6. ~Jonah~

6

~Jonah~

The calm before the storm.

The last gasps of the status quo before everything changed irreparably.

The final days of comfort and safety before we marched into battle.

It was a battle that was gonna take every fucking thing we had to win. It was gonna require the best of ourselves and drain all of that out of us down to the last fucking drop.

Asher knew what it would truly take to win out. He was playing it smart and cautious. More than I’d ever seen from him before when it came to the cautious part. Because this war would be unlike any other. He knew he had to have his head in the game, to be performing at the highest level, at his absolute best. It was why he hadn’t looked at that intel yet, despite his urgency for us to acquire it. He knew once he did, that would be it, he wouldn’t be able to stop, this war would be on. No calming down. No backing off. No yielding. There would be absolutely no going back.

There was a shitload of pressure bearing down on him right now.

I couldn’t even imagine. He kept it to himself, wore it well.

Only because he’d taken a hit had I even noticed. Killian too.

Asher had instituted a kind of timeout from the mission so he could heal up and get his head straight. He’d been holed up in his room for the last couple of days, straightening his head out with his painting and no doubt a whole lot of chain-smoking too. I had caught sight of him once when I’d heard his voice alongside Bryce’s in the garage, Asher ordering our Head of Security and the best on his team to take the Audi apart and search every square inch of it. For what, I didn’t know. Maybe Asher didn’t yet either. It had belonged to Amethyst—Olivia, as we were calling her now—so it might’ve just been a precaution, just to make sure she hadn’t tagged it, bugged it, or whatever the fuck black ops mercenary types like her did with their shit.

I’d find out either way, once Asher was ready to tell us.

While I trusted him and the actions he took, the decisions he made, it had sometimes been hard not to ask, and to stay in the dark about things, because of the level of secrecy his paranoid sweet ass employed with so many things. But on the eve of us heading out to the house in Strenwell and obtaining that intel, he’d made us all a promise. He’d keep us clued in. No more secrets.

Kill and Aurora had been working on some projects together and studying, being that they had the same major. She’d actually somehow managed to get him to sit down and focus on it all. Not only focus, but take a real interest without Asher pushing him, and sometimes doing it for him entirely. Now there was no more façade, I’d figured Kill would want to drop out, even if it impacted football. He’d been at his wit’s end, me and Asher had been worried he’d just forsake it to be free and clear of it all. But he hadn’t, and Aurora had become instrumental in him deciding to stick with it. He liked being with her and he was so smitten with her, he didn’t care if that including studying and hitting the books. He’d even come to like that aspect of it. During study breaks, they went out and tore up the backroads on their Harleys.

On my end, I’d been working on a couple of projects for my Engineering Program, something I, unlike Kill, had always loved. Working with my hands and figuring out mechanical problems and challenges gave me a fucking hard-on. I’d been holed up in my workshop for the last couple of days building a generator as part of my coursework. I was kicking ass with it, as usual.

For the most part, we’d been off doing our own things.

It had resulted in Aurora coming to me earlier today after I’d made lunch that Asher and Killian had just snatched up and taken to separate corners of the mansion, and asking me to help her with making a special dinner tonight where all four of us could come together.

And that was what we were working toward right now.

That sweet strawberry scent of hers wafted toward me and I spun from the deli counter to see her coming at me with her basket already half full in one hand, the other holding up a box of Graham Crackers. “These are the ones, right?” she asked, as she reached me.

“That’s them,” I confirmed.

She smiled brightly. Brighter than I’d seen from her before.

Her whole face was lit up with it. Those electric blue eyes shone at me.

She’d styled her hair all relaxed in those sexy loose curls.

She’d even mixed up her black-on-black look today, a purple off-the-shoulder top that dipped to reveal one of those sexy black bralettes she was fond of. She had a pair of black jeans on with her block heels, but she’d left what I’d come to realize was kind of like her armor—or a security blanket—one of her leather jackets, back at the house.

I smiled to myself. It seemed like a small thing, but it was another sign of just how comfortable she’d become with us, how relaxed she was in our company now. It was even more staggering considering how things had started out with her and the three of us.

She put the box in her basket, then eyed the wrapped filet mignon in my hand.

“You got the cut that you wanted?”

“Sure did,” I told her. “Now to get the white wine for the béarnaise sauce.”

“Cool. I already picked up the eggs and tarragon.” She stared at the Graham Crackers. “You’re sure this will make the cheesecake part of the ice-cream?”

“I’m sure.”

She pulled the list we’d made earlier out of the back pocket of her sexy jeans, then frowned as she pointed to one of the items. “What’s this corn syrup for?”

“The ice-cream, baby.”

