“I do.”
Aiden and Thomas entered the parlor to the knowing stares of Calliope, Cricket, and Lola. They sat curled up on the sofa, wine in hand, chatting like they’d known each other all their lives. Well, Calliope and Lola had wine in hand, Cricket was drinking mineral water. Weird. Not that she was a drinker, but Aiden had seen her drink at more than one wedding.
He filed that information away for later. He envied how women could just bond so easily. Maybe not all women but definitely these women. None of them had ever met a stranger. Something about them just seemed to put people at ease. Nobody had ever said that about him or any of the Mulvaneys.
Aiden liked maybe three people he didn’t share a last name with and they were all present in that room. What would Aiden do without Lola? Tommy wanted him to come home…permanently. That meant closing up shop on his PI business, but it also meant giving up Lola.
“Where’ve you two been?” Cricket asked, giving them a thorough once-over.
“Car trouble,” they both said in unison.
Shit.
Calliope snorted. “Something need to be lubed?”
“Calliope,” Thomas said, her name more a warning than a plea.
“Thomas,” she mocked in the same stern voice.
Aiden tried to hide his smirk as Thomas easily gave in, shoulders dropping. Aiden didn’t know why Thomas even bothered. Calliope was the only person Aiden knew who had no fear of Thomas. Maybe it was their years of friendship? Maybe Calliope had just vowed never to fear anyone. Either was a very real possibility.
“Where’s everybody else?” Aiden asked, breaking the staring contest between the two.
Cricket sighed. “Team A is in the conference room going over the stuff in the boxes Lola found, Team B is playing Mario Kart, and Team C is on babysitting duty, which just means they’re also playing Mario Kart but with two toddlers in their laps.”
Thomas and Aiden exchanged glances before Aiden said, “What?”
Lola shrugged. “There are too many of them. We can’t keep naming them all. So, we just separated them into teams. It’s just easier that way.”
“Who’s Team A?” Aiden asked.
“August, Lucas, Mac, Archer, Jericho, Atticus, and the twins,” Cricket said, listing them off on her fingers.
“Team B?” Thomas asked, amused.
“Adam, Noah, Felix, Zane, Arsen, and Seven,” Calliope listed.
“And before you ask, Team C is Lake, Cree, Nico, Levi, Arlo, and Dimitri,” Lola said.
“You got August and Lucas to agree to leave the girls with a group of Gen Z gamers…on purpose?” Aiden asked.
“As opposed to the vigilante killers who are their parents and uncles?” Calliope asked.
She had a point. The girls were safe, especially with the feelings faction guarding them. Jericho’s boys were the best of both worlds, truly. They could kill when they needed to but somehow managed to keep all their humanity intact. Maybe that was just the resilience of their age. Or maybe that was what life was like when you had faith that what you were doing was justified.
“They’re waiting for you in the war room,” Cricket said, waving her hand vaguely in the direction of said room.
Thomas frowned at Calliope. “Are you coming?”
Calliope looked at Lola and Cricket. “Yeah, I’ll be along shortly.”
Thomas eyed her wine glass. “Sober?”
Calliope’s brows went up, her expression…frosty. Oof. Thomas needed to tread lightly. They couldn’t afford to lose Calliope. She was literally the backbone of the entire operation. Without her, they’d be crippled indefinitely. Also, she scared Aiden just a little. He could probably beat her in a fist fight, but she could tank his credit score in two strokes of a keyboard. Hell, she could make him disappear like a black ops agent if she wanted, making it so Aiden never existed at all. Yeah, no, thank you.
“Drunk or sober, I can still get the job done,” Calliope said. “Besides, who are you to lecture me about responsible drinking? You’re half in the bag whenever you and this one”—she pointed her thumb at Aiden—“have another fight. Which is often.”
“She’s got you there,” Cricket murmured.
