“What?” I dragged my gaze from the horizon and nailed Saint with a glare. It was dawn. We’d pulled over to smoke and put ourselves back together after a long ride that had ended in a vicious fight with the Crows we’d found trying to shift a measly haul of product through our territory. We’d won—we usually did—and I hadn’t had to get my hands that dirty, but it had been a hassle I didn’t need right now. Skirmishes with the Crows were part and parcel with having two MCs in the same county, but I had bigger things to worry about, like the weight of the construction cartel we’d pissed off bearing down on us. Fighting over three kilos of coke could suck a bag.
So could the ice age it took Saint to get his words out, and I hated it when he called mePres,Boss, or any other bullshit word to avoid saying my actual name. But I swallowed my irritation. I was a grumpy motherfucker, but the man who’d fought like a beast at my side tonight deserved what was left of my patience. Fuck, Saint deserved so much more.
I lit another cigarette while I waited. Saint’s stare bore down on me, his frustration rendering him more menacing than usual, but I didn’t flinch. This dude would die for me. He’d proved it over and over again.
“This was a distraction,” he said eventually. “They wanted us to come out and fight. They expected us.”
I was inclined to agree. The Dog Crows MC had always been a pitiful operation next to ours, but even they had bigger fish to fry than a couple of kilos of blow. And who the hell needed ten men to move it? “You’re right. The question is, what were they distracting us from? Mateo’s shipment doesn’t land until the weekend and all our premises made it through the night without any aggro. What are we missing?”
Saint shrugged, eyeing me with his penetrating green eyes. “Have you checked in with your friend?”
“What friend?”
“Your new friend.”
I flicked my spent smoke into the ratty undergrowth and shot Saint a flat look as he rolled his eyes and crouched to retrieve it. “What’s he got to do with this?”
“Nothing.” Saint tucked my litter into a bag in his pocket. “But if we’re being watched, whoever’s doing it might’ve clocked us at his place the other night. You want to keep him safe, right?”
Bless my big-hearted sergeant-at-arms. The rebel with the sweetest soul. It should’ve annoyed me that I now had his curiosity to deal with on top of Embry’s, but I welcomed it. Saint was my shadow, more so now than ever. Hiding shit from him was more effort than it was worth. “If anyone tailed us to Bristol the other night, all they’d have seen is us paying a visit to a swanky block of flats. No one followed us inside.”
A faint smirk played on Saint’s lips, a smirk I knew all too well. I’d seen it in context, more than once, when we’d shared girls in my bed at the compound. Those heady nights were how I knew Saint Malone wasn’t the monster people assumed him to be. He’d kill a nun in her sleep if I asked him to, but if he had someone naked beneath him, they got nothing but respect. And me? Damn. I remembered his gentle hands on my back as I’d staggered drunkenly away from the bed, leaving him to carry the pretty girl off to his cave or whatever. How he’d steadied me as if he knew whatever I was searching for in those wild nights was just out of reach. He was a perceptive motherfucker. Perceptive andclever. Whatever he had to say now was annoyingly important. “Out with it, Malone. I ain’t got all day.”
“Just saying, boss. You walked out of there with a cock-eating glow. It’d take a fucking fool not to know whoever you went to see was important to you right now.”
How can someone I’ve met three times leave me so fucking transparent?It should’ve pissed me off, but I had no scope left for new stress. I shook my head. “He’s my accountant. And I’m not worried about him. If you met him, you’d understand.”
“Gonna introduce us, are you?”
“You want me to?”
“What do you think?”
“I think you’ve noticed him more than you notice anyone else I fuck.”
Silence. Quiet breaths were Saint’s only answer, and the ache in my chest I carried for him ramped up a notch.He’s lonely. So was I, but without old ladies and families to go home to, when war came, this life was like that. Brutal and cold, only brothers for company.
I gave into the urge to touch Saint and gripped his shoulder, letting my thumb rub the tense muscles beneath his T-shirt. “If you’re worried he’s a threat, don’t. He’s a friend.”
Saint seemed unconvinced, but I couldn’t do anything about that. Alexei was inexplicable, so I didn’t try. I smoked another cigarette while I considered the fact that the next time I fucked him, Saint would likely be right outside, guarding me, hearing every sound that seeped through, feeling every jolt if I threw Alexei against the door.
I blew out a shuddery breath, the imagery fucking with my head. As if I needed something else to angst about.
Get your head in the game.
Except, this shit didn’t feel like a game, especially with Saint simmering beside me like an unexploded landmine.
I headed for my bike.
He beat me to it and checked it out, then mounted his without looking at me. I followed suit, then we were on our way, speeding through the misty early morning in a race to get home before the roads were clogged with commuter traffic.
I won, pulling into the compound a heartbeat before Saint. We rumbled past the yard and to the clubhouse, the men we’d taken with us last night trailing behind.
Nash was waiting, arms folded across his chest, frown tense as he assessed us for damage. “You know, one day you really are going to have to stop doing all the dirty work yourself.”
I took my helmet off and hung it on my handlebars. “It wasn’t that dirty. Saint is a fucking angel. Would you rather I’d gone out with Mateo?”
“I’d rather you didn’t go out at all, boss. You’re the president, not a soldier.”
