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Ciar never left the city.
He’s been here, silently biding his time. Waiting for the perfect moment to make his move. To steal Jade back.
“The feeling has been getting worse ever since she left Jade’s place this morning. She’s taking the kids back to Joe then will be here.” I arch a brow in question but all four of them nod, agreeing that we will all go.
“Her security system looks good,” Noah says. A few swipes of keystrokes and he starts reading aloud the times her system was turned off and turned back on. I check my messages as he calls them out.
“Yeah, that matches up with Scarlett’s visit,” I confirm.
He continues to mess around with the computer, silently swearing under his breath. “I knew I should have gotten cameras out there sooner.”
“She called Ian,” Ryder says as he turns the volume up on what they were listening to. I catch enough to figure out the team is cleaning up and Scar’s feeling is getting worse.
“Keep an eye on Jade’s place and let's all be ready to leave,” Luca commands as he walks out of the room, holding his laptop up as he continues to work as he walks.
“Done,” Noah says. Any changes will be sent to all of our phones. I nod and send Scarlett a text letting her know what Noah has done.
“What are you doing now?” I ask as he starts pulling up security footage.
“We don’t have cameras at her place yet, but I’m hacking into any cameras around her location to see if I can spot anything suspicious over the last few days.
Good call. Huh, I’m kind of impressed by the geeky one. I’ve seen what he’s capable of, but it still surprises me just what he and Scarlett can accomplish when they put their minds together. “Can you...”
He cuts me off, pointing to other screens as they light up. “Already did.”
“Well shit,” Kade laughs, even as he takes a seat in front of one of the screens now showing security footage from one of Jade’s neighbor’s Ring. “You are more than a pretty face.”
Noah rolls his eyes, but I swear there’s a slight blush creeping up his neck as he does. Ryder and I also settle behind screens. “Thanks,” I call out before the four of us settle into a comfortable silence as we work, the only sound coming from the feed.
Knewmy girlcouldn't have been wrong.
Although in this instance, I wish she had been.
Jade and Ian are oblivious to the fact that we’ve arrived from where they are on the couch. Jade lays in Ian’s lap as he looks down at her, his worried expression clear even as he runs his fingers through her hair and whispers to her a promise of safety.
I bite down on my lip, stopping myself from laughing because I already know Scarlett is going to have something to say about that. Especially after he missed our arrival.
“Safe place, huh?” she drawls and I fight the snicker as Ian groans. “Great,” she continues, all taunt as she challenges him. “Your new assignment is bodyguard duty. That is if you think you can handle it.”
I roll my eyes but he doesn’t break eye contact. Taking the silent hit for exactly what it is.
I gently squeeze Scarlett’s hip as she glares at him. I can feel her anger rolling off of her in palpable waves. Some of it is directed at Ian, I can tell he knows it too by the way he dips his head in deference to her. Guess he isn’t so stupid after all. I wasn’t so sure after he hung up on Scarlett while we were on our way here.
Her lips lift almost imperceptibly as she gives me a subtle nod once she meets my eyes, understanding my silent message. She can take a strip off of Ian later. I happen to agree that he deserves it. The more important thing right now is taking care of Jade.
She tightens the towel around her as she struggles to sit up. I can already see the blood dripping from her hair. Ian helps her up and pulls a towel away from the back of her head and I can see it’s already saturated with her blood.
Scarlett drops to the floor at my side, just in front of where Jade now sits. Her eyes rove over her friend the same way that mine do. I can see her cataloging everything about Jade’s wounds, expressions, posture, and even her breathing. With every second I can feel the silent fury building in her veins into a silent roar. Someone is going to pay for hurting Jade.
We already know it was Ciar who broke in, that Ian was able to clip him. Ryder and Luca are already searching the streets to see if they can find any sign of him. Noah is back home going over any footage he can get his hands on and looking into Jade’s security to see how Ciar bypassed it.
Jade takes the soaked towel from Ian and uses it to apply pressure to the back of her head at the urging of Ian, even if she does roll her eyes. It makes me smile for just a moment. The hellion I’ve seen in her is still there. Ciar didn’t break her, even if he did hurt her. Again.
Ian moves away from her and starts to pull his sweatshirt off over his head. I watch him carefully, having a feeling about what he’s going to do.
“Can we go back to the bodyguard thing?” Jade asks with a little cough. She doesn’t sound like the same girl I know. The girl who is always at our place needling Scarlett. She’s back to the girl I first met, timid and shy. The hint of her hellion shrouded by the trauma and uncertainty of what she’s been through.
The same fury I can feel pouring off of Scarlett builds within me too. I shouldn’t be surprised by how much this topic fuels my anger, but I am. Before Scarlett, I hadn't let anyone close enough to be affected by something they have been through. To feel hurt or anger on their behalf. I’d done that before and it almost killed me.
