average human’s Reviews > All Hail > Status Update

I need everything to be perfect and I don’t have time to remind her that she was an absolute idiot about the three guys who were desperately trying to get her attention but when this dinner is over you better believe I’m going to call her and rehash the facts.
I time everything perfectly so I’m out of the shower, dressed perfectly with makeup and my favorite pair of Louboutins on by the time the doorbell rings.
Aodhan had used his own code to get through the gate, meaning that I got an alert but I didn’t have to actually buzz him in which is a nice extra feature. I run a hand down the silk of my dress before I open the door, one last calming ritual to help me settle my nerves at whatever this night is going to throw at me.
Aodhan is too attractive for words tonight.
He’s wearing dark jeans and a button-down shirt in a charcoal gray that clings to his biceps in a delicious way. His boots are new, definitely not the blood-spattered ones he’d worn to deal with Diarmuid, and his hair is clean and slicked back away from his face.
I lean forward and kiss his cheek, taking note of the very clean and very male scent of him like he’s put a lot of effort into his presentation for me tonight. I like that, I like it a lot and he’s already made it to the top of my ongoing list of favorite people for today.
He grins at me with that kind of male satisfaction that doesn’t make my teeth clench or my blood boil. No, it gives me flutters in my stomach until I want to climb him and kiss that grin right off of his face. “The Wolf called me today, told me to prepare myself for a Beaumont dinner.”
There go the flutters, my stomach drops to my feet. I’ll kill her. “And you still arrived at my door in jeans and biker boots? Disgraceful.”
He shrugs and steps up to me, crowding me against the door. “They’re my best pair. If you wanted a suit you would’ve called someone else.”
He doesn’t say who but then he doesn’t need to. We’re both very aware of the other man who lingers around me even when he’s snarling about how much he doesn’t want me.
“Stop thinking about him, Queenie, I shouldn’t have brought him up. Dinner smells good, did you go with steaks or are we having lobster? Harley always fucking brags about your stew, if you made that I might move the hell in.”
I roll my eyes at him but he just keeps on grinning, swooping down to kiss me. There’s no mistaking the interest there. No mistaking it so whatever Lips said to him it wasn’t that bad.
I still want to call her and bitch her out.
He takes my hand as we walk into the dining room where I’ve already set out all of the food. His eyes widen a fraction but I squeeze his hand a little. “I like cooking and I’m used to doing it for a crowd so I went a little overboard. You can take some home to Jack and the rest of your family.”
He nods and helps me into my chair like a gentleman. Even more points to him, I try to contain myself a little because we still have to get through the conversation.
I avoid having it while we eat but I can’t hold it off forever.
Aodhan notices me fussing about with my plate and cutlery and raises an eyebrow as he uses his freshly baked sourdough bread to mop up the gravy on his plate. His enthusiasm at my cooking is also a point in his favor.
I take a deep breath and then stumble over my words anyway, “I— Christ, okay, I need to talk to you about that night. I need to talk to you about what happened and what… exactly we’re doing here.”
Aodhan takes another swig of his beer and shrugs. “Sure. Whatever you need, Queenie.”
Fuck.
Some part of me was hoping he’d say ‘no thanks’ and I’d get out of this which is so unbelievably unlike me. I’m not a girl who sweeps difficult things under the rug. I’m the girl who ruins lives and arranges to bleed men out for daring to breathe in my direction. I don’t run or hide so why am I so desperate to do that now?
I take a long sip from my glass of wine and muster up the courage. I’m Avery Beaumont, for God’s sake.
“I need to know what exactly you think of me after what happened when the Jackal… forced us. I need to know that this isn’t happening out of some kind of… some sort of obligation.”
He stares at me like I’m dense. I know the look well, I’ve had to use it against Lips a lot in the past while she sorted out the mess of her love life. She was being incredibly naive though, and self-deprecating, so I’m sure I’m not doing the same here.
“What I think… about you? Queenie, I’m not sure where I’ve been vague about what I think of you.”
