Page 56 of Ache
Everly nods as the smell of warm spices fills the room.
“You need to eat something.” Alec places a kiss on her neck as he walks by.
“I’m not hungry.”
“Don’t let her get in your head.” I shake her lightly.
“How can I not? She has done nothing but ruin my life, and now she’s back for more. To do more damage. To take away the first shred of real happiness I’ve had in a long time.”
Jesus, she’s killing me.
“She’s not going to take a goddamn thing.” Alec steps behind Everly so we are sandwiching her body. “Wewon’t let anything happen to you or your happiness.” Alec looks directly over Everly’s head and straight into my eyes. He’s communicating to both me and her. I nod in agreement. She’s ours, and we’ll both protect her in our own ways. “Your mom doesn’t intimidate me.” He tilts her chin up. “And whatever it is she thinks you have, she can just try to come fucking get it.”
“She threatened you. Your career.”
“Who gives a fuck about my career? I can be a lawyer anywhere. There is only one you. One us. That’s more important than anything.”
I stare at Alec as he gazes down at Everly. His lip is still a little swollen from our roll around yesterday, and his hair is messy from an earlier shower. At the moment, he looks more street than superior legal counsel, and for some reason, my respect for him grows. He’s formidable. Much tougher on the inside than he looks on the out, which is exactly who I need in my corner right now.
Vicki has a knack for getting wrapped up with the worst kind of people, and I’m positive she isn’t working alone.
“What do we do?” Everly asks into the void.
There’s only one thing to do.
“Tap the source,” I foretell.
22
Everly
When Tage said we needed to go see Gunner, I nearly shit. Go see the man who locked me away from the world for three years? Who kept me prisoner in his house like an animal in the zoo?
It was a fight, to say the least. I thought my past was behind me. Way behind me, but I realize now it’s not. It never will be, not with my mother walking around society freely or Gunner living out his days in jail.
After Tage made several phone calls to God only knows who, and three ignored calls from my mother by Alec, we are boarding a private jet in New Jersey headed straight back to the heart of darkness. The place I grew up and hoped never to return to again. Chicago.
I’m antsy, distressed, and a little disturbed. This plane ride is going to be two hours of sheer hell.
“You’re so tense you’re givingmeknots.” Alec massages my shoulders as we climb the jet stairs.
“I can’t help it. I don’t want to see him. I don’t want any of this. I just want to go back to bed,” I complain.
“And hide under the covers with Tage and me?”
“Yes, exactly that.”
“Soon enough, baby.” He kisses the top of my head. “When this is all over, you’re barely going to be able to climb off the mattress,” he promises.
“Hoorah!” Tage agrees.
“Service man?” Alec asks as we step inside the spacious jet. Jesus, this thing is a house with wings.
“Army brat all my life. Spent a little time in, too, before I was recruited for bigger and badder things.” He winks, clicking his tongue.
I take a seat on the plush leather couch beside the windows. It’s big enough for all three of us to sit. Tage and Alec both claim a spot beside me, trapping me in like I’ve noticed they like to do. How strange has my life become? Loved by two men who are completely content sharing me? I steal looks at them both, and true to their perceptive nature, they both notice.
“Something on your mind, Ever?” Tage asks.
