Saint was next on my list. He didn’t answer either—his phone didn’t even ring. The only fucker I could get hold of was Embry and he appeared in the chapel ten minutes later.
“Welcome back, brother.”
I glanced up from the text message I was definitely not tapping out to Alexei. “I was never gone.”
Embry chuckled, sharing his warmth with me in a one-armed fraternal embrace. “Whatever. It’s good to see you. How are you doing?”
“Same old.”
“Around here? You’ll have to do better than that.”
I grunted and pushed my phone away, the message I couldn’t quite articulate half-written and unsent. “I’m good. Caught up on some sleep and let my ribs rest. Happy?”
“If you are.”
“I’m ecstatic,” I retorted.
Grinning, Embry produced a steaming mug of coffee from behind his back. He set it on the table in front of me and dropped into the seat that Saint occupied when he was around.
“Have you seen him?” I jerked my head at the battered chair. “He’s not answering his phone.”
Embry kicked back with a yawn. “He hasn’t been about since you left. Actually, I thought he might have gone with you.”
“Nope.”
“Shame.”
“Is it?” I glowered, hoping Embry got the message to leave it the fuck alone, but my chaplain had other ideas, and I was starting to wonder if there was anyone who hadn’t noticed the spark between me and Saint. And how thehellit was that my obsession with Alexei had breathed new life into feelings I’d smothered for too many goddamn years to count.
“It’s a shame,” Embry broke into my thoughts. “For both of you, but it’s him I was thinking of. If he wasn’t with you, then he’s been out there this whole time chasing down enemies we don’t even know we have yet. Not eating. Not sleeping. It gets to him when you’re in danger, you know it does.”
I did. And I felt like shit about it. One of my favourite things on this earth was Saint’s rare laugh. It had been too long since I’d last heard it.
“I hear you,” I said to Embry. “But I need him out there right now. I can’t figure this out on my own.”
Embry said nothing, but the weight of his worries for Saint, for me, for all our brothers, weighed heavily on his shoulders. He looked tired, as if he’d spent the last few days fretting up a storm.This needs to end.But how? If Rubi discovered the Sambinis were already trafficking girls through our turf... fuck. This tit-for-tat bullshit was about to go postal and there were no guarantees we’d win.
The unpleasant wrench in my gut expanded, sending ice to my veins. I thought about Alexei and what his father had done to him. Then I thought of my dad and the price he’d paid for the war I was still fighting. I owed it to them both to shut this shit down, but I had no fucking clue how to do it.
“Boss?”
I opened my eyes. Embry was gone and Mateo had caught me ruminating myself into a nap. “The fuck have you been?”
“Might ask you the same thing. I came by your house last night. Shack up with some bird, did ya?”
“Nope.” I gave Mateo a steady look. I trusted my enforcer with my life, but he was as untamed as Saint was terminally wild. I didn’t tell him much that I didn’t have to. “When are you heading out for your delivery?”
“In a few hours. Do you need me for anything else first?”
“Nah, but remember what we talked about. I need that money in the bank STAT, so we can’t afford any fuck-ups tonight.”
“Got it.”
Mateo made himself a sandwich, then left to do whatever he did with his time when he wasn’t hawking cannabis or threatening Crows with his blowtorch.
The quiet enveloped me. Hours passed as my brain ticked over. It was dark when I picked up my phone for no reason at all, and it rang in my hand at the same moment Saint appeared in the doorway.
Alexei’s name flashed up on the screen, and my gaze darted to Saint and back a thousand times before he crossed the room and took the phone from my clenched fingers. He answered the call and gave it back before I could react to what the ever-loving fuck he thought he was doing. “Take it. I can wait.”
