Page 19

Chapter

Eighteen

GRACE

T he drive to Paris took the rest of the night and into the early hours of the morning. I slept far more of it than I thought I would, curled up on a pallet they’d made in the back of the van with Goblin next to me and the guys taking turns as well. Always two of them up and two resting.

The first stretch of the drive Alphabet was on one side of me and Goblin on the other. The second Voodoo swapped spots with him. For the last few miles, Bones stretched out with me. I wasn’t sleeping so much then, but took the time to study him as the light outside grew stronger.

The shadows beneath his eyes seemed to have dug in grooves. All night, I’d thought about the story they’d told. About the men from their past that now seemed inextricably tied up with my own horror story. Reznik—the hate for him was tangible and it had teeth.

Yet all of that paled in contrast to the raw, intense, and volatile tones as they vacillated between rage and heartbreak over O’Rourke. I doubted they would see it the same way, but it was there from the first moment Bones said anything over comms regarding him.

Sharp and clipped, with biting, accusatory words or phrases that threatened to crack under the weight of emotion.

That was Bones. For Voodoo it was strained, hoarse and edged as though each statement had to be forced past his teeth.

Lunchbox’s came out guttural and intense, deepening his voice with adrenaline-fueled anguish.

And AB?

His silence screamed far louder and his humor a desperate shield. The pain he suffered then—still suffered no matter how he dismissed it, was deafening. O’Rourke hurt these men. Hurt them in a way only someone truly loved and trusted could hurt another.

Betrayal went down like battery acid and I’d hate O’Rourke for that alone.

“You’re thinking too loudly, Grace,” Bones said in a low voice. “Go back to sleep. We have…” He raised his wrist to look at his watch. “Another hour before we’re at the location. Then another hour to do a scout before we go in.”

“Then sleep if you can, unlike some people, I got most of a night’s sleep.”

He cracked an eyelid, then wrapped an arm around me, flipped me over so I had my back to his chest and then snugged me up tight. Goblin shifted over so he could little spoon to my little spoon.

“Now sleep,” Bones ordered in a husky voice. Unexpectedly, the way he wrapped me up tight, the warmth of him there, and the hum of the street below us as we rolled along knocked me out.

Three hours later, we were settling into the huge apartment we now had on loan for the next several days.

The owner was in Australia and she’d been more than happy to give me the door code and to stay as long as I needed.

The only “payment” she wanted was for me to agree to a photo shoot down the road.

Not really a hardship. Rachel was wonderful and I’d worked with her a couple of times before.

As for the apartment, it took up the entire top floor of the building. There were four flats below, also owned by Rachel apparently, but they were only let for students and uni was out currently. So we were in luck there. She said the next tenants weren’t due for another month.

Whatever we had to do shouldn’t take that long.

“This photographer friend must make a bundle,” Voodoo mused as they set up Alphabet’s equipment. We didn’t have as much as we’d had at the first house, but they were doing an inventory so Voodoo could acquire more.

I shrugged. “She does well. I think this place was a gift, if I recall correctly.”

That earned me a look from Bones. “A yachting kind of gift?”

“Oh, god no.” I raised my hands and shook my head.

“Rachel is not a yacht girl. Trust me. She’d be more likely to kick them in the balls than get on their boats.

No—she’s just really tight with some really wealthy friends and when she relocated to Paris, her friend bought the whole building and set it up for her to live in.

Cause she wanted her to have something nice with excellent security. ”

Alphabet nodded. “That explains all the upgrades.” The upgrades included exterior cameras. All access points into the building and the apartment itself had cameras. It also took codes to get in the doors below and the elevator wouldn’t work without another code.

“I just…I like the story. Because Rachel would never ask for something like this and I got the impression it kind of baffled her. But I also get why her friends did it. They are back in New York and she’s here. They wanted her safe. I would do the same for…”

Amorette.

Some of my good cheer just fled.

“Hey,” Lunchbox settled his hands on my upper arms and rubbed them. “It’s okay. Come help me make a food shopping list. Your friend has a great place, but I don’t think she ever uses her kitchen.”

Some of my humor spilled back in, but only a little. The ache for Amorette spread like a poison, burning everywhere it touched. I’d forgotten—for just a little while, I’d forgotten. I sniffed once, blinking back the tears.

