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“Max needs to spank you more often,” Jack muttered, taking the glass from her.“Nishia, Delaney is Raven’s daughter-in-law.She’s a brat who has only gotten worse since getting the cochlear implants and restoring her hearing.”
“Brat?”she repeated with a glare, and I watched her hands move, but I could only assume she was signing the word.
“Yes,” he repeated.“Brat.The worst.”
She stuck out her tongue at him but grinned again.Looking at me, she laughed.“He’s lucky I like him, or I’d tell my husband, who would kill him.”
Jack snorted but didn’t correct her.Setting the glass on the side table, he helped me sit up so I was comfortable and then sat on the edge of the bed, holding the protein shake for me as I sipped from the straw.
I liked the way the two of them teased each other.It wasn’t flirting, but as if they were siblings bickering.It made my lips tilt up between sips.
“If you can pull yourself away from the fairy, I’ll keep her company while you meet with Bash and the others,” Delaney offered, still signing the words.I wondered if it was just a habit since she was able to hear with the implants.
Jack sighed heavily and skimmed his thumb over the corner of my mouth, wiping away a drop of chocolate shake.“You okay with that, baby?”
I didn’t want him to go, but he needed to eat and shower, plus there was whatever he needed to discuss with his dad and the others about his work trip.“Go.Delaney and I will become friends.”
“Absolutely,” the other woman agreed, nudging Jack.“Come on, come on.The fairy is safe with me.I’ve been trained to kick anyone in the balls if they become a threat.When Nishia can stand on her own, we’ll teach her too.Now go, have your ‘chat.’”She made quotation marks with her fingers and rolled her eyes at me, which surprised a giggle from me.“Let us delicate women sit here and talk shit about our men.”
He stood but looked down at me.“You sure?”
“You won’t be long, right?”
“I won’t be gone longer than absolutely necessary.”
I grasped his hand, squeezing his fingers reassuringly.“I’ll be right here waiting.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE
jack
Mom pressedher thumbs into her temples and heaved a frustrated sigh.“There isn’t a Morgan alive who hasn’t been a pain in my ass.Why I expected anything different from that idiot family, I’ll never know.”Dropping her hands to her sides, she balled them into fists and started pacing.“They can’t give me any peace, and now one of them is putting everything we’ve worked our asses off to build at risk?No.I won’t allow it to happen.They’ll have to kill me before I let anyone tear down Sanctuary.”
“Don’t say shit like that,” Dad groused.“No one is going to get close enough to hurt you or this place.We’ll deal with it, Gracie.Just give us a chance to sort everything out.”
“Sort it out?It’s been fucking sorted.Raven dealt with Amy last night, and now I’m going to handle Clint Morgan.”
“Gracie—”
“Don’t ‘Gracie’ me in that tone, Hawk Hannigan.I’ve sat back and let you take everything else on, but this is too personal.That bastard used that sweet girl in an attempt to…” She threw up her hands.“Fuck, I don’t even know what he was trying to do.Who sells their kid to convicts, let alone the other bullshit that went on?Nishia was put through hell—for what purpose?”
I leaned back against the door to my apartment, watching my parents after Max and I had explained what we’d learned on our trip to Arizona.Mostly Max had done the talking, while I stood there listening and watching the others’ reactions.My mother very rarely cursed, but when she did, it was a hell of a show.She was a sweet, tiny woman, but once her temper was engaged, she was a firecracker.
Meanwhile, my aunt Raven stood between her husband and son, listening intently, her analytical mind already working.She wasn’t even close to a firecracker.The woman scared the fuck out of the majority of the residents in Creswell Springs, because when her temper was lit, she was a fucking nuclear bomb.Everyone who had even heard the name Raven Reid had seen her angry far too many times not to know that for a fact.
“We need more information on Morgan,” Uncle Bash spoke up.“Who can we put on it?”
“Nova,” Max and I said at the same time.
“No.”He shook his dark head.
“Dad, come on,” Max argued with his father.“You act like she’s still a little kid.Nova could kill us all with her pinkie finger and not even break a sweat.”
“She’s just a baby—”
“A baby who can take out an entire cartel,” Max cut in, making his dad glare at him.He shrugged.“Am I lying?Go on, I’ll wait.What was that?I don’t hear you arguing.Get pissed all you want, but tell me I’m overselling her abilities.All we expect is her to tail the motherfucker, not kidnap him and take him to one of Vituccis’ warehouses to torture for days.I mean, she could if she wanted to, but we’re not gonna ask her to do that, okay?There’s minimal risk.”
Uncle Bash rubbed a hand down his face, but he didn’t argue.We’d all shed tears when we thought we’d lost Nova, but when we found out she was alive and had been staying in fucking Colombia of all places—having taken out one of the Vituccis’ enemies all on her own—we’d all been in shock for the most part.But we should have guessed.Anya Vitucci wouldn’t have allowed her then-future daughter-in-law to come into their world without the skills to protect herself, despite giving my little cousin a security detail that followed her twenty-four seven.
