Chapter 154

“Oh, come on,” Jackson says, keeping his spot on the window seat and spreading out his hands, the seriousness of his gesture ruined a bit by the fact that he’s holding a raspberry pastry. “Do any of you honestly think that my presence at the Grant family home is going to help anything today?”

“It’s going to help Ariel,” Jesse says, eyebrows raised, pointing at me. My own eyebrows go up because…I mean, is it?

“Ariel can handle herself,” Jackson sighs, rolling his eyes a little bit and dropping his hands to his knees. “I mean, I get being over-protective in the Academy where people are trying to beat the shit out of her –“

“You included,” Jesse says, crossing his arms and glaring at my mate.

Jackson just returns his glare and keeps going. “But, Ariel is smart and capable – she doesn’t need her big brute mate coming along when she’s got her big brute brother and big brute cousin at her side. Besides, you know my being there is just going to set Luca off. It’s not worth it.”

I beam a little at my mate, because even if he is declining to come and defend my honor, he’s doing it because he thinks that I’m perfectly capable of defending myself. And there’s something really nice in that – in Jackson’s utter faith in me.

I send a grateful, warm little pulse down our bond, letting him know that I love that he sees me that way, and Jackson turns to give me a little wink before returning his gaze to Rafe and Jesse.

“Nah, I think he’s right,” Rafe says, turning to Jesse. “Jackson’s great backup, and he’s on Ari’s side, but in this case…it might be too much backup. Showing up to a knife fight with a rocket launcher. We want to keep this quiet, even if we do want to get to the bottom of it. Ariel’s two mates getting into a brawl before Luca’s fight isn’t going to help anyone.”

Jesse scowls but puts his hands up, willing to be outvoted. But then he turns his head to Jacks. “So, what are you going to do all morning, then?”

“I don’t know,” Jacks says, giving a shrug, looking between the three of us. “Ella said something about…shoes.”

“Shoes?” I ask, bursting into a grin, dead pleased.

“Yeah,” he says with a confused frown, even though he doesn’t seem bothered by it. Then he looks down at himself and gestures casually with his hand towards his new clothes. “She did all of…this…yesterday.”

“Ohhhh,” Jesse says, grinning now as Jackson looks back up at us. “So that’s where the glow-up came from – Auntie Ells.”

“What’s a glow up?” Jackson asks, frowning.

I can’t help my laughter as I grin at my mate. “Wait, so…mom took you shopping?”

“She brought the shopping here,” he says, frowning a little at the memory. “She came and got me from my room, and then there were all these people, and all these clothes. And someone cut my hair? And then I had to try on everything – it took hours. And by the end of it your mom filled the whole room attached to my room with clothes. And she told me they’re all mine, and I can wear whatever I want. And that today we’re doing…shoes.” He shrugs, his eyes a little unfocused, like he’s remembering a fever dream.

Which, considering mom’s shopping methods…is probably a pretty accurate description.

“Wait,” Rafe says, fighting a grin as he steps forward towards Jacks. “What do you mean, a room attached to your room?”

“I don’t know how to be clearer than that,” Jackson says, frowning at Rafe.

“Like, the room next door to your room?” Rafe asks.

“No,” Jackson says, shaking his head slowly and looking between us. “You can only get to it from my room.”

“I think he means a closet,” Jesse whispers, grinning with delight.

“No, it’s a room – a whole room, with a door,” Jackson says, holding his arms out to his sides to demonstrate how big it is. “And it’s just filled with clothes. A closet is…small. This one’s big – like you could put a bed in there.” He frowns around at us, dropping his arms while we all do our very best not to laugh.

“Yeah, that’s your closet, Jacks,” I say, taking another bite of my pastry and smiling at him. “It’s called a walk-in. And it’s your fault for letting mom have free reign over it – she’ll never stop now.”

“So, all those clothes…are for me?” He stares around at us like that can’t possibly be true.

“That’s just the winter line, Jacks,” Rafe says, coming forward and patting him on the shoulder. “Wait till you see what she brings in for the spring.”

Jackson stares at my brother like he has absolutely no idea what that means, and he’s a little scared of it. “Wait so,” he whispers, shifting his eyes to me. “How many…shoes do I get?”

Instead of answering – because I know the true answer will freak him out - I just laugh and swoop down to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. He responds instantly, almost automatically, raising a hand that brushes quickly down the length of my side, a caress and a farewell.

