Page 17

Chapter Seventeen

Dallas

I sat on the couch beside Chelsea, my arm around her. She nestled into me, breathing soft and low. Awake, but relaxed.

"Well, that was interesting," Frost said.

Storm grunted. He hadn't said a word since the other three guys left. He sat in an armchair finishing his dinner while brooding, lost in thought.

"It was," I agreed. "I told you they were good guys." I hadn't exactly, but close enough.

"Just because they're on our side doesn't mean they're good guys," Storm grunted.

"It does if it means Atlas killed Bruce for Chelsea," Frost said. "It sounds like something out of a movie." He cocked his head and smiled.

"I wish he'd taken the retirement option," Chelsea said softly. "He'd still be alive if he had."

"And Dominic King would have been GM for longer," I concluded. "Maybe before Atlas and Jay joined the team. What would that have meant?"

"Maybe nothing," Storm said. "Maybe something."

"King might have stopped them from joining the team," Frost suggested.

We all stared at him.

"Fuck," Storm said softly.

"What?" Chelsea sat up a little and covered her yawn with her fist.

"We don't know what Dominic King knows about Atlas and the rest of us," Storm said. "He could know exactly what we're up to."

She stiffened in my arms. "Shit." After a moment, she loosened a little and shook her head. "I didn't get that impression from him or Skinner. They might suspect there's people like us watching them, but I don't think they know who. If they did, they would have pulled strings to have Atlas and Jay stay at the Devils. Or go somewhere else."

"I hope you're right," Storm said. "Otherwise we've just been thrown into a tank full of hungry sharks. I'm not going to be their fucking bait."

"We won't end up bait," I said. "We'll be fine."

"And taking orders from Ramsey." Frost seemed amused by that. "Who would have thought?"

"Not me," I agreed. "Storm, are you going to do what he says?" I was poking the hornet's nest, but I couldn't resist. If anyone was going to make this situation difficult, it was him.

"We'll see," he grunted. "Depends what they want. If he tells me to kill any one of you, he can fuck all the way off."

"The only way he'd have to ask you to do that is if one of us does something wrong," Chelsea said.

"Then we won't do anything wrong," I said.

I was starting to wonder what we let ourselves get sucked into. What would happen if we packed up everything right now and slipped away into the night? I suspected I wouldn't like the repercussions. People like our new employers, they had long memories and longer reach. Atlas, Jay and Ramsey might hunt us down. Holed up in a warehouse somewhere, waiting for them to break down the door and kill us all.

"Piece of cake," Frost said. "We know how to stay out of trouble if we want to."

"Trouble has a way of finding us," Chelsea said softly.

I pulled her in closer. "I know you didn't want to get caught up in all of this. If I could have done anything to prevent it, I would have." I don't know what I would have done, but I would have tried something.

She sighed. "I know. If it wasn't this, it would have been something else. If it wasn't you guys, it would have been some one else. They've always been determined to find a way to bring me back in. That's what they're like. They don't like letting anyone go."

"Has that ever happened?" Frost asked. "Does anyone get to walk away?"

"Once in a while someone is able to find a way to break free," she said. "If they can cut a deal with the right person at the right time, they can live a normal life. But it doesn't happen often. Some people are used without even knowing it's happening. Others, like me, they wait for an opportunity to hold on to me. To make me do whatever they want." She sounded frustrated, but resigned. She didn't want this, but she knew she couldn't fight it.

"I don't like the idea of anyone manipulating you." Storm scowled.

She laughed softly. "They're manipulating all of us. It's what they do. There's three things they want in life: power, money and control. As far as they're concerned, those three are all rolled into one. With one comes the others. They don't like to relinquish a centimetre or a cent. The more power and control they have, the more they want."

She nestled tighter against me. "Daze likes me, but she'd have me killed if necessary and not think twice about it, especially if she thought I gave her a reason to do it. She's as ruthless as the rest of them."

"What about Ice?" Frost asked. "He wouldn't let her do that to you."

"No, he wouldn't," she agreed. "There's six people he wouldn't let her kill: me, Kennedy, Mannix, Ares, and our parents. If anyone went after us, they'd either have to get past him, or get to us before he could stop them. And face the consequences of pissing him off. Chances are, they'd kill him before they went after me, so he couldn't do anything to stop them."

"Rugby is starting to feel very passive in comparison," Storm remarked.

"Are you starting to regret getting involved?" Frost frowned at him.

Storm shrugged one shoulder and leaned back against the back of the chair. "Doesn't matter, does it? We're in now."

"Because I got you in," Chelsea said regretfully. "I shouldn't have told you anything."

"We were in when I wrapped my hands around Ivy's throat," Frost said. "At least, I was. When your brother helped me, I was all in."

