Lost Bird

23

The twins convinced them to make their way back to the condo before they contacted anyone. Insisting that the guys were going to react just as badly as they had. James conceded, but really did think they were over reacting.

She was totally and completely wrong.

Brandon had called Axel first. He put it on speakerphone and calmly explained what had been heard by the informant after Axel had picked up. He went quiet for a minute and then responded so coldly, James ad shivered at the tone through the phone. "Where is James and where is this Nick guy?"

"James is here at the condo with us and we haven't looked for Nick yet. We decided to get her to a more secure location before calling you guys in so we could figure out our next move." Brandon said.

"I'll be there in 5. He's a fucking dead man." Axel hissed before he disconnected. James mouth dropped open and she looked over at Brandon's smug look. She frowned at him and stuck her tongue out at him in a very mature way to say oh, fuck off. He laughed and pulled her into his lap and looked at Corey. "Your turn Bro. Call Marc." Corey heaved and brought his phone to the table to call him on speakerphone the way they had Axel.

"Hey Cor, what's up man?" Marc asked in his usual happy tone. That changed real quick when he listened to Corey explain what was going on. "You better fucking tell me you have James with you right fucking now. She better be safe or I am going to fucking kill someone." He growled and James was shocked her sweet, happy, caring Marc could sound so menacing. "Ya man, we have her at the condo. Raven is in the war room stocking up on guns and planning on how to murder this fucking idiot for making threats against our girl."

"I'll be right there beside him in 10. You keep her close and don't let her out of your sight before we are all together again. If she so much as has a scratch on her, I'm going to break some fucking legs." With that he disconnected.

James was speechless. "Um , okay. I know you guys said they would react the same, but don't you think this is a slight over the top. I'm fine. He was just talking shit. He never actually touched me. Or even tried to touch me yet." James was floored at how violent her loving boys got in a split second.

"You don't get it Ci." She looked over at Corey in confusion. "You are it for us. You are our everything. No one gets to fuck with you. Not even just to talk shit. Axel wasn't kidding when he said we were a bunch of over bearing Neanderthals. This guy just made the biggest and last mistake of his life. It is going to take all of us talking down Raven and Marc from killing him just for the threat. Marc may seem like the chill one out of us, but he rivals your big Russian when it comes to fiercely protecting those he considers family. And with you it will be a whole other level for all of us. I know where your coming from, but you have to know that we don't do things half way. And that includes loving you."

James had tears in her eyes and she just nodded that she understood and stood to walk over and give him a hug. She knew he was trying to be the rational voice in this shit show, but she could see the rage in his eyes and knew he was just as angry as his brothers. "I promise I will be ok. I will listen to you guys and do my best to keep myself from getting hurt. But you guys have to understand too, that I am not helpless and I won't just walk away from this before we finish it." She looked up at Corey and he just nodded in understanding.

"Of course you don't walk away. But we walk where you walk, we go where you go. You have us with you all times." Raven stated as he walked back into the living room from loading up with weapons in the war room. He just stared at her and gave her a look that there was no compromise in what he was saying. She just sighed and nodded. She knew it was just being smart to have someone with her at all times. She wasn't going to fight that if they were willing to let her finish the mission she had started.

A nasty little voice in her head kept saying that she would turn into another one of their missions and they would get sick of taking care of her. But she knew that was just her insecurities talking. These guys had been nothing but caring and sincere in their concern for her.

James headed into the kitchen and started to put together some food for them all to have as they went through everything as soon as the last two got there. Max walked over to her and just put a hand on her back in support and she felt all of her stress melt away. She smiled up at him in thanks and he smiled back as he helped her get the food ready.

True to his word, about five minutes after he hung up Axel crashed into the condo and rushed her for another bone crushing hug. He was breathing erratically and she rubbed his back soothingly. She whispered that she was fine and that nothing had happened. She soothed him until marc came in breathing fire and shouting for her. She turned and called him over to her. He grabbed her and Axel into a hug and cursed until he calmed down again.

"I'm ok guys. He never actually got close to me. Max let us know what was going on as soon as he heard from his informant. We just have to get the surveillance video up in the war room to see what was actually said. We were waiting for you so we could all watch it together." She gently removed herself and turned back to the counter. "As soon as I am done with the food, we'll head in there and figure out our next steps." She smiled at them, trying to reassure them. The didn't smile back but they both nodded and made eye contact with the rest of their family to silently ask them if they agreed. The three of them nodded and turned to head down the hall.

James had put together a quick Ramen paired with the Kimchi she always had on hand as she loaded up her kitchen trolley. She wanted some of her comfort food if she was going to be listening someone plan ways to "get rid of her" as they had heard was said. She shook her head at the way the boys had reacted. She never would have guessed they would have gotten so angry, so quickly. But she had to admit to herself that if it was one of them Nick had been threatening she probably would have been just as violent in her response, if not more so.

She just wasn't used to being loved. The only person who had ever been that protective her was Max and that was a different situation completely. He was the only person she could call family. Well, I guess that includes my boys now too. She smiled at this revelation and knew it felt right just as she thought it. Yes, they were her family now. And she knew she could trust them with everything she had. She wheeled the trolley into their war room and smiled sweetly at Axel as he walked over to help her out. She stopped him as he turned to wheel it away and pulled him down to her mouth. She whispered "I do love you." Against his mouth before she gave him a quick soft kiss. He paused and looked down at her in awe. "And I love you baby girl. We'll figure this out." He whispered back. She just smiled and nodded.

After the food was passed out and they were all seated around the table James cleared her throat. They all looked to her and smiled waiting for her to talk. "I know this isn't what we were expecting to do tonight, but I just want to say thank you for being here for me when I need you." She held up a hand when they all started to protest. "I know you all want to be here and I know this is all a choice you made because you truly want to be here. But I am not use to people caring, aside from Max." She smiled at her quasi big brother and turned back to her men. "I just want to be able to say that this means a lot to me. To choose me, knowing my past, knowing my baggage, knowing who I am and what I do, but still choosing me. You'll never understand how much that means to me." She took a deep breath as Raven grabbed her and and squeezed it in comfort.

"Now, we have a couple of things that should be a priority tonight. We have to watch the videos, catch what was said and by who. But we also have to look into this newest overdose that Max told me about. If this drug is coming from the same dealers, that means that something has changed with what their distributing and it could be even more dangerous than what we were working with before. I don't want anyone else to die." All the guys nodded and she turned to her food.

Everyone ate in silence lost in their own thoughts and what was going to be found out when they started to go through the videos.