I try not to scowl and snap at him but I’m pissed he’s making me spell it out. “Aodhan, I stabbed you to get the Jackal to stop hurting me and then I forced myself on you at his request. I didn’t listen to you when you said no, that makes me a fucking—”
“If the word ‘rapist’ comes outta your mouth right now I’m going to break the pretty plate you just threatened me about against the fucking wall. Heads up, don’t fucking talk about yourself like that around me or we’re gonna have problems. Big ones because you, Beaumont, are fucking perfect. The type of woman any man would crawl through glass on his knees every damn day to get the chance to be with and I won’t fucking hear you talking shit about yourself like that. Not at all, so just fucking don’t.”
He glares down the table at me like he’s waiting for me to pick a fight but, while I’m not sure I believe his assessment of the situation, I’m relieved he just aired it all out for me to pick over. “When you said no then I should have listened to you. I’ve thought about it a lot, the Jackal was distracted enough not to even check the live feed… I could have tried something else to get us both free and safe.”
He sets down his fork. “I was saying no because why would someone like you wanna fuck a Mounty like me? Fucking you wasn’t the problem, in any other situation I would’ve been a hundred percent down for that, Queenie, but you were fucking terrified. You were hurt and needed help and you still did what you could for me the second you saw that guy die from the collar. If you think any of my anger at what happened is directed at you… no. Fuck no. I’m pissed you were a virgin and had no choices. You’re the one who was assaulted.”
I cringe. That’s not my view of that room at all. I had a choice and I made it. Fine, the options weren’t great at the time but being with Aodhan wasn’t a terrible thing.
I have felt guilty every second of every day since about just how much I enjoyed it.
I wonder if I had’ve just fucked him and refused to kiss him or speak to him, if I had’ve just taken it the way the Jackal had intended, would I still have felt the guilt? If anything, I think that would’ve felt worse. The way that everything happened meant that I didn’t feel violated but that was at Aodhan’s expense.
When I tell him this, he gets really angry… the type of angry I’ve only seen that once back in that room with the Jackal. “I told you, nothing was at my expense. Whatever choices you made, I was giving them to you. Fuck, if you had’ve stuck that knife through my heart I still would’ve been happy with your choice. I went there to help you and if dying for you did that then I’d go to the grave without a fucking complaint. What else do I have to say to you for you to understand that I’m not going anywhere? I’ve watched you march into every fight with your family with your head held high and your little arsenal of tricks and I knew that you’re it for me. Sometimes you just know these things and, Queenie, I’m not fucking this up, no matter how hard you push.”
I put my fork back down on the table because suddenly I know exactly why Lips struggles to eat with her heart in her throat all of the time. Aodhan watches me for a moment and then reaches into his pocket, pulling out a little black jeweler’s box. It’s too big for a ring, thank God, and I recognize the stamp on the front as one of the smaller and more exclusive stores in the Bay.
It’s somewhere I would actually shop.
“Jewelry? I am notoriously difficult to buy for, Aodhan, you really shouldn’t have,” I murmur even though even though it’s hard to swallow around the lump in my throat. I wait until I’m sure my fingers aren’t trembling before I reach out to take the box.
He smiles at me, radiating smug energy, and says, “I cheated but I know you’ll love this.”
I open the box and immediately I want to cry. I want to break down and weep like a child because there’s never been a better gift for me.
It’s the necklace Lips gave me for Christmas, the little platinum cage with the blue diamond in there except now there’s another diamond in there with it. Dark, brilliant green that’s the same shade as his eyes.
A lump forms in my throat.
“You chewed me out for going back in there and getting shot, remember? I couldn’t leave the necklace behind… after what happened, I couldn’t have you lose that too.”
I swallow and slip the chain over my head. It’s a little tight but I make it work until the little cage and the priceless diamonds are hanging over my bare chest.
“You know that Lips gave it to me as a favor? If anything happened to me, I could use it on her behalf and no matter the cost, she’d fulfill the favor.”
He smiles and nods. “Of course. I’m taking a leaf outta the Wolf’s books and I’m not giving out favors… except that one. Just for you, Queenie.”
I blink away my tears and swallow around the lump in my throat until I can speak without sobbing. “I would like it if you stayed the night.”

70%

The moment I get our plates into the sink Aodhan pulls me into his arms like he’s been waiting all night to do it.
He kisses me like it’s the first time and the last time all at once. He kisses me so deeply and desperately that it’s as though he wants to consume me and keep me with him forever but he’s sure he’ll never get to.
He lifts me into his arms without breaking the kiss and once my legs are wrapped around him securely he slides my shoes off and lets them drop to the floor.
