He made his calls, I made mine. Then we stared at each other, my pulse thudding as his chest heaved. I had so much I needed to say to him. So many things I’d swallowed down but being with Alexei had somehow forced to the surface. I didn’t understand it—it made no fucking sense—but I couldn’t ignore it. Goddamn, it was burning me up inside. “Saint—”
“No, brother.” He shook his head. “Not now. Keep your head. This is gonna get nasty.”
He was right and I knew it. I closed my eyes. Let myself think of Alexei, just for a moment. Of his shrewd, all-seeing gaze and sardonic smirk. Of the gentle way he touched me when his guard was down.
How he kissed me like I was the air to his fucking lungs.I miss him.
I opened my eyes. Saint had moved. He was right in front of me, shutting down the way we all had to if we were gonna survive this night.
No.
Not yet.
I gripped his chin hard, then slid my hand along his jaw to cup the nape of his neck. “This ain’t over.”
He shivered. “I know.”
* * *
We mobilised at lightning speed, a well-oiled machine, even without Mateo barking orders and growling bloody murder at anyone too slow to the mark.
Saint was a different battle commander. He doled out weapons in silence. Kept everyone else quiet with his smouldering glare. But he scared me just as much when he was like this and I loved him for it.
In plain clothes, we commandeered the vans we used when we needed to move en-masse and undetected and headed south to the coast of Porth Luck, a Cornish fishing town with historical links to the underworld. Club activity on the streets there had dwindled since River spat fire at me any time any brother who wasn’t Rubi passed through, but the surrounding waters had different rules—rules the Kings had lost control of when we’d signed on to provide materials and labour for Sambinis’ motorway contracts.
It was a cold fact that every branch of bullshit we were dealing with now could’ve been avoided if we’d walked away back then.Cracker, you cunt. Is this what you wanted?I scowled at the back of his head as the van we were both in rumbled along the road to the Cornish coast. Nash was driving—he liked to be busy—and Saint and Embry flanked me as we rattled around the back of the van. Still glaring, I nudged Saint. “Did you reach Rubi?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re gonna have to give me more than that,” I snapped. “The fuck is he?”
“On his way.”
Impatience ate me up inside. Or maybe it was something else. Despite my best efforts, I was still so hot for him. For Alexei. For them both, and my imagination was having a fucking rave.
Get your head in the game.
I resumed my staredown with the back of Cracker’s skull while Saint found his words—or didn’t—and left me to stew. I had to believe he’d let me know if Rubi was anywhere other than where he was supposed to be. I had to trust him, and I did. But I still wanted to fucking shake him.
You’re an arsehole.
Another cold fact. In the darkness of the cramped van, I found Saint’s forearm with one hand while reaching for my phone with the other. I wrapped my fingers around leather-clad flesh and bone and sent Alexei a text.
Cam:heading out to handle some business. Can I see u after?
Alexei:Yes.
Still clutching Saint, I took a deep, cleansing breath. Alexei’s one-word answer was all I needed and I let the promise of being close to him whenever this was done wash over me, finding strength in it as if he was the fucking Messiah, only he wasn’t for the masses; he was all mine.
“Cam.” Saint murmured my name. He took my hand from his arm and squeezed my fingers, the pressure fleeting and beautiful. “We’re here.”
My faculties locked into place. I put my phone away as we pulled into a lay-by close to the port where our contact kept his small fishing boat. The van doors opened and Rubi was waiting, grim-faced and pissed off. “Sol ain’t playing ball. Reckons it isn’t on him to police this and he doesn’t want any of us on his boat.”
I set my jaw. “Tell him I don’t give a shit.”
“I did. Then I left him to think about it, but he fucked off with your brother and I don’t know if he’s coming back.”
“You let him leave?” I stepped up to my oldest friend, getting up in his face. “To go where?”
