Page 151 of Lessons In Grey

I leaned back against the counter beside Grey and looked over, raising a brow.

Jeremy was frowning as he stood. “I don’t think squirrels have the ability to carry guns.”

Ash laughed as she helped Jeremy straighten my papers. “She was fucking with you, you gullible child.”

Jeremy paused, considering his life decisions before he went back to stacking. “I knew that.”

I rolled my eyes and turned back to Grey and his cooking. “Smells good,” I said, just as his phone rang.

He gave me a soft smile as he wiped his hands on the apron. “Only the best for you.”

“Nauseating,” Ash commented, setting a stack of papers on the edge of the counter.

“Don’t, we were the same way,” Syn scolded. “I think it’s cute,” she smiled at me as Grey pulled his phone out.

I laughed, turning back only to pause when I saw the look on his face. My smile fell. “Grey?”

His eyes flicked to mine for half a second before he answered, stepping away, gesturing for me to stir the veggies.

My brows pulled together as I took his place, watching as he headed for the bedroom.

“What was that about?” Ash asked, joining me.

I turned to Jeremy who was turning from Grey to me, his own expression hard. He may have made that one mistake almostthree weeks ago, but when it came down to it, he had the potential to be just as terrifying as Grey.

“His family,” I answered, stirring the veggies. “My best guess.”

Syn glanced to the closed bedroom door and back, her eyes worried. “Do you think it has to do with what happened?”

I shrugged. “Sometimes Malachi has them working more than one job at a time. It could be anything.” It was true, but it’s not what I truly thought. That look in his eyes. It was either Azrael or someone else causing trouble.

Azrael had evaded the FBI, Jack hacking into their servers, erasing everything they had on him since he went AWOL. Grey said Malachi believes that he’s trying to get someone’s attention, but he won’t say who. He won’t say anything. The only person Azrael has contacted since leaving was Grey when he showed up that night in the living room, and me, when he sent that message about my attacker being someone they knew.

Other than that, he’s been silent. Other than leaving bodies, but even that has slowed in the last eight days.

Grey had suggested maybe he had manic episodes, but Malachi assured him time and time again that Azrael didn’t have mania, he was just like this.

Still, it was unsettling.

“Can you two set the table, please?” I asked Ash and Syn.

They started getting the table ready, Jeremy joining me at the counter, the playfulness of earlier now gone. “What do you think?” I asked as he leaned over the counter.

He shrugged. “He doesn’t share too much of his family stuff with me, but my best guess is Azrael. That look on his face, he wasn’t happy.”

I looked over, taking in the freckles that dusted his face before I met his eyes. “What do you know of Azrael?”

He shrugged. “Unpredictable. Causes a lot of trouble among The Family. I can’t even pretend to understand the dynamic there, all I know is that there is a loyalty and trust there that isincomprehensible to most. If it were my brother, I probably would have dropped him a long time ago, too much stress.” He straightened. “But it’s different in their world.”

“You’re in their world,” I reminded him.

He shook his head. “No, I’m not. There are different levels in the crime world just as there are in the regular world. You’ve got the wannabes, you know, the drug dealers who steal their mom’s scripts to sell to their classmates. Then you’ve got the lowkey dealers. They’ve got a small area in a small town, known, but small. Then you get the actual business. Well-known around their city, they’ve got lots of runners and so on.

“After that, it starts to get scary. The traffickers, the weapons dealers, the organ dealers, the mafia. Real head honcho types that are so good, the police have been chasing them for decades and will never catch them.”

“So where does that put you? Where does that put them?”

“Malachi and his family? They’re the ones that will never be caught because they are the police. Not even the most dangerous of criminals, if they were smart, would ever mess with Malachi or his sons. Some people know them as The Family, others know them as the Masked Men, but there is one term out there that’s stuck, whispered only in the dead of night.”