I break away from his lips to inform him that I value my shoes more than most people value their lives but he cuts me off with a growl, “Shut it, Queenie, you’re lucky I’m not ripping this dress to pieces and fucking you on the kitchen counter. You want a bed then kiss me.”
I can’t argue with that because I would have to decimate my kitchen and start again at the thought of cooking where my naked ass had been.
Never mind the wet spot.
Oh God.
Aodhan huffs at my panicked look and keeps one hand on my ass to keep me secure and then he cups my cheek to draw me in closer to take over my lips again, kissing me senseless until I forget all about the disgusting aftermath of kitchen sex.
I barely notice he’s walking until we get to the staircase but when I attempt to slide down his body and back to the ground he grunts again and snarls, “I was hoping to do this without ropes this time around but if you don’t quit overthinking every little thing I will tie you to the bed and edge you all night long. If you’re into that then keep pushing because I’m a man of my word.”
I stop wriggling.
There’s no way I’m going to be okay with delayed orgasms all night, I feel like my entire life has been one big edging session with all of the men I’ve had any real interest in either not wanting me enough or trying to hurt me.
He chuckles at me and starts up the stairs without any difficulty which speaks to just how strong he really is. It’s a deceptive thing because he’s not completely jacked up but there’s definitely strength in him.
I don’t want him to trip and break both our necks so I duck my head down to start kissing down his neck. He already knows the path to my bedroom after following me in there and staying there the last time we were here together so I can focus on marking him up. I want there to be no doubts about this man being taken, I’ve had enough of other women messing around with what’s mine. He groans and gets a move on, hitching me up further in his arms and stalking into my bedroom.
He finally lets me down to hit the lights and I move like I’m going to head into the shower, because that’s exactly where I’m heading, and Aodhan’s arms loop around my waist, tugging me back into his chest. “No way, Queenie, no way are you scrubbing yourself down again like last time. Get your ass on that big fluffy bed of yours so I can taste you.”
A shiver runs down my spine, my nipples pebbling underneath the lace of my bralette and poking through the silk dress until he groans and runs his hands up my belly and over the fabric to seek them out. His mouth trails down my neck, licking and sucking, and when his fingers brush over the peaks the rough feel of his fingers pushing the delicate lace into the sensitive skin has my legs trembling and all of the arguments I have about showering try to fly out of my head.
“I need a shower,” I gasp out and he growls at me, his fingers squeezing and pinching at my nipples until my pussy weeps.
“No fucking way. Get the dress off and get on the bed, I want to taste you not your fucking soap.”
I want to argue but the pinching gets rougher and more punishing the longer I hesitate until finally I step away from him, pushing his hands away from my body and staggering over to the bed on legs that want to give out. The dress I’m wearing is held together with a sash around the waist and with a single tug it falls away from me. I desperately want to fold it neatly and put it away but there’s no way I’ll make it past Aodhan to do it so I cringe as I let it fall to the plush carpet.
“Fuck. Fuck me. Take the panties and bra off too, Queenie. I’ll be too rough with you if I do it, I want you too fucking bad right now to be gentle about it.”
I chuckle at him, low and breathy as I do as he says, glancing back over my shoulder to tease him, “Maybe I want rough. Maybe I want you to need me so badly you forget to treat me right.”
He grunts and strips out of his clothing, a no-nonsense series of movements that aren’t an attempt to seduce me but do exactly that. The tattoos over his arms are all old ones he had long before he became the Stag, but the antlers over his chest are the markings he got for his position in the Bay. It’s impressive and fierce, coming to life on him as he moves and flexes unzipping his jeans and kicking them off of his legs.
His cock is hard already, curving up towards his belly, and I don’t try to hide my staring from him even when he starts groaning and stroking himself. “You want rough because you think if I’m treating you right that I’m coddling you which I’m definitely not. You’re Avery Beaumont, Queen of the Bay and the Wolf’s most trusted friend. I’m treating you like the best fucking thing that ever happened to me because you are. Now climb that perfect ass of yours up onto that bad and spread your legs, show me what I want dripping down my chin.”
Oh God.
I climb up onto the bed, propping myself up onto my elbows so I can watch as he stalks over and climbs up after me. I’m expecting him to come and kiss me some more, but when he slides up my body he gets as far as my nipples and stops to swoop down and take one into his mouth, licking and sucking and groaning. My hands tangle into his hair and tug, moaning and squirming under his hands when he works his way down my body.
