Broken Wings (Dark Legacy #1)(93)

I rolled my eyes at him before giving him a gentle shove.

“Your car is a wet dream, I just got to go along for the ride.”

He groaned and closed his eyes. “Don’t say wet dream, now all I can think about is—”

“Jasper,” Beck said, sounding calm, but there was a warning underneath that one word.

Jasper just winked at me, and led me to the table. Dylan pulled a chair out for me, and dropped a kiss on my cheek when I sat. “You’re looking much better,” he said, relief in his voice. “You got to stop scaring us like that. I haven’t slept for days.”

Before I could reply to Dylan, a hand landed on my thigh, and I found Beck’s warm eyes. “You okay, Butterfly?” he asked softly, and for a second I wondered if I was actually going to burst into flames.

My entire body felt warm, including my chest—which was from more than just Beck.

These four made me feel… too much. And Beck made me feel everything.

“I’m fine, just sorry that I worried you all,” I said, turning to include everyone. “I honestly didn’t plan on getting myself almost kidnapped and knocked out.”

Expressions hardened, and some of the calm bled from the room. Now I was seeing the guys from the forest, the ones who were trained to survive, who could kill without remorse.

Didn’t make me feel any different.

Wanting to change the mood, I looked at the food on their plates, and Jasper laughed. “Hungry?” he drawled.

I all but drooled at the pancakes, bacon, and toast.

“Yes! Feed me,” I begged.

Beck lifted his hand from my leg, and I tried not to feel bereft. He moved to the warming plate in his impressive kitchen and started fixing me a plate. Dylan was up then too, and he placed the largest mug I’d ever seen in front of me before filling it with coffee.

“We picked that one out especially for you,” he said with a wink.

Don’t cry. I seriously wanted to bawl my fucking eyes out at how sweet they could be. Sweet psychos.

“A mug of my very own,” I said, noticing that all of the other guys had specific coffee mugs for them.

Jasper’s was yellow, like his Lambo, and it said “Pussy Magnet” on it. Evan’s was smaller, because he preferred a single shot of espresso, and it said “I like it hot.” Dylan had a plain black cup, and Beck had a dark blue one. His said “King can Checkmate” and I wondered if that was in reference to our chess discussion, or if he’d always thought the king ruled the board.

And now I had my own. One with no words, but a white chess piece… a queen.

“You’re one of us now, Riles,” Dylan told me. “You get your own mug.”

Don’t cry.

“Aw, you assholes are sentimental,” I tried to joke, but my cracked voice gave away my emotions.

Beck placed a full plate in front of me, and then leaned over the bench, resting on his forearms so our eyeline was level.

“We have everything in the world that money can buy,” he said softly. “But this…” He gestured to the four of us. “This is what money can’t touch. This is the only important thing we have.”

And I was crying.

Only a few tears escaped, sliding down my cheeks, and I didn’t bother to brush them away. Beck returned to his seat at my side, Dylan on my other side, and then all of us ate our food and there was no tension between us.

When we were done, the five of us cleaned up.

“I gotta get back home and rest,” Jasper said. “Fucking doctor’s orders.”

I hugged him. “Give Eddy my love,” I said as I pulled back. “Tell her I’ll text her whenever I get my phone back.”

Jasper had filled me in over breakfast, and I was glad that Eddy was all but recovered from her ordeal. Except she now had a full time bodyguard, which I knew would piss her right off.

He nodded. “You got it, baby girl.”

I wrinkled my nose at him. “You need to work on your nickname game.”

He shrugged. “What? All the girls love my names for them.”

“And I’ll bet it helps that you don’t have to remember their actual names while making them think they’re special.”

He dramatically grabbed his chest. “You wound me, Riley Jameson.”

I laughed loudly. “There you go.”

He left with Evan, who was driving him home. Dylan lingered in the doorway. “You should get some more rest too,” he told me.

I was feeling somewhat fatigued again, and it frustrated me how weak I was. “Yeah, probably a good idea.”

He brushed my hair back, and I wondered about the serious expression he now wore. “No matter what happens, you need to remember this day,” he said to me, his voice low. “Our world … it’s filled with secrets.”

“And we all have to play the game,” Beck finished his best friend’s sentence.

It had been such a fun, lighthearted morning, but now they were back to secrets and bullshit.

“What does that mean? Is something happening that I should know about?”

Don’t fucking lie to me, was how I wanted to finish that sentence.

The pair exchanged a look. It was such a fast glance that I barely even caught it, but I was immediately uneasy.