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Ty averts his gaze, but I don’t think she notices. Her distracted mind has sullied her observational skills, which is favorable at the moment because …
Fucker.
I massage her neck, kneading a kink as I anticipate the tensing of her other muscles with the conversation. “Your induction into KORT tonight will elevate you to one of the most powerful women in the world, Ives. The danger that’s been lingering around you, but always kept at bay, won’t dissipate. It will intensify. We want to prepare for that.”
She nods with a pensive scrunch of her forehead. “So, what? Are you banning me to our massive pad in Louisiana, giving up your lives to babysit me, or vetting soldiers to guard me twenty-four/seven?” Her scenarios drip sarcasm, but she isn’t far off from the life she’s about to encounter.
I throw a handful of Sour Skittles in my mouth, needing the tart sugar rush to sustain me. “We’d like to avoid such extremes and explore a different route.”
She waves her hand around, mouth agape, in a hurry-it-up-jackass gesture.Fantastic.This should land famously since she’s so amenable. Liam chokes on a laugh, saluting me with the bottleneck of a beer he just opened. Gage backhands him in the chest for me,so I’m spared flipping him off. It all makes Ty more anxious and Ivy more annoyed, so I rip off the Band-Aid.
“We’d like you to get a tracking chip.”
She cackles and claps her hands, like it’s the funniest joke she’s heard in years. “Like a dog, right? Or one of those dancing penguins?”
“Dancing penguins?” I ask, utterly bemused.
“Happy Feet,” Ty supplies, which explains nothing, but Ivy shoots her index finger toward him in validation. Their weird movie game. Whatever.
I shake my head, fingers digging into that knot in her neck until she arches in search of more. “Not quite like that.”
Her eyes trail over each of us, alarm seizing her when she notes the gravity in our expressions. “Fuck me, you’re serious. You’ve all lost your damn minds.”
She straightens her spine with a disgust that rolls off her in waves as she pings Ty with a pointed glower. My brilliant girl can always spot the chink in armor.
“You cannot be on board with this. It’s insane, a complete violation. Please reason with him.” She throws a hitchhiker thumb in my direction.
I wasn’t alone in this idea. Thanks.
Ty’s eyes close on a heavy breath before locking on to Ivy with the kindhearted empathy only he can deliver. “I do agree with that—or I did. But everything has changed. This is the only way we can give you any sort of freedom. Otherwise … someone could take you in seconds, Freckles. I just—”
“You’ll be able to hang out with Celeste and Rena.” Liam swigs his beer with a leisure the rest of us haven’t attained. “Shop with your mom. Go to a salon. Visit galleries.”
“So, if you put a chip in me—” She scoffs, her lips pursing bitterly, like she’s gulping down her own vomit. “I can’t believe I’m even humoring you all right now.” Her eyes flutter in an adorable bratty indignation. “Anyway, the chip means I don’t have to be guarded?”
“Nope,” Gage snipes with all the finesse of a rhinoceros at a goddamn tea party. “Not what it means. We’ll still be with you all the time because people will be trying to fucking. Kill! You!”
“Jesus Christ,” I hiss, palming Ivy’s head so she peers at me. “Look, baby, this is the best way we can protect you. Your phone and car aren’t enough because, as you know, those can be easily ditched.”
She cackles again, maniacally. “Yeah. Exactly. Let’s not forget,Ioutranyou. I’m capable of taking care of myself.”
Ty hands me a glass of scotch, which I gladly take, chugging a hefty swill before rebutting. “We are well aware of how fierce you are, but …Jesus, Little Storm, I won’t be able to rest.”
“No.” She crosses her arms with an obstinate huff. So damn petulant.
“I’m not really asking,” I growl through my clenched jaw, to which Ty shoots me an admonishing glare.
Wait till I haul her into the dentist and put it in her goddamn tooth, motherfucker. Then, you can glare.
The room falls silent, aside from the incessant thumping of Ivy’s swinging foot against the couch, legs and arms crossed, completely closed off, like she’s envisioning slamming that heel into my nose.
She springs up, pours herself a shot of Ty’s spiced rum, downs it smoothly, and tilts her head with a wicked grin. “Okay, I’ll do it, under one condition.”
“Name it,” Ty says far too quickly.
Liam, Gage, and I share a dubious eye roll.Pushover.Rookie mistake with the Little Storm because in two seconds, she’s going to pummel him through that open door.
“You all have to get one,” she says.