The growl that rips out of his throat as he stares down at my pussy is desperate and hungry, like he’s barely holding himself back. “This is mine now, Queenie. Every night you’re gonna cook some fancy feast for me and then I’m eating you out for dessert.”
I huff at him and slump back in the pillows. “Are you? Because right now you’re just talking it up, you’re yet to actually eat anything. I’m starting to think it’s nothing but words.”
It’s like waving a red flag at a bull. My challenge lighting up inside him like a flame to kindling and he doesn’t ease me into it at all, he just swoops down and pulls my hips down until he really is feasting on me, licking and sucking until I squirm underneath him in pleasure. I don’t have time to think about anything, not with his tongue tracing over my clit, flicking and circling over it until I’m so wet that I know I must be dripping down his chin. The orgasm, when it hits, is more intense than any other I’ve ever had and my hips lift from the bed as I chase his tongue and grind myself against his face like a harlot.
I expect him to stop, probably slap his dick on my cheek and tell me to reciprocate.
He doesn’t.
He settles in against the sheets and makes good on his promises, eating every inch of my pussy until I’m sobbing against my pillows and completely unaware of how many times I’ve come. My throat hurts from how many screams his tongue has coaxed out of me and I’m not sure I have any feeling left in my legs.
When he finally climbs up my body again, he’s good enough to wipe his face on my sheets before he kisses me, a roguish grin on his face that steals my breath out of my chest. He’s fucking breathtaking like this and, though I always knew he was an attractive man, it wasn’t until this moment that it hit me right in the chest.
Then he pushes up like he’s going to get up and leave me.
“Where are you going?” I murmur, keeping my voice low so it doesn’t break. I feel so exposed lying here and if he walks away right now, I’m done with men. I’ll be a celibate old witch and buy a dozen cats to keep me company, just to really keep to the stereotype.
Ash would love it.
He sees the little frown and kisses me. “Condom. Unless you have some under your pillow? How prepared were you for tonight? I’m starting to feel like you planned everything out.”
His teasing tone is a little inappropriate because that’s exactly what I did. I planned the entire night out and even if it is going far better than I imagined it’s still running to the general script.
“I’m on birth control, I have been for years, and I already have your health records. I’m also very impressed that you went and got tested for me.”
He blinks at me for a second and then shakes his head. “Of course you do, Queenie.”
I smirk and open my mouth to snark back at him but he hooks his arms around my legs and drags me further down my bed, away from the pillows and so I’m completely trapped underneath him. I feel freaking tiny when he cages me with his arms, his chest close to double the width of mine and when he covers me completely, I feel a deep sense of safety there.
He came for me when he didn’t have to. He wanted to die for me, not once has he blamed me for any of the choices I’ve been forced to make and every step of the way he’s trusted me to make the right moves against our enemies. He’s protected me without locking me in a tower and throwing away the key.
He wants me for more than my money or my connections. He wants me, I’m sure of it.
I don’t wait for him to kiss me. I grab his face with both of my hands and I kiss him the way he always does, as if my life is ending and he’s all I need to die with. My hips lift from the bed without me even thinking about it, desperate for the weight of him and empty without him.
He grunts and leans on one hand to use the other to slip two fingers into me, groaning as I clench around them.
I mumble against his lips, “Fuck me.”
It’s a relief to only feel a good stretch as he fills me, no pain or guilt or anything, only the delicious full feeling and when he groans and nips at the skin on my neck like he’s holding back I hook my legs around his waist to pull him in deeper until his hips are flush with mine.
He holds still for a second and my eyes narrow up at him until he huffs out a breath at me and says, “Lemme enjoy it this time, you’re too fucking tight and I need a second so I don’t ruin it.”
I scoff at him and he grins at me, kissing me again. When he finally starts to move, his hips are relentless, pushing and grinding into me slowly at first but then it’s like he loses himself in the feeling. Then he really does pound into me until I feel like I can’t breathe in all of the best ways.
My body writhes under his, it’s impossible to stay still, and when his hand slips between our bodies to circle over my clit I shatter, my eyes rolling back into my head as I come apart at the seams and clamp down around him like I never want to let him go.