“Really? That’s strange.”

“It prevents it from becoming too hard. When it comes to making ice-cream containing fruit, all that water in it can cause hardening if you don’t add the corn syrup.”

“Huh.”

I grinned. “Yeah.”

She grinned back at me. “Just a font of knowledge today, aren’t you?”

“Hell, yeah.”

She’d known about Killian’s favorite food being ice-cream, and I’d told her his absolute favorite flavor was strawberry cheesecake, and now she was intent on making it for him from scratch. She’d been surprised when I’d answered the same question about Asher and revealed that his comfort foods were burgers and cheesy fries. She’d figured, given his personality, and what he put out there that he would’ve been into a whole lot of fine dining. But, no, his true tastes when it came to food were way more down to earth and simple. As for me, it was steak all the way. Risotto on the side. For the actual entrée part, Kill didn’t care what he ate, so we were gonna go the steak route and the homemade burger and fries route and see where he landed. He was all about the dessert. Where everything else was concerned, he’d pretty much eat anything. He was, hands down, the easiest person to cook for.

When Aurora had told me about her plan for tonight, I’d recognized how ambitious it had been, especially for somebody who didn’t do a whole lot of cooking. The extent of her culinary skills involved making omelets. So, I’d stepped in.

I liked cooking and I was damned good at it too. It put me in a peaceful state and helped me to clear my head and all that, which was exactly what we were supposed to be doing right now.

While we still could.

“Okay, you handle the wine,” she said. “I’ll get the buns and the cheese.”

“Sounds good, Princess.”

She startled me as she stretched onto her tiptoes and planted a soft, chaste kiss on my cheek, before taking off to the other side of the grocery store.

That had been… unexpected.

Sweet, even.

Carefree too.

Carefreedidn’t exactly suit Aurora.

While there was a balance that existed there, and she wasn’t as intense as Asher, she was still well on her way, not that far behind him. Happy-go-lucky was on a whole other planet compared to that, something not even reachable for the two of them.

Maybe she was just soaking up everything that she could of the calm-before-the-storm thing we were enjoying right now.

Yeah, that was a whole lot of wishful thinking.

More likely, she was overcompensating for all the twisted shit we were all caught up in, what was coming, as well as what had gone down that night in Strenwell. That battle that’d come out of nowhere from enemies we hadn’t even known existed, the bloodbath in that basement, the car crash, then her almost dying. That wasn’t exactly something you could just shake off. Especially when it hadn’t been the norm for her, like it had for the rest of us. Sure, she’d prepared herself in advance of taking on all of this, coming down here, and all that, but there was a difference between that and being thrown into the thick of it like what had happened that night. Hell, even before that with all the games and craziness. As well as she’d handled it, it had to have been wearing on her. It stood to reason that the whole Strenwell nightmare would’ve pushed her right to the edge.

If it had, she wasn’t showing it.

She wasn’t faltering in any way.

This overly relaxed and happy-go-lucky thing was the only sign that something was off, out of its usual place.

I blinked out of my thoughts.

Asher would’ve noticed if it was serious. If it was gonna impact our fight, and if she needed to sit it out as a result. He was on top of it. He always was.

And then there was Kill. With the way he felt about her now, he would’ve been freaking the fuck out and shouting it from the rooftops.

Jesus. I guess I was on edge about what was coming.

For him above all else.

For Asher.

Because, when it was all said and done, if we failed, it would be him who suffered the most. Carson wouldn’t settle for just our defeat. Nah, with his son coming at him, that sadistic bastard’s savagery would be out in full force, and he wouldn’t be satisfied until he broke Asher into unfixable pieces.

This whole situation really put a whole new meaning to there being no reward without risk.

Asher was literally gonna be risking it all by doing this.

Every. Fucking. Thing.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out to find a text.

Asher: What time is dinner gonna be ready with your new helper thrown into the mix?

Jonah: Add on an extra hour.

Asher: Ok.

Jonah: You’re actually asking me instead of telling me, huh?

Asher: She’s excited about it.

Jonah: And you don’t want to rain on her parade. Sweet of you.

Asher: Watch yourself.

Jonah: How about I don’t and you make me choke on your cock later?

Asher: We both know that’s all pleasure for you.

Jonah: Damn fucking straight.

When he didn’t reply, my fingers hovered over my phone for a few seconds, before I texted back what I’d been on the fence about.

Jonah: You think she’s too excited about this?

Asher: Perhaps.

Jonah: And?

Asher: And we all bear scars. Doesn’t mean we can’t function in spite of them. Sometimes, because of them, said scars providing the impetus we need to step it up.

