Page 106 of Knotted Laces

“You called,” he says.

“Two days ago,” Athena counters.

“I was in France.”

“Takes a hot minute to fuel up the jet,” Lex quips as he follows Jean-Michel into the room.

“Seriously?” I ask both of them. “Have you been listening the whole time?”

Lex has the good sense to look chagrined. “Not thewholetime.”

I sit back on my heels, rub at my temple, at the throb forming there. “Go away, the both of you. Athena needs rest.”

Steel in my friend’s, mybrother’seyes. “I think we need to have a talk first.”

“You think you could tell me anything I haven’t already told myself that will get this bullshit out of my head for once and forall?” I exhale, table my anger, knowing he’s just concerned. “It’s not that easy and you know it.”

Lex’s face smooths out and Jean-Michel steps closer, but I barely process that because Athena’s talking. “Yup,” she quips. “Lay it on us. The magic bullet that will solve all our problems.”

Lex scowls. “I—” But he doesn’t finish the sentence.

“Exactly,” she says. “You can’t. But considering for you it was finding Frankie”—she takes my hands—“and considering thatwe’vefound each other, I think we’re off to a good start.”

He scowls. “I don’t want either of you to think you’re not good?—”

“You can’t control our thoughts,” I say quietly. “Half the time I can’t control myownthoughts.”

“Here.”

I blink, watch as Jean-Michel walks over to us, handing us both business cards.

“What’s this, JM?” Athena asks quietly.

His face is gentle when he looks at her, but his words are gruff. “She’ll help you find someone to talk to.”

I still, shame threatening to well up.

Then he adds, “I know because she helped me.”

Even as I’m processing that—and how it settles the shame—any sign of soft disappears from Jean-Michel’s face, a flickering muscle appearing in his jaw. “Now, three things—one, why did you tell me to get my ass home two days ago; two, why are you sitting on this fucking couch with a bullet wound in your side; and three, why thefuckis there a bloodied picture of my ex-wife on Cam’s counter?”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Athena

I havethe great pleasure to be sitting in the office the next week when Peter Auclair strolls into the practice facility, thinking he’s at the top of the world.

The asshole is whistling for fuck’s sake.

By all intents and purposes, the FBI’s backed off since my escapades at the warehouse.

The Lyons think they’re in the clear.

But inreality, we’ve shifted our investigation to the connection between Jean-Michel’s ex-wife—the woman who’s reappeared from the shadows to create chaos for the grumpy silver fox and his various businesses—and the Lyons.

And it’s bigger than anything we ever thought possible.

It’ll take time to build the case, of course, but today…

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