He grunts and bites my lip as he comes, gentle enough that he doesn’t break the skin but I feel the sting of it anyway.
He pulls out of me but when he collapses onto the bed beside me he tucks me in close to his chest, completely disregarding the mess I’m in as his cum drips down my leg.
Miraculously, I stay calm about it. Probably because I’m still riding the high of my orgasms and somewhere in my brain, I know I’ll be able to talk him into sharing a shower with me before we sleep.
“Count me in on your plans of eating me out every night. It was much better than I thought it would be.”

Aodhan scoffs at me. “You thought I’d be shit at it? Thanks, Queenie, you know how to sweet talk your man.”
My man, Jesus H. Christ. “No, I meant I didn’t expect to enjoy cunnilingus that much. I always thought it’d be too… wet.”
Aodhan’s arm tenses around me. “There goes my afterglow. You mean to tell me that asshole didn’t go down on you? He just fucked you at a gala and didn’t even make sure you enjoyed it? What exactly is the history between you two, Queenie? I’m a little fucking confused and I can’t exactly ask Harley about your dating life. He’d rage out and break something, probably my face, and I like it too much to have it rearranged.”
I sigh and lean back in the bed, trying not to feel so uncomfortable at talking about this because… he just ate me out and fucked me so hard my legs are still shaking, I doubt this is any more revealing than that.
“I dated a bit in high school after Atticus rejected me. I made out with a few guys and… there was one guy I thought about having sex with. I went as far as giving him a blow job but then he cheated on me with the worst fucking whore in the school so I broke up with him.”
Aodhan grumbles under his breath, his fingers stroking over the soft skin of my stomach. “What a fucking idiot. Tell me your brother beat the life outta him.”
I don’t talk about this with anyone… ever. But it feels like that little bubble is around us both again so nothing outside of us exists. “He didn’t take the break up well. Ash and Harley tormented him, which he deserved, but in typical asshole fashion he cornered me in the bathroom and tried to rape me. He said I was a tease because he would have never cheated on me if I hadn’t led him on.”
Aodhan’s entire body freezes until he’s barely breathing but I continue, better to get the whole story out and into the air so I won’t ever have to speak about it again, “So he cornered me in the upperclassmen bathroom and there’s no way I could fight him off. He was a football player and my brother had done everything in his power to make sure I never had to get physical with anyone. I’m a dancer so I have upper body strength but it was like no matter how hard I pushed against him, he’d push back twice as hard. I was terrified… and then suddenly he was shoved away from me and I was so relieved because I knew only my brother or Harley or Blaise would have come to my rescue like that. I was safe if one of them had found me.”
He tugs me over until I’m lying on my side facing him, his arm over my hip keeping me close. “You’re lucky they did.”
I give him a rueful smile. “They didn’t. The scholarship student I’d spent the entire year terrorizing did. See, my psychotic older brother had become obsessed with her and no matter what I did, this girl wouldn’t drop out. I threw everything I had at her and she just dodged it all. Or endured it, the stuff that Joey did to her… she just kept going. She was the last person I would have expected to help me but she didn’t hesitate. Not once. She took him to the ground and knocked him out like she was some sort of trained killer… we’ve been best friends ever since and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for her.”
Aodhan nods and a slow smile stretches over his lips. “The Wolf and the Queen, Mounts Bay doesn’t stand a chance.”
I hum under my breath quietly as I think, an annoyingly resistant habit of mine. “I’ve been considering that… about how exactly we’re going to keep the Twelve under our control. We already have three members in the family, the Butcher backs us… as well as other big players. Atticus is our ally and, no matter how much Ash hates it, he’ll stay an ally because of me. I’m sure of that. The Boar is a wild card. The Tiger has always sided with Atticus and Lips but it’s not exactly an alliance. There’s too much uncertainty.”
Aodhan frowns and pulls me closer. “This sounds like you want to sponsor someone. Whoever it is, I’ll put them forward for you. Name it and it’s yours, Queenie. No matter what.”
I huff at him. “And what if I name myself? What if I want a seat at the table?”
He leans forward to press our lips together, his tongue darting out until the stroke of it over mine has me ready for round two.
He pulls away and murmurs to me, “I’m not going to stop you from doing anything, Queenie. If you’re sure you can walk into the Game and take your opponents out then go ahead. I doubt Ash will be so happy about that, or Harley. Fuck, Illi will probably throw down over it too.”
