I was relieved when Bram didn’t point out that the cat seemed fine with Poe and Remy.
“Be nice,” I whispered in the cat’s ear before putting him down. “You still have food in your bowl.”
We got in the Hummer and pulled out of the fenced lot and onto Main Street. There were cameras at the gate now and barbed wire at the top of the chain-link fence, the hole Ethan Todd had cut into it repaired.
There was also a guy in a leather jacket with the Blades emblem pacing the street in front of the loft, one of many locals who lurked outside now. I’d been freaked at first, had wondered if maybe Ethan Todd had enlisted them to stalk me, but Bram had confessed that they were there because he’d asked them to be there.
It wasn’t the Butchers’ style to hire a high-priced security firm to protect the loft even though they probably could haveafforded it. They handled their problems their own way, kept it all in the family of Blackwell Falls.
It had taken some getting used to, but I had to admit I felt better knowing the locals were keeping an eye out for anyone who didn’t belong.
Bram nodded at him as we passed, then continued down Main Street.
I didn’t ask questions about where we were going. Running errands with the Butchers might mean waiting in the car while they went into a local store or an abandoned barn outside of town, but it could just as easily mean they were stopping to pick something up for the loft or taking one of the cars in for service.
After a year and a half of plotting to take down Ethan Todd, it was a relief to be a passenger — and a passenger princess — in someone else’s daily life. It was something I loved about being with the Butchers: I felt like I could relinquish control because I knew they had everything handled, their shit and mine too if I needed their help.
I was surprised when Bram pulled next to the curb outside Cassie’s Cuppa, less than two miles down the street from the loft.
I stayed put while he got out of the car, assuming he was running in to talk to Cassie. Instead he walked around to my side of the Hummer and opened my door.
“Let’s go.”
“You want me to come in?” I’d never admit it, but the way he’d ignored me in front of his sister still stung when I thought about it, which was why I tried not to think about it.
“That’s why we’re here.” I stepped onto the curb and he took my face in his hands. “I’ll never stop hating myself for the way I treated you, Maeve.”
I swallowed around the lump in my throat. “I just… I don’t want you to do this for me.”
I didn’t want him to introduce me to Cassie under duress.
“It’s not about that,” he said. “You’re my family now, and I want you to meet the rest of my family.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
Butterflies took flight in my stomach as he took my hand and led me inside. I was almost glad he hadn’t warned me. I would have been sick with nervousness. I knew how much Cassie meant to him, knew how close they were.
I wanted her to like me.
It was lunchtime and the coffee shop was about half-full with customers looking for an afternoon caffeine hit. Cassie was behind the counter, refilling big glass containers with coffee beans while the purple-haired barista served the line of customers and a lanky guy with dimples filled cups with steaming coffee.
A smile broke out on Cassie’s face when she spotted us, and she held up one finger to let us know she needed a minute.
“This way,” Bram said.
I felt a thrill at the subtle pressure of his hand on my lower back as he guided me through the coffee shop. We’d explored every inch of each other’s body, but there was something even more intimate in his touch now. We were in public, where everyone could see, and he was making no secret about the fact that I was his.
He led me to a table by the window, a table I recognized as the one where he’d been sitting with Cassie both times I’d seen him in the coffee shop.
He helped me off with my coat and pulled out my chair like we were in a five-star restaurant.
“I’m going to give Cassie your order,” he said.
I liked that I didn’t have to tell him what I wanted. He knew my coffee shop drink was a latte with a splash of vanilla syrup, and I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans as he talked to Cassie.
Oh M, you’re in love.
June sounded surprised. She sounded happy for me.
