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It wasn’t a hatred directed towards me, but a general one, an anger that blazed in his eyes. I wasn’t sure what the anger and hatred was for or why it was there yet I sensed Kris had lots of demons underneath his stern exterior. I smiled at him, ignoring the narrow eyes that reflected back at me before I turned to Jake. “I think some of us are just angry at things none of us can understand.”
    “Or control,” Jake added. When I gave him an expectant look, waiting for him to clarify, he shook his head and turned to Adam who was running towards us.
    “Hey, Isla.” Adam said with a genuine smile before looking at Jake. “I need a few days off.”
    “For?”
    Adam blew out a breath then smiled. “I found him.”
    Jake grinned at Adam and slapped him on the back. “Where?”
    “France. I have a problem though.”
    Jake lifted a finger in the air towards Keegan who scurried up the garden when Jake motioned for him. My God, I thought I’d seen it all. Jake seriously thought he was bloody God. I hoped he didn’t expect me to behave like that, running to him with a click of his fingers. He’d be sorely disappointed.
    “Kee, watch Isla for me. Adam and I have a bit of business.”
    Keegan nodded. I stared at Jake with an open mouth. “I’m not a child, Jake. I’m quite capable of fixing myself a burger and a beer.”
    Jake shook his head arrogantly before following Adam up towards Keegan’s house. “And watch your fucking brother!” he shouted at Keegan over his shoulder.
    Narrowing my eyes on Keegan who gave me a guilt ridden half-smile, I practically growled. “I do not need a babysitter, whatever the lord and master requested. If you value your testicles attached to your penis instead of fixed to the fence with a rusty nail then I would back off and let me do my own thing.”
    Keegan, bless him, swallowed loudly, flicked a glance up the garden towards where Jake and Adam had disappeared then gave me a grimace. “Please, Isla . . .”
    Shaking my head slowly and glaring at him, I made a scissor motion with my fingers and looked pointedly at the fence. Keegan sighed then gestured with a wave of an arm that he gave in, and let me pass him to the beer barrels where I swiped up another beer and made my way to the barbeque.
    Making my way down the garden with my cool drink and sizzling hotdog, I sighed appreciatively when I came across a small brook, the trickling water secluded from the rest of the party and very tranquil, its beauty giving me the much needed peace for my buzzing head.
    I removed my shoes and socks then carefully perched my bottom on the edge of the banking. I dipped in my toes, took a bite of my sausage and sighed contentedly. I would have killed for such a breath-taking private place near the cottage. Nature truly was magnificent; it was a shame ninety percent of the population on such a beautiful planet weren’t as remarkable. Jake’s life was so far from what I was that I struggled to see where we would end up in the coming months. I loved him, of that I had no doubt, but I wasn’t confident I could be who he wanted or needed me to be. I admitted there was a darkness inside me that, rather horrifyingly, revelled in the macabre and merciless. For a long time I had refused to accept it, my mind morphing my beliefs into thinking that I was just struggling from PTSD or something similar. But being with Jake had opened my mind and for the first time I understood that some people were just created that way, like black and white, hot and cold—good and bad. There was always an opposite for anything, my light being other people’s darkness. Yet with Jake, the chill in my heart cooled the raging burn in his—and his fire heated the cold rage within me. But his world and his status, the epicentre of the criminal empire, had me wondering if I could handle this side to him.
    I turned, shielding my eyes from the evening sun when I heard someone approach behind me. I squinted for a moment as