I giggle at him. “So you’re fine with it because everyone else will stop me and do your dirty work for you?”
He smirks at me, biting my lip before sucking on it like he wants to distract me. His fingers trail up to my necklace and he pulls back to look at it again where it hangs on my naked chest. “There’s room in there for another diamond you know. If he ever gets his head out of his ass.”
I startle and blink away tears as I look him over. “Please tell me you’re joking? You’re giving me up for the Crow?”
He huffs and grabs my wrists, pulling me until I’m straddling his waist. My heart thumps a little but it’s different here, the room is dark and clean and mine. There’s no place here for the ghosts of the Jackal.
“I’m not giving you up for fucking anything, Queenie. Nothing would make me let you go… but if you want him as well, then I can live with that. I want your heart to be whole, not torn in half.”
I clutch at the necklace in my hand. My words come out thready, “Atticus won’t share. I’m surprised you would.”
He shrugs. “I’ve watched Harley share for months… he doesn’t look like he’s suffering. I think he found someone worth it and, Aves, you’re fucking worth it. If Atticus doesn’t see it that way then that’s his loss.”

Falling asleep in clean sheets after a shower with Aodhan is just as perfect as I thought it would be.
Waking up to him eating me out again is even better.
I want nothing more than to spend the day in bed with him and to just enjoy being together. While forgetting about everything that’s happening around us is the dream, it’s also almost impossible to do with my phone buzzing constantly with a slew of messages from informants and Illi checking in on me.
I texted Lips before falling asleep last night and the smugness in her was radiating through the three word sentences she replied to me with.
Aodhan kisses me and heads to the shower while I start sorting through all of the information that came through while we slept. There’s nothing really interesting until I get to the guest list of the birthday dinner the Ford sisters are throwing for their decrepit ninety-something-year-old father.
There’s a lot of names likely to be present that will be useful to me but I have my sights set on Olivia Bromburg specifically.
Her husband is in the DEA and with the Jackal’s product flooding the streets of the Bay that makes him very useful to me. I’ve never met him, I only know him from the gossip, and there’s no time like the present to go looking for some more leads.
I decide to go with my strengths and I tell Illi that Aodhan will be escorting me to the high society dinner.
It’s a very murky truth.
Technically, he is escorting me there… and then he’s going to wait for me outside the building where he can come and rescue me if something goes terribly wrong.
When I tell him about my plans he gives me the same crooked smile he always does and says, “Good thing I would rather drink bleach than eat snails with rich dicks or I’d be a pretty fucking offended that you don’t wanna be seen at parties with me.”
I roll my eyes at him and stalk out of my closet in my lingerie and heels. The dress I’m wearing for the night is tricky to get on by yourself and I had called Aodhan up to my bedroom early so he could help me into it.
The problem there is that the moment he sees me in the strapless and very tiny lingerie it’s very clear that he has other ideas for how we should be spending the night.
“I don’t have time for whatever you’re thinking about and I definitely don’t have time to reassure you that the real reason I don’t want you to attend the dinner is because the women there are like vultures and they’ll be all over you the moment you walk in.”
He doesn’t move from where he’s sitting on the chaise lounge at the end of my bed, his elbows on his knees and his eyes eating every inch of my skin up.
I continue like he’s replied to me, fussing with my curls in the mirror like I ever have the chance of being happy with them. “I don’t mind taking Illi in there with me because the women seem to be able to smell the ‘happily married serial killer’ on him and leave him alone. Well, they still stare at him like they want to fuck his brains out but none of them actually approach him to do it.”
I step back into my closet to grab the dress and when I walk back out into the bedroom Aodhan is still sitting there staring at me.
I roll my eyes at him. “My tits aren’t that great, can we focus?”
He scowls at me and when I hand him the hanger with the dress, he stares at it like I handed him a ticking bomb. “What the fuck even is this? Where are the sleeves?”
I roll my eyes and then spend ten minutes explaining to him how we’re getting the thin sheets of fabric not only on my body but securing them there so I don’t accidentally flash anyone my tits.
He gets very scowly at the thought. “Are you sure you’re not willing to take Illi with you? I’d feel better knowing he’d stab anyone that gets flashed if I do a shit job of getting this thing to stay the fuck on you. Don’t you have any like… normal shit to wear? Something with straps and zips and shit?”
