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“To eat my heart,” my dad says smoothly, “is to have me with you always.” Thunderous noise escalates. “Incorrect.” She zeroes in on him. “It is cannibalism. It is murder.” “You love me,” he declares, his eyes fixed to hers in victory and affection.
Another Wednesday night, all cursing was banned and if someone slipped, they had to put money in a goblet—which would later be delivered to Uncle Ryke. Tonight, as far as I know, is more of a traditional Wednesday night dinner. No new rules.
Tom blows liquor at the fire, and I feel the heat of the amassed blaze, sputtering out as quickly as it came. One dinner in the past, Eliot lit the entire tablecloth on fire, purposefully. Their show tonight is entirely normal.
Lmao wtf
He will say, I invoke the right to pass. Careened back on his chair, he kicks his feet up on his plate. Clattering silverware and cranberries. And loudly, he says, “Love.” I freeze, eyes burning. I can’t. Charlie tilts his head to me. “To love is to reach true fulfillment.”
Tears prick me, and my sister rises elegantly. “Heartache. What comes with love.” She stares earnestly onto me. “What can be necessary.”
My dad passes my chair. He pauses, his calming hand on my arm. “Ne fais pas mes erreurs, mon coeur,” he whispers. Don’t make my mistakes, my heart. He wouldn’t accept how much he loved my mom.
Aww connor
I stand up on my chair next to her. “Whose idea was this tonight?” I ask curiously. Everyone looks to Eliot. It worked well.
“It’s alright, Jane Eleanor.” Tom tilts his head and gives the room a sweep with his gaze. “Thatcher wouldn’t fit in here anyway.”
After Jane, Sulli, and Luna posted a picture from their facemask night on Instagram, fans started affectionately referring to them as the Witches of Philadelphia, and they embraced the name for Hallow Friends Eve.
Very softly, she says, “You would’ve been my Tarzan, and I would’ve been your Jane.”
I nod a few times. A pit in my ribs. “I wanted that too.” “Bien,” she says, wiping the crease of her eye. It’s killing me. “Jane,” I say deeply. “I’m fine, really. Don’t worry about me.” Not possible. “I’m your bodyguard, honey.”
He’s dressed as Captain America. Farrow smiles over at his fiancé, more at ease but keeping pace. I notice a baggie of ice in his hand, trauma bag strapped across his chest. Farrow could’ve been a lifeguard like the rest of the team. But he had a choice, and he made the right call. He’s the Winter Soldier, but with his regular dyed, bleach-white hair. SFO has been talking about how Farrow and Maximoff broke the internet when they stepped outside together.
So cuteeee!!!!
Banks stares deeply into me like it’s going to be alright. He’s been giving me that look all day. I asked him what I should do, and he said, “I’m not the one who makes the calls. You are.” I almost rolled my eyes, but he gave me advice. He said, “I think she’s afraid, and you’re afraid.”
Do not watch her and him. He can survey Sulli’s surroundings. His eyes don’t have to be on her laughter while a shitbag is flirting with intent to fuck. But he has a real friendship with Sulli, and they began teasing each other. He stole her witch hat, and she took his whistle. From the outside, it would’ve been hard to decipher who she was actually on a date with: Akara or Will.
“What’s your AO, Tony?” Banks shakes his head, pissed. He scouts our six and whispers, “And Epsilon thinks he’s the Messiah of their force. Yeah right. And I’m the Virgin Mary.”
“I have a feeling we’re going to need to go on a search for Xander. Maybe I should wait alone and find a crutch so I don’t hold the group back?” She turns her head, noticing Banks grabbing her boot and ice. “Thatcher—” I already pull her in my arms.
Don’t think it. But I already am—I’m thinking about how Xander reminds me of the brother I lost. He always has, and I’ve always tried to let that raw thought go. But Xander is fifteen now. He’s the same age that Skylar died. And I can’t lose that kid like I lost my brother. He was mine to protect.
I didn’t know why until I asked Jane. She said Charlie told her, “Thatcher chose his twin, knowing it’d be harder to be seen as an individual.”
“Put me down,” Jane says instantly, hurriedly. “Go, go—I’ll stay with Charlie.” “No. I’m not leaving your side.” My voice is concrete. In my head, there is no other option. And even if there were, this is what I want. Her detail.
Oscar and I exchange a severe look. They’re not making it to Xander. And the temps aren’t moving a muscle, which means the extra guards are listening to another order. Tony, I’m guessing.
