Chapter Fifteen

Ever

“A bsolutely, say the word, and we’re geared up and there,” I reply earnestly.

“I know, and I love that I can count on you,” she replies, sounding worried.

“Do you want to fill me in?” I ask her.

Jynx sighs, “For the moment, I’m not going to, just because it's obviously not legal and involves people who I know are on Mr R’s most wanted list, and I know that if I pull you in you’re going to have to pretend you’re on my team, I don’t want to make things complicated for you if I don’t have to.”

Her words echo my earlier thoughts, and I smile, “I get it, and while I appreciate it, I hope you know that you and yours come before the organization. We all understand what it would mean if you called on us for help, and we all accept it without hesitation or a second thought. Hell, even Mr R understands that, I made that incredibly clear a few years ago.”

“I know, but I’m sticking to my guns for now.” She replies.

“I thought you might,” I reply, with a smile.

I hear some banging and voices come from the background and I frown, now that I know that she might need us I kind of wish that she would fill me in now, so that we can help. The issue is that we are in the middle of taking Hunt down and we have got some momentum going at the moment so we can’t really afford to stop, having said that if she turned around and said right now that we needed her then we would drop everything and help her.

Family first, always.

Explaining that to Mr R would probably be a little bit complicated especially since we wouldn’t want to let him know about the situation with Jynx. We do have an understanding though and he likes Jynx so I think it would be one of those, ‘I know but I’m going to pretend I don’t’, situations. At least I hope it would be, if not then things would get complicated but it wouldn’t stop us.

“I’m sorry, Ever, I’m going to have to go.” She says, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“That’s okay,” I reply and then add seriously, “Jynx promise me that you will call us if you need us, we can be ready and to you in a matter of hours.”

“Thanks, Bestie.” She replies and then adds, “Keep your phone on you.”

“I always do,” I say, “can you check in every two days please? I am going to panic otherwise, especially since I know you are in trouble.”

“Done.” She replies and then hangs up.

Shit. Well, that was not what I expected to come out of that conversation. I can’t say that I’m not worrying now because I am. Jynx, her men, and her Ravens are incredibly capable; I know that, everyone knows that, but this is the first time that she’s asked for our help, or this is at least as close as she’s ever gotten before, and that concerns me.

Jynx didn’t mention anything about Lyric and the guys and I don’t want to say anything to the guys in front of Jonah and Dominic, it's not my place to say anything, and the situation is obviously delicate, but I have this overwhelming need to tell the guys now, even though I know logically that Jynx isn’t going to message in the next couple of hours and say that she needs us.

I’m not going to be able to concentrate on anything until I do, and if I go down there to see if Jonah and Dominic have left yet the guys are going to immediately know that there’s something going on and question me on it, and I don’t want to make things awkward.

So, I decide to send Trick a text instead.

Me: Are Jonah and Dominic still here?

Trick: No, they just left. Why?

I don’t bother replying to that as I send a message to the group chat instead.

Me: Family meeting, dining table.

I'm heading out of my room as I type it, and I run into Atlas in the hallway; he steadies me as he looks down at me with concern, and I get distracted by how fucking delicious he looks when he is all serious.

I am ashamed to say that I get so fucking distracted that I grab a fistful of his shirt and pull him down so I can kiss him. He lets me stay in control of the kiss for maybe ten seconds before he growls and lifts me my legs go around his waist as his hands grip my ass, and he slams me against the wall outside my bedroom. I groan as his tongue delves into my mouth, our tongues fighting for dominance, as my hands grip his hair tighter and his chest rumbles with a groan.

Slowly, the kiss becomes less intense until Atlas kisses me softly once more and then pulls back.

Raising his eyebrow, he asks, “What was that for?”

I shrug, which is awkward with the way I’m being held, “You look super hot when you look at me all concerned and serious.”

He lets out a bark of shocked laughter, his eyes filling with amusement as he replies, “Thank you, Princess, but you did message the group chat wanting a family meeting, and that worried me.”

My eyes widen, “Shit, where’s my phone?”

I have no idea when I dropped it, but it is no longer in my hand; after a quick scan of the floor, I find it outside of my bedroom door, bending and scooping up. I look over my shoulder to find Atlas staring at my ass and making me smile.

He shrugs, “What? You know you have a nice ass.”

“Thank you,” I reply with a proud smile. “Come on, we need to get down to the dining room, you distracted me.”

“I distracted you?” Atlas questions incredulously as I smirk and we quickly make our way down the stairs and to the dining room.

“Yep! That’s the way I remember it,” I reply teasingly.

