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Salem
Ipull the lasagna out of the oven and slide it onto the counter before moving back to the oven for the garlic bread. Once that’s out, I turn everything off and carry everything over to the table, placing it next to the salad that the guys will grumble about. How men who look like they were sculpted out of marble can do so without eating vegetables is mind-blowing.
During my time of the month, when I’m eating everything sweet and feeling extra salty, I curse them all to hell. But most of the time, I let it go. As the only woman out here, I have to admit I have the best damn view in the world.
“What’s put that look on your face?”
I blink and look over at Crew, who grabs a beer from the fridge before walking over and pressing a kiss to my cheek.
“I was thinking about the view,” I tell him absently as the rest of the guys start coming in, drawn by the scent of garlic and oregano that perfume the air.
“It won’t always be this bad. Though it’s coming along faster than we anticipated,” Slade adds, catching the end of our conversation.
I look at him and frown before my eyes move to the large expanse of windows. Windows, which have now been fitted with bulletproof glass. Beyond that is the construction team that’s finishing up the building project affectionately named Hex Hill, thanks to the guys joking about me having witchy powers. The view of the diggers and muddied fields is a lot different from the one I was thinking of.
I stifle a grin as Oz walks over to me, stripping off his damp T-shirt before he kisses me soundly to the catcalls of his men.
I grin against his lips before pulling away and looking at Slade. “Best view ever.” I wink, making him groan.
“Stop perving on my friend. I have a very sensitive ego.”
“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” Zig asks, walking up beside me and his brother before shoving Oz away. “Hey, little one. Something smells good.”
“Salem made lasagna. Don’t tell my mama this, but I think this is going to rival hers,” Jagger growls as he takes a seat at the table.
Zig’s nose dips to the spot where my neck meets my shoulder and takes a deep breath. “Dinner smells good, but you smell better.” He swipes his tongue over my exposed skin, making me shiver.
“Can we eat first before you fuck each other on the table?” Slade sighs, making me blush, Zig grumble, and Oz laugh.
“Jealous bastard,” Zig says with a smirk, pulling out a chair for me before taking the one next to it at the head of the table.
Oz leans over and takes my plate, holding it out to Evander, who is dishing out the food.
“Now, don’t be so smug, you big bastard. Though, I’d be smug as fuck if Salem was my girl too.” Greg winks at me, making me laugh, as Zig reaches over and grabs a piece of garlic bread and launches it at him.
“Keep your eyes off my girl, old man.”
“Fuck you. I’m not old.”
I shake my head at them and take my food from Oz. Gazing around the table, I swallow down the wave of emotion, like I often do when we all sit together like this. We don’t do it as much as we’d like. Everyone is far too busy with their caseloads and getting Hex Hill up and running exactly how they want it. Each job has been completed by small, vetted companies, with no one doing two jobs. Everything was kept completely confidential, and everyone worked on a need-to-know basis. Everything else, the guys themselves did. It was humbling as heck. They told me often enough that they cared for me, each in their own way. Though words hold power, actions hold proof. They have treated me as one of them since the second I woke up after healing Luna’s baby.
As much as it heals all the broken pieces inside me, it comes with a new sense of fear. As a girl whose life revolved around trying to survive, I never considered that being alone had its own benefits until I met Oz and Zig and realized I had something to lose. Now, with each of these men acting as my older brothers, I have even more to lose than I ever had before.
“You also have more to fight for,” Wilder leans over from my left to whisper in my ear.
“Did I say all that out loud?”
He shakes his head and smiles. “You have the most expressive face I know.” He takes a bite of lasagna and groans, his eyes practically rolling into the back of his head. “Dear God, woman. You’ve been blessed, I tell ya!”
I laugh at that. “I’m blessed because I can cook? Nothing to do with my magical hands?” I tease, wiggling my fingers.
“Oh, they’re magical, alright. That thing you do—” Oz’s words are cut off when Zig slaps the back of his head. “What? All I was saying was—” Oz’s words are cut off again, but this time it has nothing to do with Zig and everything to do with the beeping noise coming over the speakers.
“Someone just breached the perimeter,” Evander says, standing up and pulling out his cell.
“Take her down to the tunnels,” Zig orders Wilder, who takes my hand and pulls me up. “Crew, you’re with Wilder. Oz and I will take sector two. E, find out who the fuck it is. Greg will cover you. Jagger and Slade, you’re up front. Look alive, people.”
Everyone is up and moving like a well-oiled machine, all of them looking cool and calm, whereas I feel as if I’m seconds from falling apart. Wilder grabs my hand and starts pulling me toward the door, but I can’t help but break free and run to Zig.