“You sure you want me to help?” It came out rougher than I intended. “I really shouldn’t be let loose in a kitchen.”

“I can take care of all that,” he said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “What you are going to do is tell me what you like and then I’ll build the menus from there.”

The kitchen was every bit as nice as I remembered it, huge, open space with double ovens, a double sided sink, a pot filler over the range, and stool seating at the kitchen peninsula.

The floor was marble, white with black veins, and beautiful.

Sandstone countertops and backsplash warmed it up.

The cabinetry was all painted bright white, the windows including the skylight, flooded the room with natural light.

“Oh,” I exhaled a breath. “Coffee.” The espresso machine was a lot like the one they had at base. A snort of laughter escaped me.

“What’s funny?” Lunchbox asked from where he stood at the fridge. The door was open and he frowned. What I could see of it made it seem like it was empty. But if she was in Australia, that was probably a good move.

“I just thought of the house in Montana as base.”

He flashed me a quick smile. “That’s because it is base .”

“Accepted,” I murmured. “We need to get oat milk.”

“See, already helping with a list.” he stood at the peninsula making crisp notes on a pad of paper for grocery supplies. He added oat milk and underlined it twice. Some items had slashes next to them, others little asterisks.

“Code?” I asked when I leaned against the counter next to him. He had a lot of items on there, bread, muffins, flour, milk, eggs, potatoes, and meat. “And isn’t that a lot of food if we’re only here for a few days?”

I didn’t want to leave anything to go bad in her fridge.

“Slashes indicates we can substitute if necessary, asterisks are absolutely no substitutes accepted and underlined means don’t come back without it.”

He added whole bean coffee to the list, and underlined it twice as well. Dog food was also added, then toiletries.

“Do you need any—” He eyed me.

“Any?” I raised my brows.

“Tampons or pads or little cup things or whatever?” His expression was perfectly neutral. Perfectly cool and collected.

“No,” I said slowly. “I don’t. I have an implant. Just easier because I travel so much. It makes my periods almost non-existent. Though I do PMS now and then even without the rest.”

“Good to know.” He completed the toiletries list and then slid the pad over to me. “Anything else you want?”

I added chocolate bars to the list. Dark, milk, and white, then extra milk. Tapping my chin with the pen, I studied the kitchen then Lunchbox. “Done.”

“Good, stay here.” He left the kitchen with the note in hand and headed out to where the guys were. Staying as he’d ordered, I walked over to one of the windows and looked down at the street below.

Paris bustled about its morning. The sunshine after days of misting rain seemed to make it even brighter. So weird to see so much… normalcy.

Hands came to rest on my hips and I leaned back, trusting that he wouldn’t let me fall and I wasn’t disappointed. “Talk to me, Gracie. You look sad.”

“I’m not really sad .” I turned the words over in my head. “I am, but—it’s hard to explain.”

“Let’s try it this way, then.” He wrapped his arms around me, and the warmth of his embrace just pulled me tighter. “What are you thinking about?”

“It’s so normal outside. People going to work. Going to shops. Just—going about their lives.” I frowned. “That feels like a million years ago to me. It’s only been a few months, but even that feels a lot longer.”

He didn’t say anything for a long moment, just held me while I rested against his chest. The steady thump of his heart helped to erode some of my tension. A part of me wanted to just be one of those people out there. I wanted to return to normalcy.

We’re never going to be normal again. How can we? After everything? And these guys…

The thought slid out of the shadows in my mind and I couldn’t deny it. Wouldn’t even try. They weren’t normal. How could I want normal if they weren’t a part of it?

“Gracie?” He framed a dozen questions in my name and I tilted my head back to look up at him. “Come with me for a little while?”

“Anywhere.” Easiest answer ever and he scooped me up. “I can walk,” I reminded him even as he strode out of the kitchen. We didn’t go back to the sitting room where we’d parked it when we arrived. Not that I saw the guys anywhere.

Maybe they’d left?

“I know you can,” he said, but he didn’t slow his stride. “This is faster.”

I snorted a laugh then frowned. “Did you just call me slow?”

His eyes twinkled, it was the first hint of light to slip into them since he’d crashed into the lounge to get me away from O’Rourke. “Absolutely not.”

At the end of the hall that housed some of the bedrooms, he opened one up and then stepped inside where he locked the door. The whole time, he kept his gaze fixed on mine.