He smacks my ass as we get to the extension and then chuckles when I squeak, “Whatever you say, Princess.”

I narrow my eyes at him, he is so going to pay for that later but right now, we have more important things that we need to address.

“What’s up, Ever?” Trick asks me as soon as I have stopped glaring at Atlas, who thinks it is hilarious.

“Shit yeah,” I reply, shaking my head to get myself back on track and then glancing around the table to make sure that everyone is here. When I am sure that we are and that Jonah and Dominic aren’t, I start to explain, “I was on the phone with Jynx, and they have had to go back because Sawyer is in some kind of trouble. I offered our help, as I always do when she has got something going on with the Raven’s, and this time, she said that she may need us and asked that we are on standby just in case.”

Rage frowns heavily, “That is a first. I don’t suppose she gave you any idea of what is going on?”

I shake my head, “No, it’s Jynx; she was too worried about complicating things if she doesn’t have to. I told her that we would make sure we are ready to go at the drop of a hat, just in case she makes the call.”

Trick nods, “Good. We will have to put the Hunt stuff on hold if she does call, but that shouldn’t be too much of a problem. It is not like we have got a deadline or any intel about where he is going to be. Our only lead right now is the shipping yard and port, and we can postpone the surveillance trip if we need to; that shouldn’t be too much of a big deal.”

“Did we decide when we are going to go?” I ask, I don’t remember if we had that conversation yet or not.

Trick nods, “Yeah, after you and Pete left, we were trying work out when would be best for Quinn and Ezra since they have other jobs that they need to take into consideration too. The problem is we need to watch the port when it is at its busiest so we get the best intel and have the best chance of seeing any of Hunt’s men if they are still using it.”

Cash takes over the explanation, “In the end, it was decided that it wouldn’t be too complicated for them to take time off, so we were thinking of heading out on Wednesday since it’s Monday now, and that gives a day to check the safe house in the town is free and travel. It also means that the busiest days of the week are covered. If we don’t manage to get eyes on any of Hunt’s people, then we can be pretty certain that he no longer uses it.”

I nod, “Okay, that sounds good. As much as I want to wait around and make sure that I am here in case Jynx calls, we can’t stop working for a situation that may or may not happen. There is a chance that she won’t call at all.”

Luc nods, “Yeah, I agree. I think we should carry on as we are, but make sure that we have our go-bags ready to grab if we need to head to Jynx.”

“If you guys are on surveillance and we get the call, then you can just meet us when you can,” Peter points out.

I nod, “Yeah, you have got a point. We can take extra go bags with us just in case we end up going straight from surveillance to Jynx.”

“I’m assuming that because you double-checked with me whether Jonah and Dominic were still here, Jynx asked you to keep it between us?” Trick asks.

I shake my head, “No, but she didn’t say I could talk to them about it, so I didn’t want to say anything in front of them. Plus, they won’t be able to be involved anyway. If Jynx needs us, then it’s really dangerous, and both the guys and Lyric have made it known how they feel about that.”

“Yes, you are right. To be honest, I wouldn’t want them involved, as you have said it is likely that it is going to be really dangerous, I would hate for something to happen to them with Lyric being so close to giving birth,” Rafe says, his features sinking into a frown.

Jensen’s eyebrows crease together as he says, “I think women who are really stressed when they are pregnant can go into early labour.”

We all look at him curiously, but it is Luc who asks, “How do you know that?”

My eyebrows climb as Jensen’s cheeks turn slightly pink and he says, “I got curious when Lyric first got pregnant and did some research, plus Ezra kept asking me questions and expecting me to know the answer, I figured I’d read up so when he messaged me panicking and asking some obscure thing, I’d have the answer immediately and avoid the multiple texts that happened when I didn’t reply straight away.”

“I had no idea you were doing that for him,” I mutter softly, my heart melting at how utterly fucking sweet it is for him to do that.

“Lucien’s been messaging me and asking things about savings and shit,” Rafe adds; he looks at Jensen, “I actually told him to talk to you about the best financial investments.”

Atlas grins, “Creed was asking me all sorts of shit the last time we sparred; I ended up telling him I had no idea. We spent one session on the internet searching for the best stroller.” His eyes widen, “There are so fucking many.”

I listen to the guys start talking about baby things, and my heart beats harder, and my fucking ovaries practically explode. It does something to me, there is no fucking doubt about that, and I just for a moment let myself imagine what it would be like to have a baby with them, the thought making me smile and feel such a rush of emotion that I immediately need girl back up.