Of course, he was of the opinion that pain made us stronger.

I was too.

Kill, not so much. He was in the camp of it wearing us down and taking its toll.

It was a question of different experiences.

The thing with Aurora was that she straddled both.

While that was good on one hand, on the other it meant conflict. And when you were conflicted, that invited weakness.

Something Asher wouldn’t allow when we entered into this war.

Fuck. He’d root it out in her, make her pick a lane.

Despite his promises to Kill, he’d have to do it, to protect her as much as us.

The safer route for her would be to embrace the dark and twisted. The other route involved holding back by sticking to the right side of things, to not making moral compromises. Good people did that, those who let their humanity get in the way. And those types were cut down like nothing by Carson and the Head Infidels. Monsters like me and Asher, we had no limits, we didn’t stop or hold back for some altruistic sense of morality and goodness.

We did what had to be done.

If he did that with this issue, though, it risked breaking the four of us, fracturing what had developed between us, the close knit unit that we’d become with Aurora at the epicenter.

Jonah: She’s not us.

I braced myself as soon as I sent the text. I didn’t go against him, not even in the slightest of ways. I was always on his side.

I couldn’t imagine this going over well.

It could very well activate his extreme paranoia, thinking with just this one thing that I was pulling away, and that he’d have to call my longtime allegiance into question.

Yeah, when it came to that paranoia of his, Asher could honestly go from zero to a thousand in the blink of an eye.

Asher: No, she’s not.

Well, that had been… easy.

Jonah: Yeah? Simple as that? You’re gonna just watch from the wings?

Asher: She can handle herself.

Wow.

Before I could fully absorb the massive deal it was that he was loosening his grip—at least when it came to Aurora—he sent another message.

Asher: Delay dinner for another hour.

Jonah: Finishing up your painting?

Asher: No. Off-territory.

Jonah: Without backup?

Considering what had happened just days ago, that was worrying, to say the least.

Asher: Bryce is with me.

Jonah: Should’ve been me.

It was always me there, his right hand.

Asher: Need you there.

Jonah: Holding down the fort and babysitting?

Asher: As a deterrent to our enemies. The two of us off-territory is an invitation to our fathers and the problematic elements within Hexwood. Stability must be maintained.

Jonah: I thought we’d dealt with the problematic fuckers in town.

Asher: Liza returned from Torvin earlier today. I ensured the video was sent while she was there. I’ve surveilled her around town since. She’s met with Tessier. She was seen screaming and crying outside his dorm. He pulled her inside and when she left she’d calmed.

Jonah: You think she’s using him to plot revenge or something?

Asher: Yes.

Jonah: Rules of engagement?

Asher: Maximum force, but nothing lethal. Make it public.

Jonah: A lesson?

Asher: Domination.

My blood heated at the prospect.

Jonah: You’ve got it.

Asher: Good boy.

Smooth bastard. My cock jerked and my heating blood threatened to ignite. That was how damned good he was, what he did to me. Just two words and he got me going.

Jonah: Watch your back, brother.

Asher: See you soon.

I’d only just stowed my phone away in the back pocket of my jeans when a hand grasped my arm.

Startled, because I’d been so engrossed in my texting with Asher, I spun around.

And there Aurora was staring up at me with a concerned expression.

“What? What’s wrong?” I asked, rapidly scanning the grocery store.

Everything looked fine.

No problematic elements afoot.

She seemed the same. Unruffled. Happy.

Oh. Her concern was for me.

“You haven’t moved since I left, Jonah.”

“I…” I looked down at my basket. I hadn’t picked up a single thing in the time she’d been gone. “I was texting with Asher.”

“What’s happened?” she asked, her concern quickly mounting.

I took her hand on my arm and held it between us, stroking her fingers. “Nothing. We were just checking in with each other.”

She blew out a breath. “Oh. Good. Very good.”

Very good. His exact words, almost like his catchphrase. Interesting. And amusing as fuck.

She gave my hand a squeeze. “Well, now that’s done with, let’s get moving, finish up here. I need to take you by my house before we head home and start getting down to making all of this.”

“What do you need at your place? I thought you got everything you needed?”

“It’s not something for me.”

I cocked an eyebrow.

“It’s a surprise.”

“I’m not really down for surprises.”

“Well, this one you’ll like. I promise.”

“You promise, huh?”

She giggled, actually fucking giggled.

The sound rolled through me, calling to me like the sweetest music ever.

And that was it, reservations out the window.

“All right then, let’s hurry this shit up. Now you’ve got me all excited.”

She beamed at me with that full smile of hers that did things to a man.

I grinned and wrapped my arm around her, then started down the aisle to get the last of what we needed.