MAYHEM

Three

Valentina sat in her small kitchen, her butt cushioned by the small stool at her island.

She sipped tea in her large mug while watching her brother and Butcher practically tear the space apart to look for vulnerabilities. They'd been here a while. Butcher had a tool box out, replacing all the locks in her small home. Even the ones in her windows.

She supposed this madeup for his less-than-savory first impression.

It took a moment to get accustomed to the two in her space. She didn't have a lot of people over. Well, she had had no people over...ever. That made her apartment very sacred to her; it was her safe space, and to have the large men trampling in her space was very invasive.

After he'd torn everything apart, Valentina could see that Butcher noticed the obvious stress on her face. He'd put everything back to how it was even when she insisted he didn't have to. Even his tools were now all shoved into a corner and away from her things.

It didn't help that her brother was here. This current apartment had been saved from his presence, as she moved in after graduation. So having him here was not her favorite thing in the world. Butcher had sent him out of the door almost as soon as they got settled, though,to do the things he didn't feel like doing.

Jude had scoped out the parking garage, asked around the landlord's office, and struck up casual conversation. He said that he had warned the landlord about a crazy man matching their father's description who was lurking around to steal from the apartments.

Now that his tasks were done, her baby brother was back, and meandering over to the island.

Valentina glanced at him, then back to Butcher. His leather jacket had been taken off. She had turned up the AC to keep him cool but he didn't once complain either way. Brushing his hair back, he caught her observing him. He grunted, looking her over once before going back to what he was doing.

"You framed it." Jude was looking at the diploma in the frame above the island.

Valentina's low lidded eyes flicker from his face to the diploma. Her eyes twitched, thendarted back to the window she'd been staring out of. "People do that."

Her apartment was a one bedroom, so it was small. Despite the soft music in the background, she knew that even if Butcher was head-first in her damn toilet he'd be able to hear this conversation clearly.

"You're not still mad...are you?" Jude asked.

Valentina huffed a little, adding an obnoxious amount of honey to her drink while muttering to herself in a broken string of Spanish mixed with English.

"Still mad? No, I've forgiven you for standing me up for my graduation without an apology. And for moving out of the apartment during the ceremony so you wouldn't have to deal with me. And for randomly joining a motorcycle club and going low contact after we lived together for three—almost four—years."

Jude opened his mouth but shut it quickly. Butcher, who'd been hammering, had slowed to a stop at the bite in her words.

"I-I'm sorry. You have to believe me..."

"That's convenient," she snorted into the pink mug.

"Jude!" Butcher barked as he glanced up boredly. Both of the siblings' attention was caught.

"Go check out the business across from here, find out where the best views into the apartment are, and mark them with painters tape."

"It's raining—"

"Now." Butcher gruffed, leaving no more room for discussion.

Jude gave her a parting look she didn't return before he left.