Me: Please be awake. Your men have been asking my men about baby stuff, and now they are all discussing it, and my ovaries are telling me to get pregnant even though now is not the right time, and I am nowhere near ready yet. I am only twenty-one, and I know some people have babies then, but I'm not ready.

Lyric: Whoa, calm the fuck down, my beautiful bestie. None of them are asking you to have a baby with them; none of them are even asking you to have a conversation; they are just talking.

Me: Shit, you are right. I had a bit of an overreaction then, thank you for being awake.

Lyric: Yes, you did. I think it is hilarious that you have managed to have a role reversal, and you are the one that is freaking out.

Me: Yeah, yeah. I am abandoning you now. Send pictures of Ezra’s creations to the group chat.

Lyric: On it, I only just woke up. Honestly, he tried bless him, he has no idea what any of them are. He literally gave me this one piece and said, ‘it’s a thingamabob.’ That was it.

I can’t help but laugh aloud, and Cash looks at me curiously, so I explain, “Lyric’s telling me about Ezra’s things he’s made her.”

He grins. “If she sends you any pictures, I want to see them.”

“Of course,” I agree, like I had no intention of not showing him because, to be honest, I was always going to show them.

He pulls my chair closer to him, and tucks me under his arm, his cheek resting on the top of my head. We both listen to the guy's animated conversation about all the different kinds of cribs, while I wonder if I have stepped into an alternate reality.

“Are you okay?” he asks me quietly, “You went a bit quiet.”

I nod against his chest, “Yeah, I’m good. You guys are amazing.”

“We are,” he agrees seriously, before I feel him smile against my head, he kisses me once on the top of my head, and then continues, “it’s because of you. We wouldn’t be who we are if it weren’t for you.”

“I love you,” I reply.

“I love you, too, Il Mio Cuore,” he replies.

“Guys, shouldn’t we make some sort of plan for if Jynx calls us?” Luc asks.

“Shit, yeah. We got a bit off track then, which seems to be happening a lot recently,” Trick replies, amused. “We should all pack a go bag specifically for if we need to go to Jynx’s place, Jensen and Ever need to take theirs with them when they go to do surviellence. I will work on what we tell Mr R if she needs us before we have sorted this job out. I'm pretty much just going to tell him what is going to happen, not ask for permission. He can either accept or not, but it won’t change the fact that we will be unavailable for however long Jynx and the guys need us.”

“I think that’s probably the best way to handle it,” Cash agrees, his arms still around me. “He knows that we always put family first, so even if we didn’t give him a reason why we were going to be unavailable, he’s not stupid; he’ll know that it’s because one of our family members needs us.”

“That’s true, do you think I should tell him straight off that Jynx needs us so we’re requesting an indefinite leave of absence until it’s sorted, or do I just leave Jynx out of it entirely?” Trick asks, looking around at all of us.

It is something that I love about him, he is our leader and at the end of the day he does make the final decision, but he will always ask our opinion and listen to us when we voice it.

“I’d leave Jynx out entirely,” Atlas says, “he doesn’t need to know that it’s her specifically that we’re helping, although I’m sure he could guess.”

“I agree,” Jensen says, “I think, when it comes to Mr R, it might even be a case of the less he knows the better.”

Luc nods, “Exactly, he probably won’t want to know because if he knows then he may feel like he has to do something about it because Jynx operates outside of the law.”

“If he doesn’t know for sure, even if he guesses that’s who we’re helping, then he can pretend he doesn’t know.” Riot adds.

Peter smiles as he adds thoughtfully, “He likes Jynx, and he knows that she wouldn’t ask for our help unless it was really serious, so I think he would most likely want us to help her.”

Trick nods, “Yeah, okay. I hear you guys, and you all make really good points. If the situation arises where I need to tell Mr R that we are taking some time off effectively immediately, I will simply say that it is for personal reasons, and let him put together what he wants to put together.”

“Don’t forget Mr R knows D, he’s technically known about Jynx for longer than he’s known about us,” Atlas reminds us all.

“Fuck, you’re right,” I exclaim, “I always forget that. We definitely don’t know the full story there by the way.”

Atlas shakes his head, “No, we don’t, but I don’t think we will ever get the answers to that. It is highly unlikely that either of them are going to tell us.”

“I might just outright ask one of them next time I see them and see what they say,” I suggest.

“It’s worth a try, I guess,” Rage agrees.

“So, in actuality, Jynx is probably safer than most, and we could tell Mr R the truth. I still don’t think we should, but it is a nice cushion, as it were.” Trick says, looking a bit more relaxed about the prospect. None of us want to get Jynx in trouble.