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“The rest of you be on your Ps and Qs. If they were bold enough to come after Jax, they’ll come after the rest of you, too.”
We all looked at Ace. “What?” he snapped, immediately getting defensive. Cameron snickered again, making Ace scowl at him.
Shaw pointed a stiff finger at Ace. “School. Home. That isit, understand? No parties. No late-night convenience store runs.”
“What if I get a craving for potato chips?” Ace retorted, ever the fucking brat. I rolled my eyes. Arlo sighed.
“Then one of us will get it for you,” Shaw told him. Ace opened his mouth to argue, but Arlo covered it with his palm. Ace spit into his palm, glaring at him, but Arlo simply arched a brow at the boy, challenging him.
“You’re all pains in my ass,” Ace said from behind Arlo’s hand, his voice muffled.
“Don’t care,” Konrad told him, leaning back in his chair. “You’ll follow the fucking rules whether you like them or not until this cools down.”
Ace huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at me. Arlo removed his hand and wiped his spit-slick palm on his jeans, grimacing.
“This is all your fault,” Ace muttered.
I sighed, leaning my head back to stare at the ceiling. “Go fuck yourself, Ace.”
He sneered at me. “Oh, I will. And I’m going to do itloudlyso you hear it all the way up the hall.”
Cameron barked out a laugh. I ran a hand down my tired face. “I swear to God, kid…” I muttered before pushing back from the table. “We done here?” I asked.
Shaw nodded. “We’re done.” He looked at me. “Think your girl can whip up dinner?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “She keeps doing shit for you fuckers, you’re gonna add her to the payroll. She’s not a goddamn slave, and she’s not here for you.”
“Touchy,” Arlo snickered. I glared at him.
“Done. I’ll put her on payroll,” Shaw told me. “Now, can you ask her? I’m starving. The fucking pizza got ruined.”
I threw open the door, aggravated with all of them. “Fucking ask her yourself.”
“Ask me what?” Blakely asked, popping her head out of the kitchen. The smell of sizzling meat, herbs, and seasonings billowed out behind her.
“About making dinner,” Shaw said. “Though I see you’re already on that.” He made his way to her. “We need to discuss a salary.”
She frowned at him. “A salary? Sorry. I’m not following.”
Shaw threw his thumb over his shoulder in my direction. I scowled at his back. Way to throw me under the fucking bus. “Your caveman insists you need to be paid for taking care of us, so let’s go in here and talk while you cook.”
Blakely sighed, turning her frown to me. “Jax…” she muttered.
“Take the money, sweet girl,” I told her. “I’m going to shower.” Because I had a feeling if I stuck around downstairs, she was going to poison my food.
EPILOGUE
Blakely
“Take this end of the streamer,” I said, holding out the end to Jax, “and hang it right up there.” I pointed to where I wanted it hung.
Jax sighed. “Konrad going away is going to be a reoccurring thing, Blakely,” he rumbled. But he did as I said anyway, stepping onto the stepladder and pinning the “see you later” banner I ordered above the bar.
Konrad, who still worked for the government doing undercover-type jobs, had gotten a call, and as far as he knew, he would be gone for a few months. It was a shit time for him to have to leave, but Shaw had apparently already come up with a game plan to still keep everyone protected while Konrad was gone and we couldn’t utilize his connections.
“Anything I can do to help?” Ace asked, coming downstairs with a protein bar in his hand. His hair was currently bright pink and buzzed on the sides. The only makeup he was currently wearingwas black eyeliner, but his fingernails were painted the same color as his hair.
“Can you begin making the cupcakes?” I asked him. I’d taught Ace how to bake, and he loved it. We were always coming home from the shop and finding baked goods in our room. Jax had put on a few pounds and was now working out to try to keep the weight off.
