My tone left no room for argument. And Nash knew better than to try. The only fool who’d cross me was—
“You can’t go out there.”
I glanced over my shoulder. Saint filled the doorway, arms folded across his bare chest, a faint hickey marking his neck. Despite everything, my heart skipped a beat.The fucker. “I’m going. If you’re that worried, do your job and protect us.”
A tense silence blanketed the room, but it was fleeting. Saint blazed a glare at me, then reeled it in and nodded. “Nash, stay here with Embry and Cracker. Everyone else rides with us.”
We mobilised. I helped Rubi into the van and left the compound with a ring of leather and muscle surrounding us, Mateo up front, Saint at my back.
Despite being my most aggressive soldier, Mateo was a restrained driver. Ignoring my impatience, he eased the convoy along the roads at a pace that wouldn’t attract too much attention, and we made the journey in forty minutes.
We pulled up at the main entrance. Rubi was hunched over in his seat, arms over his head again, unresponsive as Saint opened the passenger door.
He got him out before I’d shut off the engine, holding him with a compassion he usually reserved for wild animals injured on the road.
It spoke volumes of how fucked Rubi was that he didn’t notice.
I scrambled out of the van and we walked him into A&E.
Saint jerked his head at the desk.You talk.
I signed Rubi in and kept a sharp eye out for Skylar, hoping he was working and would see the familiar name on the board. In my absence, Saint had commandeered a corner of the waiting area where we could monitor the doors and windows while keeping our backs to the wall. “You don’t have to wait inside.”
Saint scowled at a man punching the vending machine. “Alexei loves you.”
I blinked. “What? How do you know that?”
“He told me.” Saint got up and strode to the unfortunate prick having a meltdown over a Snickers bar. He inserted himself between the man and machine, daring him, without words, to hit him instead.
The man opened his mouth. Thought better of it and drifted away.
I waited for Saint to come back, but Skylar appeared first. “Cam? What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
“Hmm?”
I dragged my gaze back to where it needed to be. The irritation Skylar often felt around me was absent and he stared at me with obvious concern. “Not me.” I gestured to Rubi who was slumped in the corner. “He’s in pain, man. Can you help him?”
Skylar moved fast. He spirited Rubi to who the fuck knew where and told me he’d be back when he had something to tell me.
I settled in to wait.
Saint returned and sat down beside me, his knee an inch from mine, and my entire body thrummed. “Did Alexei really say that?”
He tilted his head sideways, the challenge in his gaze clear.You think I’d lie?
No. I just couldn’t imagine those words leaving Alexei’s mouth, even if something deep inside me believed them.
“You love him too, don’t you?”
I turned away from Saint’s penetrating stare. “I don’t know him.”
“So?”
“I can’t love someone I don’t know.”
“You hate my mum and you don’t know her. Love and hate ain’t that far apart.”
“Bullshit. I hate your mum because she abandoned you in the woods when you were a fucking baby. Her actions tell me she’s a massive cunt.”