I huff at him and then I lift my arms for him to slide the pieces of lace where they need to go. By the time I’m slipping my shoes on I’m confident the couture gown is going to stay put. White lace is difficult to pull off without looking like a wedding gown but this piece is very obviously a statement piece of art draped over my body like it was made for me.
It was.
I have spent many hours discussing my fashion needs with Vera.
Aodhan drives me over in my Bentley, bitching and biting his lip at me the whole way when I have to slide the dress right up to be able to sit until the tiny triangle of my panties is on full display to him.
“Rich parties might sound as boring as fuck but the dress code has me tempted to go,” he mumbles and I pinch his thigh playfully.
“And which socialite are you hoping to see?”
He smirks. “There’s this gorgeous one who wears a lot of white. On anyone else it would probably look like they were aiming for innocent but on this girl? Fuck, she looks like she’s about to take you the hell out, Black Widow style, and I’m ready to die whatever death she’s giving out.”
He’s laying it on a little thick but I’ll take it, really anything to get me through the drive over there without dissolving into my nerves. I can tell he’s just trying to distract me and I appreciate it.
When we finally pull up and I maneuver myself out of the car without his help, though he tries and I shut him down pretty fast, he huffs as he stares up at the building.
“Are you sure I can leave you here? If something happens to you, I’ll be fucking furious, Queenie.”
I roll my eyes and lean down to give him the barest of pecks on the cheek. “I’ll call you every hour I’m in there but I’m only planning on being there for one… two at the most. I promise.”
He nods and when I straighten up, he drives over to park and wait for me. It’s very sweet.
The party is being held at a gentleman’s club out in the middle of nowhere.
It’s a terrible venue and chosen because of the Ford family’s close ties to the place but there’s only one section of the building women are even allowed to enter so I’m escorted to the elevator by one of the valets and he waits there with me until the doors open, seeing me inside and then pushing the buttons to the right floor for me like I’m unable to do it myself.
When the doors open, I roll my shoulders back and walk into the room with the same confidence I do everything in my life. There are whispers around the room but nothing too terrible. After I find myself a drink, I slowly work my way around the room greeting the women and men in attendance until I find who I’m looking for.
My mark for the night, Olivia is flirting with Samuel Washington, another doctor who was on my father’s roster for the prescription drugs he would use sometimes in his torture. I give him a disapproving glance before turning my body to him in a move that is very clearly a dismissal and he stalks off without a word. We’ve interacted a handful of times in the past so he knows exactly what I’m capable of.
Olivia blinks at me and then glances around like she’s trying to find an escape from me but there’s not a single person in this room who is dumb enough to try. Atticus isn’t here tonight and the Amanda nightmare of a woman is nowhere in sight.
“Avery, what a lovely surprise to see you here tonight. It’s been some time since I’ve seen a Beaumont attending a party in this circuit.”
I force a smile onto my face at her, honey sweet and with none of my usual cutting ice. “I admit I haven’t found much reason to attend lately but I’ve had some openings in my schedule and thought I should pop my head in. There are still the same boring women gossiping about nothing, not really my style. And you? Have you been loyal to your lovely little friends?”
Olivia herself is an oil magnate’s daughter and his sole heir. This in itself should ensure that the women here are nice to her because nothing gets you higher up the ladder quite like an impending inheritance, but ten years ago when she married her high school sweetheart she’d taken a tumble down the socialite ladder.
Christopher Bromburg’s family are rich, successful, and very new money.
The type of new money that wears flashy labels and talks about their salaries over the dinner table. I heard his father bought a yacht and named it Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems which, besides being fucking stupid, is the cringey type of bragging that the upper society hates to see.
Christopher is an agent in the DEA Office of National Security Intelligence and though he loves his family, he is nothing like them. He married for love and having the very docile Olivia in his bed is exactly what that very intelligent and, frankly, boring agent wanted.
She’s the key to getting that man on my roster.
Olivia cringes a little and glances over at the other women but they’re all watching us with a sort of horror, like there isn’t anything quite as terrifying as me taking an interest in her.