“Have fun with mom,” I say, straightening up. “She’s nice to you, right?”

“She’s so nice to me.” He replies, eyes wide, like he can’t believe how nice mom is to him. But we all know her, and so we just smile again, pleased to see him feeling cozy and cared for.

“Okay, we’ll be back as soon as we can,” Rafe says, turning towards the door. “And then we’ll try to come rescue you before mom picks out your 80(th) pair of shoes.”

“That’s impossible…” Jackson murmurs with a frown, standing to follow us out the door and go find mom. “80 pairs of shoes…no one has that many.”

“So, you haven’t shown him your closet yet?” Jesse asks, grinning at me.

“I am a lady, Jesse,” I say, waving goodbye to Jacks as he turns back towards the breakfast room, “Jackson has seen no part of my room, let alone my closet. A princess must keep her secrets.”

“Oh, yeah right,” Jesse laughs, striding forward with me and Rafe towards the front of the palace, where the car they’ve arranged is waiting. “You have simply lacked the opportunity.”

“Yeah well,” I murmur, pitching my voice low so Rafe doesn’t hear me as well. “If I did get him in my room, I wouldn’t be showing him my shoes.”

Jesse bursts into laugher but then turns it into a gag, pretending to be horrified and disgusted at the idea, which just makes me laugh more. Rafe gives us a little glare as we reach the car, wondering what’s going on, but we just wave him off and he shrugs, deciding that he’s better off not knowing.

When we all climb into the car, though, things turn a little bit more serious as we all mutually turn our minds back to the problem at hand. I’m a little bit grateful, if I’m being honest, for the distraction that a bit of laughter brought me – it’s been kind of an intense morning. But now that we’re driving the short distance to Luca’s house, I set my mind on what’s really important: getting to the bottom of who released this information, and what the consequences should be.

Because if it really was Luca – I mean, I’m going to be devastated.

But how, honestly, should I react?

Should I…break up with him? Refuse to go to the fight? But no, even if I’ll be horribly hurt, both of those options seem just…way too extreme.

My wolf turns anxiously inside me at the idea of breaking up with Luca, about what that would do to our heart. But what, really, would my option be? Because…even if he’s my mate, I couldn’t let him walk all over me like that.

But did he even do it? And if he didn’t, who did?

I’m still puzzling over it – and by their quiet, Jesse and Rafe are too – when we pull up to Luca’s house. Rafe curses under his breath when he sees that there are a couple of press vans spread out along the street, clearly covering Luca’s activities before his big match tonight.

And, perhaps, looking out for a royal sighting.

Which we’re absolutely about to give them.

“All right,” Jesse says on a sigh, looking between Rafe and me. “Nothing we haven’t done before. Just – into the house as fast as possible, right?”

“What, are we just going to barge in without knocking?” Rafe asks, his face clearly letting us know that this isn’t a great idea.

But I see Luca’s mom at the door peering out at it, looking closely at the black town car with tinted windows that’s stopped outside her front door, and then I see her turn to call to someone inside.

“It’s not going to be a problem,” I say, reaching over Rafe to open his door and giving him a hearty push, urging him to get out. “Go – now. Let’s get inside.”

Rafe follows my lead, getting out of the car and putting out a hand to help me, which I take. Then, together – Jesse a few steps behind – we stride towards the house.

By the time we get to the front steps, shouts from the press vans let us know that we’ve been spotted. They shout our names, trying to get us to turn so they can get a shot. We quicken our pace.

But before we can get to the door and slip inside, Luca’s already pushing through it, his face desperate.

“Ariel!” he shouts, already shaking his head, reaching for me. Before I can stop him, he crosses the porch to me, taking my face in his hands, staring down into my eyes. “Ariel – I am so sorry – I did not do this –“

“Not the time or the place, Grant,” Rafe growls, using the bulk of his body to block us from the sight of the press behind us, which are currently running towards the house to see if they can get a shot of our encounter. Jesse strides forward, clasping a hand on Luca’s shoulder to get his attention.

Unwilling, Luca drags his eyes from my shocked face to look at Jesse.

“Inside,” Jesse growls, fierce, giving him a hard shove. “Unless you’re trying to get more publicity out of my cousin?”

Luca blushes a deep, ashamed red and steps away from me.