Of course, I don’t mention that we also use our hands to get dirty. All three of us have been the brute force many times.
Spencer’s brain gives him a knack for torture. He knows how to get in someone's head, whereas I can do the same through brute force, but it’s Zander who found love for it. He’s spent more time in the interrogation chambers than either Spencer or I have combined. But she doesn’t need to know that, at least not right now.
“We’ve been working with Vengeance for just about three years now, and the city is better than it’s been in years. We made our own way, and this is just one of the many things we earned with that.” I gesture around the hall with my arm in show.
She smiles as she follows the movement of my arm to look around the hallway. I hadn’t realized that I had her full attention until just now. I half expected her to still be looking at everything around her like she had been since we walked in the door, but she wasn’t.
“Well, it seems like you guys must have done a good job.” She says with just a hint of a smile, and I nod because we have.
“We were at my mother's house because it was close to where you were being held, and after we assisted Trent with the clean-up, we were exhausted.” I tell her without looking at her, instead focusing on one of the many paintings that line this hall. They are all darker pieces, but I can’t concentrate enough to see what I’m looking at right now.
“We had two meetings the day before, back to back, and went right to the building after, so none of us had gotten much sleep.” I scrub a hand through my hair. I can feel her looking at me, watching me as I tell her, but I can’t bring myself to meet her eyes, and I’m not even really sure why.
“We had planned to come back here, but as we know, that didn’t happen, and since we were already with you, Kratos gave us the job of watching you.”
I see her nod from the corner of my eye. “Well, I can’t say I’m unhappy with how it turned out.” She says.
Now I do turn to her. “What?”
She shrugs, “Well if I had to be stuck with a sitter, I’m glad it’s you guys.” She says it like it’s no big deal, and maybe it’s not, but it kind of feels like one to me.
