“The Stonewoods are family by proxy. For business purposes. For all purposes, really, at this point.”
“I have kept that part of my life separate for a very long time and for good reason.” I enunciated each word and folded my arms across my chest. “Do you remember what happened to Vick a few years back?”
My friend had been sideswiped by a car. No one was found guilty. No one was found dead either. Which meant Jett Stonewood and Bastian had tracked them down and made them pay in more ways than one.
He stared at me, his eyes darkening with a malice I barely saw there. “Nothing like that will happen again.”
“How can you be sure? You weren’t sure then.”
“I wasn’t the boss for more than a minute when that happened. It won’t happen again. Not to Brey, not to Vick, and never to you. You’re all protected now. Untouchable.”
“They are?” I squeaked out. “Do they know?”
“Of course they know.”
I stalked away, leaving the piece about me being an untouchable for another day. I didn’t want to be untouchable; I wanted to be a part of the family. Did he know that? Did he know I wasn’t like the other women, the other children and friends of the mob? I was part ofthem.
“You’re an untouchable, and you didn’t tell me,” I said softly into the phone. It wasn’t a question.
“I was waiting for you to tell me about your life before I imposed on it. You’ve been a part of the family for a long time, you said. I didn’t know how deep.”
“Brey, that’s not something I ever wanted to put on you.”
“I put my life on you before. I put a lot on you. I expect the same from a best friend. Lean hard.”
“Leaning could get you killed,” I shot back, glaring at Bastian for good measure. He waved me off and mumbled he was going to get his shoes and suit jacket on.
I watched him walk away. I was in the apartment of the most dangerous man in the city, and I felt no fear except for my friend on the phone. Fear that her affiliation with us would cost her her life. “Jax and you are—”
“Very careful. And we’re very much on the outskirts. You know his music app keeps us more isolated from the business than anything else. I’ve stopped working as much. We’re protected, not really involved.”
I sighed with relief. “And Vick?”
“Probably much more invested than me. Jett owns half the city, Katie. Mario and Bastian must have told you—”
“Not much. I’m . . .” For the first time I didn’t want to saybait. I didn’t want to tell the only person who’d been in my life as long as she had that I was a tool they used more than a family member they took care of. “I’m helpful to them in a lot of ways, but I’m a woman who’s not married in. I’m just me.”
“That’s a pretty formidable thing to be, if you ask me.” I heard a muffled, “And me,” in the background.
“Hi, Jax.”
“Always a pleasure, Katie,” Jax said like he always did. The man never found pleasure in anyone taking his wife’s time. I was a necessary nuisance to him. “So, we’ll see you at the gala?”
“You’ll see me. I’ll find you both when I arrive.”
And somehow Jax had navigated the situation between Brey and me perfectly.
Brey sighed. “I love you, Katie. Don’t get so lost you can’t find your way out. And if you do, find us.”
“Of course,” I replied quickly.
I never would, though.
Brey was blood much thicker than the family’s. She was my home. And I’d barely ever had a home after my father died. Not one I felt safe in, not one I was loved in, not one I cared for at all.
When I was with Brey, though, I got a friendship that was immovable and love that was freely given. When you found a home that safe, you never ever tarnished it.
But for some reason, I couldn’t admit within my safe place with her today that I was the mob’s bait. It made me wonder for the first time in a long time if I’d let them all take advantage of me. I was a woman, but I was as formidable as Brey said.