The women look at him and he shrugs. “Dogs need walks and to use the bathroom. The cats and Briar can hang out in here, where she’ll be safe.”
A blip of silence.
“Or maybe they don’t need the stress of taking care of animals when they’ve already got a lot on their plates?” Marie points out.
“Fine,” Rory grumbles, completely ignoring Marie as she looks over at Chrissy. “You win.”
Chrissy grins.
“ButIget first dibs during puppy season.”
“Deal.”
They shake hands and I drag my bewildered gaze from the deal that’s just taken place over to Jean-Michel. “What just happened?”
Jace is the one who answers. “You just signed up to be a zoo, my friend.”
“Say again?”
“It’s better just to accept your fate now.” Rome claps my shoulder, King nodding in agreement behind him.
“Remember how we were”—he does finger quotes—“just watching a dog for a few days?”
That dog now has a bed with its name embroidered on the front in several rooms of Jace’s house.
“You told me that you decided to keep Gus.”
“We did”—he winks at Marie when she glances over her shoulder and smiles at him—“but want to guess who brought us Gus to”—finger quotes again—“watch?”
I groan. “I seriously think this is the worst time to be taking on an animal—oranimals.”
“Cats don’t need much.” He lightly punches my shoulder. “And it might be good for her to have something to do that isn’t…”
Thinking about the danger.
About the last five years.
About me walking away.
“Yeah,” I mutter. “But if something happens to the cats…” Toher…
Jean-Michel shakes his head. “We suspect we know who’s involved, and what we know is that the Lyons aren’t particularly violent,” he says. “Pain in the asses, yeah, and they’re not above a kidnap and ransom, certainly. But they mostly hit us through our businesses, and they’ve never messed with the charities”—something pings in my mind at that statement, but he keeps talking and it slips from my thoughts just as quickly—“instead they’ll hit you in other ways.”
My temple throbs in protest to his words.
But I know that wasn’t Briar’s mission.
I know she wasn’t trying to hurt me, not really. It was rage and anger and fear all coming together…and exploding.
Still, “Say that again when my woman isn’t flinching when I go to touch her.”
His eyes turn to ice. “What happened?”
“I don’t know it all yet,” I admit. “It’s going to take time for her to trust me enough to open up.”
“Seems like she trusted you plenty a few minutes ago,” Jace says dryly.
“Don’t make me punch you, asshole.”