I think it’s hilarious and the desperation wafting off them all is enough to choke on. Every last one of them is trapped in an unhappy marriage with men who need a bucketload of Viagra to fuck them and really they’re just jealous that Olivia is married to a man who doesn’t stray from her after every little bleach blonde whore that crosses his path.
It’s pathetic.
“Richard Ford is an old friend of my father, it was important to him that I attend. I don’t intend on staying long,” Olivia says, taking a sip of the champagne in her hand.
It’s a very diplomatic answer, one that I don’t have it in me to give back to her. “Why would anyone stay here for longer than it takes to down a drink? What the hell is Jessamine wearing? She looks abhorrent. Did Christopher attend with you?”
Olivia shakes her head a little. “He’s been very busy with a big case. The narcotics issues in this country are only getting worse. It’s good for keeping his position secure but makes the hours a nightmare.”
Dammit. I nod sedately and take another sip of my drink. When I turn to find a refill, I see Luca and Atticus walk in together and I curse under my breath because of course they’re here. Of course, despite Atticus being perpetually busy with his own empire he found time to be here tonight.
Of fucking course.

Atticus’ lip curls the second he sees me and he starts towards me. Olivia glances between us both and then scurries away. It’s fine, I only really wanted to get a feel of her which I have.
I have a plan for her and Christopher now.
“What are you doing here? Are you trying to piss me off because that’s exactly what you’re doing?” Atticus hisses at me and I grab that fresh glass of Champagne to get through this without pulling a knife on him.
“I was invited. Why should I be forced to stay home just because you’ve got issues with me?”
He lets out a breath and looks around the room. Ah, so that fucking bitch is here too because she’s the only person I’ve seen him get this twitchy over.
He finally turns back to me and says, “I don’t have issues with you, Avery, I just want you—“
“If the words ‘to be safe’ come next you can swallow them because I’m over this narrative. So beyond over it that I might go find a drug den in the Bay to spend a few hours in just to ram it home to you that I will do whatever the fuck I want, whenever the fuck I want. I belong to the Wolf of Mounts Bay, not you. My safety is not your concern.”
He grabs my arm to spin me around and chew me out I’m sure when a hush takes over the room and I just about scream.
What the hell is it about this woman that has everyone running scared?
I’m the danger here, not this fucking flirty bitch with sub-par fashion choices and a murky past at best.
I’m Joseph Beaumont’s daughter. I am the descendant of Russian royalty and I have the ear of the Wolf herself, what the hell does she have?
I sound jealous but really, I’m just pissed that while I was off surviving a war between the most dangerous crime lords in the country this bitch was sinking her claws into the pawns of my board, the one I was born to rule.
She’s eating at my fucking table and shitting all over my space.
I won’t have it.
Naturally, she makes a beeline over to me, her hips swinging in the garishly cutout gown that shows enough skin that the entire room knows she’s not wearing underwear. Not my style at all, too much going on, and the shoes are terrible. Nude and too pointed for the look.
She smiles up at Luca and when he doesn’t return it, she pouts.
I scoff at her, barely stopping myself from stalking away from her but Atticus’\
hand is still firmly wrapped around my arm.
She sidles up beside me and says with a sing-song voice, “I heard you’re looking to start a collection of your own? That’s interesting and quite a silly thing to do here. Everyone in attendance is already mine. You should plan these things out a little more thoroughly.”
I turn around to face her fully, tugging a little on Atticus’ hand but he doesn’t let me go. “I highly doubt that. At least half of the people here were on the Beaumont payroll until my father died and we both know he would never answer to a woman… no matter what your charms may be.”
She cocks her head to one side and giggles. “Joseph has been dead for months, you’re a little late to secure them for yourself. You should listen to me, Beaumont, because maybe you’re a little young to be playing here.”
The condescension in her tone makes my jaw ache from the clenching of my teeth. The moment I know what her deal is I’m going to have her killed. Whether it’s Illi or Lips or Ash, I’ll plead my case and have her throat slit for daring to speak to me like this.
Maybe I’ll have her tortured a little first.
She smirks at me. “You’re not as good at hiding your feelings as you think. If you want me to die for my sins shouldn’t you know whose anger you’re risking first? Take a walk with me.”
Atticus’ hand tightens around my arm and when I shoot him a cool look his eyes burn back at me with rage. Deep breath, I ignore him as I turn to her and smirk. “Sure. I can make some time.”