"And if Frost is in, I'm in," Storm said.

"I'm in because I decided to be," I said. "But I'm in even more now Chelsea is. If Dominic King or Otis Skinner try anything with her, I'm going to take a leaf from Storm's book and rip off their hand to smack them with it."

"I bet Ice would literally do that," Frost said. He seemed to have a genuine case of hero worship.

"He would," Chelsea agreed. "I'm sure if you ask nicely, he'll let you try it out sometime."

She looked less than enthusiastic. If someone wrote a book about her, they could call it Reluctant Mafia Princess. She was a princess, whether she liked it or not and I wasn't going to let anything happen to her, even if I had to die to prevent it.

"I don't know if that's fun or just fucked up," Storm said.

"Both?" Frost suggested.

Chelsea shook her head slightly, making her hair fall across her face. "I vote for fucked up, but if that's what you're into…"

"Not me," I said. "I'm not as bloodthirsty as those two. I just want to keep you safe. Anything else is shit that has to be done."

"You say that until you actually kill someone," Frost said, his voice low, almost hypnotic. "When you get a taste of it, you might find you like it more than you thought you would."

"I might," I said. "I might not. I might not ever find out."

"I hope you don't," Chelsea said. "I don't want any of you killing for me. Or killing for shits and giggles. It's not a thing anyone should do lightly."

"Have you killed people?" Frost asked, looking a bit too eager.

"Not directly," she said. "Apparently I excel at doing it indirectly. Belinda Simmons. Bruce Fergus. I can't help feeling responsible for Ivy too. She might have come on to Frost because she saw him with me. Because she couldn't handle me having something good that she didn't. She wanted him for herself. I don't know why, but she couldn't understand that what she had was special, her looks and her talent. She didn't need to be me."

"No offence to her, but no one is you," I said. "If she couldn't see that, that was her problem."

I was sympathetic for the girl and the way she died, but anyone comparing themselves to Chelsea was in for a world of disappointment. No one was as beautiful, smart and sexy as her. No one would ever taste as good. No one made better sounds when they came.

"I know," she said. "Still…"

"It might be my fault for being irresistible." Frost pretended to fluff his hair. "She saw me and had to have me. Can you blame her?"

"Lucky you're cute," Storm told him. "Because sometimes you're an idiot." He said it with affection, but at the same time rolled his eyes and smirked.

"Only sometimes?" I teased.

Frost flipped me off, then did the same to Storm. "I'm very cute. Right Chelsea?"

"Right," she agreed. "You're all adorable. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You'll never have to find out," I assured her. "So, what happens now? With Atlas and Jay. Ramsey too, I guess."

"Yeah, Storm doesn't have any reason to try to chase them away anymore," Frost said.

"I do," Storm said. "Atlas is still a dickhead. The jury is out on Jay and Ramsey. But I've already given them permission to be involved with Chelsea, so this changes nothing. As it stands, there seems to be slightly less chance they'll try to screw us over. Only slightly."

"I can't wait until you and Atlas are best friends," Frost said. "Then you might admit you're wrong about him."

He regarded Storm, something like hope in his green eyes. He was as invested in this family as I was. He wanted everyone to get along and care about each other. He was like a kid who wanted all his friends to sit down together and play with Legos. Or have a game of Monopoly without anyone tossing the board onto the floor. If that was even possible.

Did people really do that? I had no idea. I wasn't a fan of the game, so I had little interest in finding out. Especially not with these guys. They were so competitive, they'd do anything to win. Things would get ugly, to say the least.

"Never," Storm said.

"You're never going to be best friends, or you'll never admit to being wrong?" I asked.

He eyed me. "Both. The best you can hope for is for us to tolerate each other. Don't go expecting anything else to happen."

I wondered what it would take to change his mind. Atlas didn't seem like a bad guy to me, they just butted heads. What was it Ramsey said? Alpha men. They both wanted power and control and didn't want to give it to the other. Sooner or later, something was going to have to give. Someone was going to have to bend a little. If not, we might all break.

"I bet you fifty bucks," Frost said to me.

"What timeframe?" I asked. Years could pass before they learned to like each other.

Frost tapped the tips of his fingers against his cheek as he thought. "Two months? I bet fifty dollars Storm and Atlas will be friends within two months."

"That's a dumbass bet," Storm told him. He scowled at us both and shook his head like he thought we were out of our minds. He might be right, but neither of us gave a shit.

I leaned over and shook Frost's hand. "It'll be the easiest fifty bucks I ever make." I wouldn't mind if I lost, because that would mean our family was a little less dysfunctional. Either way, I won.

Frost grinned. "How much do you want to bet within six months they'll be sucking each other's cocks?"