Judge (Shady Valley Henchmen 1)

“Yeah, that might not be an easy one,” Nyx said, not wanting to give me false hope. “But if he is in a position to make a commitment to you, that might soothe things over.

“So you just have to make sure you guys are there before you even think about bringing this to Cill. And just Cill. Give him time to think it over. Once he makes his mind up, the others will fall in line. They have to.”

That was the beauty—and curse, at times—with the mafia hierarchy. Cillian’s word was law. And the others could bitch and moan all they wanted, but eventually had to give in.

I wasn’t anywhere near ready to expose Jass to my brothers’ anger, so I was going to go ahead and just enjoy the new dynamic we had going on.

I could text and call with him.

Maybe, if he was willing, he could sneak in again.

If not, I could find ways to meet with him and steal a few hours here and there.

If all went how I secretly hoped it would, and we became more of a couple, then I could talk to Cillian.

Until then, I was going to be happy with the new direction things were going in.

Even as Rian and Eoin closed up and Nyx and I went through the process of closing the place down for the night—wiping surfaces, capping bottles, all that boring, every night stuff—I did it all with a sort of enthusiasm that could only be traced back to the progression of things with Jass.

And, let’s face it, the hopes I had for the future.

I mean, how amazing would it be if my childhood crush, my first partner, also became my forever?

Was it too soon for that?

Yep.

But I couldn’t stop my mind from going there, either.

“Girl, you got it bad,” Nyx said, giving me a smile. “Your feet have not hit the floor once since you came back,” she added. “Floating around the place. I’m not envious at all,” she added, tossing a rag at me. “But, seriously, I am so fucking happy for you. You deserve to feel this good all the time.”

“Thank you. And in case you haven’t heard this recently… so do you.”

“Oh, you know me. No commitment is how I roll,” she said, but there was a false note to that all of a sudden.

Before I could press her about it, though, she was saying goodnight to everyone in the back of the bar, then me and Patrick, and rushing out the door.

“I don’t know how you still have so much energy,” Patrick said as I did one last lap around the place to make sure everything was done. “I’m exhausted just watching you work,” he added, shaking his head as I finally went behind the bar to grab my purse.

He’d offered to stay to take me home since Rian and Eoin would likely be in the back for at least another hour.

Normally, I would just wait. I was always a little hyped up just after a shift, and it made more sense to hang back and get ahead of tasks for the next day than go home and pace around anxiously until I was finally tired enough to go to sleep.

But I wanted to go home, climb into bed, and see if maybe Jass would be willing to call me for a quick talk before we both went to sleep.

Even as I thought that, I pulled my phone out of my bag, holding the button to power it up as I walked alongside Patrick toward his car.

“Fucking slut.”

“What?” I asked, startled, sure I misheard him since he never really even cursed much around me. He was always very, I don’t know, brotherly.

“Powering up that phone to see if he texted. Fucking pathetic,” he hissed.

Yeah, there was no misunderstanding that.

Dread’s fingers unfurled through my belly as my gaze slid over toward the man who was supposed to be there to protect me.

Only he no longer even looked like himself.

I’d heard people on like true crime documentaries say that psychopaths could, in a blink, look like completely different people.

I always thought that was just what they told themselves to feel a little better about not seeing any signs before that very moment when things went downhill.

But looking at Patrick right then, I suddenly believed every last one of them.

Gone was the harmless, slightly forgettable guy I’d known most of my life.

In his place was a dark, soulless-eyed monster.

A chill—involuntary and intense—moved through me.

“Fucking him up against a wall in a filthy alley like a common whore,” he added, making my blood run cold.

Before I could think to raise my voice to scream, he was lashing out, sending my phone flying from my hand, scattering down far enough that I couldn’t reach for it and call for help.