Page 100 of Jersey

I've never been a believer in quick fixes. I've never gone a night grateful that I didn't have a nightmare that didn't pair up with the anxiety of knowing I wouldn't be so lucky the next time I went to sleep.

Somehow, as if my soul was waiting for hers in order to get a break, I haven't had a single nightmare since the incident with Miles Lee. I don't know if that will be the case once I have a job that takes me out of town, and I have to spend the sleeping hours without her, but I feel beyond fucking lucky to have the reprieve while it lasts.

There were a few moments this morning when I wondered if the silence in my dreams was somehow a sign that Eden was happy that I'd found happiness. I know the woman never intended to burn the house down. Despite her addiction, she loved the boys with everything she had. Her regrets weren't with motherhood, just that she had to face so much of it alone.

It'sbeen weeks since Caitlyn came to the cabin after that horrible day, and other than leaving to clean out her little house and grab her personal belongings from her rented office, she hasn't left the property.

I don't know what it will do for her mental health to stay in one place so long without a change of scenery, but she seems content to just be here with me for now.

Leads from Adair's journals and paperwork seem to have dried up. The hotel in Dayton was just one job in a string of many that we discovered the people working with or for Adair had gone underground.

We still get reports that women are going missing, but as soon as we track the disappearances down a certain highway or interstate, they start to jump around.

We knew better than to think that cutting off the head of the fucking snake would kill the entire machine, but we had hoped that we could at least catch a break where we had the chance to catch our breaths.

Hemlock hasn't sent me out any further than a couple of hours from home for work, but I know the time will come when my job carries me further. It would be foolish to think that I won't encounter the same problems that I had with Eden where Caitlyn is concerned, but the main difference is that there are people here with her. She'll never be alone if she doesn't want to be.

I watch with a grin on my face as Caitlyn chats with Cora, Zara, and Aspen, and I can see the fondness that has grown between her and the other women, and I don't think she has ever had that.

She still hasn't gotten to the bottom of her phobia of being touched, but she mentioned that it has always extended to everyone and was never gender specific. Knowing this, the other women in the house still maintain an acceptable distance from her, but not in an exclusionary way.

She mentioned that it was weird that people just accepted her boundaries rather than seeing it as a personal slight against them. I'm just grateful to work with such an amazing team of people, and that she has their significant others around to help build a family neither one of us had before.

My smile falters when I see Zeus begin to cross the room in their direction. I wouldn't call them friends, but they're friendly, and it still irks the living shit out of me that he has seen her sans clothes.

"I see you still haven't gotten that jealousy streak under control," Hemlock says, drawing my attention away from the smile on my woman's face to my boss.

"Still bitter about me flirting with Zara?" I challenge.

"Want me to lay you out inthe middle of this fucking party?" he growls, and I just smile as I lift my glass of whiskey.

"Exactly," I say, laughing when he scowls even further. "We both have it fucking bad, huh?"

"I love every fucking minute of it," he confesses.

"Same," I add. "When are the new guys supposed to get here?"

We're having this little get-together as a welcome for the two new guys joining us.

It was the ladies' idea, of course. Most of us just wanted to keep our heads down and get to work the second we showed up at the cabin. Hell, I was in handcuffs the first time I saw the place.

I'm not so sure the men will be as receptive to a gathering. It would've made me feel like I was put on the spot or under a microscope in some way.

"Shouldn't be too long. Zayne was on his way from the airport a little over an hour ago. I didn't tell Zara because I didn't want to disappoint her, but Fury got caught up in something in DC, so he won't even be here until next week."

"Will we have to do this shit again?" I ask, waving my hand to indicate the gathering.

"Fuck, I hope not," he mutters, and I grunt my agreement.

There are a million other things I could be doing, namely pressing my cock inside Caitlyn, instead of waiting around for the newest member of Cerberus to grace us with his presence.

Just as I go to take a step away, the front doorbell chimes and it pulls every ounce of attention in the room.

Zara makes her way toward the door, but it opens before she can get to it. Hemlock growls, but the big man steps inside with a warm grin on his face.

"What the actual fuck?" Zeus snaps.

Zayne continues to grin even wider as his eyes land on the other man.

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