Wtfff
Jane looks panicked at the scene. “Go, go.” She taps my shoulder. “Listen to my sister,” Charlie says, shooting me a harsher look. I glance at Oscar, and he nods to me, “I have her.” I trust him.
And right as I lock eyes with Jane—Tony motherfucking Ramella cuts into my path. I glower. Wanting to choke him with his lifeguard whistle. He looks just as murderous. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Moretti?” “I’m holding your bloodied client and you’re asking me that? You shouldn’t have even let Xander swing—” “He wanted to fight,” Tony sneers,
Wtffff
Donnelly pinching his watery eyes. He was called here earlier to talk to the Tri-Force. They’re transferring him off Beckett’s detail. It wasn’t such a shock, really. Beckett learned about Donnelly’s deep-seated family history with drugs, and he didn’t want his bodyguard around cocaine. So he requested a transfer. Everyone is trying to protect Donnelly, it seems. Oscar and Farrow were the ones to tell Beckett.
Omg
“I’ve been telling him that I don’t want him to quit security for me,” I whisper to Moffy. “And I don’t…but…at the same time, I do.” Tears well up in my eyes. “And I hate that part of me. That’d wish him to sacrifice anything to be with me.”
Moffy hugs me closer. “Sacrifice is a part of being in a relationship with people like us,” he says softly. Sacrifice. I hear Beckett’s voice.
I’ve given up a lead position. I’ve lost my privacy. I’ve risked the safety of my family. All for her—and at the end of the fucking line, I can’t shove her in one box and walk away. I couldn’t then; I can’t now. She is everywhere inside of me. And that’s where I want her to be.
“I’m not breaking up with Jane.” Price frowns. “Pardon?” “We want to be together, sir, and I understand that there may be a conflict of interest with me working for security. If that’s going to be a problem, I’m willing to give you my formal resignation today.”
“He needs to go.” “He can’t,” Sinclair states. “We have that problem.” My brows knit in confusion. Price turns to Akara and asks him, “What are the chances that if we fire Thatcher, Banks will quit security?” “One-hundred percent,” Akara says, still glaring at me.
Price lets out a long breath and narrows his gaze on me. “I won’t accept your resignation.” What the fuck is going on?
“After the fight on Halloween, Lily and Loren Hale have requested that you or Banks return to Xander’s 24/7 detail.” Their son. The Tri-Force only needs one of us on the team. But Akara just saved me with a package-deal lie.
“But you’re not staying on Jane’s detail after this. You sealed your own fate.” My mind is reeling. They’re punishing me. Because they couldn’t fire me.
“You want me on Xander’s detail, sir?” My voice is professional. Stern. Like always. “Correct. Your post will start soon.”
“Will you put Banks with Jane, sir?” I ask. “You’d love that,” Price snaps. “No, it won’t be your twin.” Donnelly is up for transfer. Donnelly, then. I’m praying. “Her new bodyguard is going to be Tony Ramella.”
Wtf nooooo
“Sir, you can talk to Jane,” I say sternly. “She’ll tell you.” Price retorts, “We can’t have your personal feelings towards a bodyguard affecting Jane’s view of him. Tony is one of the best guards. The end. If she’s feeling uneasy because of your grievances, you can help her learn to trust him.”
I fucking hate price
Price says, “Was it for the fame or the sex?” “Neither,” I say, not even hesitating. “It was just her.” It was always just her.
Im cryingggg
The door blows open. Thatcher instantly lays his eyes on me, and we take sharp breaths. “Jane,” he says huskily, soaking in my overcome expression. “You heard?” I drop my hands off my mouth. My heart racing, nearly floating out of me. “I heard,” I confirm. He comes straight for me.
“I want to live with you,” he says strongly against my lips. I dizzy. “And you want to be my boyfriend,” I say out loud, my lips lifting into an overwhelmed smile. “My real boyfriend.” “You want to have a boyfriend.”
Breathless, I whisper, “Only if that boyfriend is you.” His hand encases my cheek. “I love you, Jane.”
“I’m falling so terribly in love with you,” I say, my heart speaking for me. It feels good and right and perfect. “I think I’ve been falling for you for some time now.”
And the road ahead may be filled with more potholes and storms, but I’m not driving down a one-way street. We’re together. Whatever we have to face, that’s all that matters to me. We’re together in love.
