Page 30 of Dangerously Kept

“Okay, but you didn’t answer the first half of my question. What’s our plan?”

“Mo Grá,” Mac says gently from my left as he reaches up and twirls a stray curl that slipped from my bun in his fingers, “We talked about it while you were in the bath.”

“Okay?”

“We think it’s best to wait before making our next move. None of us have any reason to leave the apartment for at least a few days. Finn has already spoken to Ralph, and he has placed extra security throughout the building. We don’t believe Logan is of any threat to anyone at the moment, I bet he can barely walk, and Declan is all the way in Ireland, likely running around like a chicken with his head cut off, trying to figure out what to do next.”

“Shouldn’t that be why we do something now? Strike while he doesn’t have a plan.”

“We could, Baby. But it would only end badly.”

“What? Why?” I don’t understand why they’re not ready to jump into action right now. I would have thought they wouldn’t want to rest another minute until they had both Logan’s and Declan’s blood on their hands.

“Because none of us are mentally capable of dealing with that right now,” Mac answers.

“You almost died, Harper.” Ronan lowers his tattooed hand and wraps it around my thigh. I smile when I see he has all of his rings back on. “You were gone for fifteen days. They took you from our home, and you almost died.”

Finn leans forward and rests his forearms on the counter, “You are nowhere near healed enough to leave this apartment, and we are nowhere near ready to let you out of our sights. You need to rest, and quite frankly, so do we. What’s best is for all of us to take the rest of the week, and then we will go from there. Okay?”

The stern look on Finn’s face lets me know he’s not asking. None of them are. On one hand, I want to disagree; I want all of this behind us as soon as possible. I want the threats over our heads gone so we can focus on building a life, the four of us, together. I know that, without a doubt, there will always be people in the shadows waiting for the perfect opportunity to destroy the empire the three of them have built. An empire to which I am now unequivocally connected. But right now, this feels bigger. Like once it’s gone, we will all be able to breathe. On the other hand, though, I know they’re right. I barely had the energy to pull myself out of bed this morning, let alone join them on some revenge mission. One of them will want to stay here with me, weakening us even further, and I know that if I’m here and they’re out there, their heads won’t be in it. Someone will get hurt, or worse, killed. My heart can’t handle losing one of them dying. Not again. I know Ronan’s alive, but it was all too real for a while. I’ll never be able to forgive myself if I put them in that position.

This is why, without any argument, I nod and say, “Okay.”

“I hope you’re ready for some serious cuddles,” Mac says as he leans forward and drops a messy kiss on my cheek.

“Aweee, I’d love to cuddle with you, little bro.” I reach to my right to smack Ronan in the chest again, but this time, he grabs my wrist to stop me. Instead, he lifts my hand and gently kisses my thumb where his ring still resides. Goosebumps skate over my skin at the sentimental gesture.

Mac gets up from his chair, walks behind me, and while Ronan still has his eyes locked on mine, smacks his brother across the back of the head. “You always have to say something smart.”

Ronan grabs at the back of his head. This time I think in real pain. “Ouch, you fucker. That hurt.”

Mac doesn’t acknowledge his whining as he sets about putting the leftover rolls in the fridge, and I look over at Finn, who is again rolling his eyes at his best friend’s antics. His warm, brown eyes meet mine as his lips curl up, and he winks, his entire demeanor radiating happiness and belonging.

We haven’t had a chance to talk about what happened that night down at the docks, but I know Ronan and Mac have zero regrets when it comes to killing Liam. He was a danger not only to me but to their mother and everything the three of them were trying to build. And judging by the way Finn looks at his best friends, he finally feels like he truly has a place here, even though he always did, rather than feeling like it was his duty to be here.

That’s what I want for him, for them, for all of us. To have a place where we can belong—a place where, regardless of all the darkness, there’s a tiny pocket of light.

20

Finn

We’ve spent the majority of the last two days sleeping and snuggling together while watching movies in Harper’s bed. All four of us. Together.

I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t loved every minute of it, even if it did include an ungodly amount of time in bed with my two best friends. But I guess, if we’re going to do this, like really do this, we better get used to it.

It was clear that Harper was still utterly exhausted and pretty sore, so rather than camping out in the den, we decided to hole up in her room and spend the days watching movies. She made us watch every Harry Potter movie, and not one of us cared because the smile on her face the entire time was worth it.

I’ve been most impressed with Ronan and his complete willingness to drop everything to sit around the apartment and do nothing. I haven’t even seen him so much as pick up his phone to answer one business email. As someone who has been running at a hundred miles per hour, 24/7, for the last three years, I know this is exactly what he needs, but that doesn’t make it any less surprising. We have all of our bases covered at Kings and with all of our underground dealings throughout the city. Sebastian still hasn’t seen Logan pop up anywhere, and Luca is keeping an eye out for Declan. With any luck, no one should need us until next week; for now, we’re all more than happy to hang out in our bubble.

Mac’s in the kitchen, cooking what smells like Chicken Parmesan, and Ronan is currently in the shower, his shower, to be specific. When Harper told him he could just use her shower, he quickly looked at me before dropping a light kiss on her lips and saying he didn’t want to bring all his bathroom stuff in here. Harper was none the wiser, but both Ronan and I knew that was bullshit, likely for the same reason I had to go shower in my own bathroom this morning. Being pressed up against Harper’s body for the past two days and not being able to do anything about it is its own personal brand of torture. None of us have so much as made the slightest move on her because we know that’s the absolute last thing she needs or likely wants right now. We aren’t willing to set her recovery back because we can’t keep our dicks in our pants. So, jacking off in the shower for the foreseeable future it is.

We finished the last Harry Potter movie a couple of hours ago, and now I’m stuck watching two brothers named Stefan and Damon attend high school so they can pine after the same girl. They’re like five-hundred-year-old vampires, by the way.

I think I’d rather watch the teenage wizards, if I’m being honest.

But I won’t complain because I’m propped up against the headboard with Harper curled into my side. I’m sliding my fingers through her curls while she moves her thumb in soft circles against the top of my thigh. Her vanilla and caramel scent invades my senses every time I take a deep breath, and I don’t think I’ve ever been more content doing absolutely nothing.

“You guys were right,” she says as she nuzzles deeper into my side.

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