Mateo:I miss you.
23
EMBRY
Four weeks.
“Happy Birthday.” I extended a hand to help Rubi sit up. Then I brandished the builder’s tea I’d learned over the last month he couldn’t function without. “How does it feel to be thirty-three?”
Rubi slow-blinked, still half asleep. I searched his gaze for signs of the headache he hadn’t mentioned yesterday, but he looked okay.
After a beat, he took the mug and gave me a quiet grin. “Same as it did to be thirty-two and trapped in a high-rise prison.”
I glanced around the luxury penthouse. “I’ve seen worse cells than this.”
“Know you have, Em. Sorry. I ain’t thinking straight yet.”
“That a thing? Thinking straight?”
Rubi chuckled into his tea. “Not in our house, mate.”
He spoke with a mix of his Irish and cockney roots, half Cam, half Mateo, with a little bit of Devon thrown in for good measure, and the mere sound of his voice relaxed me.
The big brother none of us had ever had.
He drew me close for a one-armed hug and ruffled my hair. Then he set his mug aside and leaned back to stretch, sore from another day sleeping on Alexei’s couch. “Where are the girls?”
“Bathroom. I think it’s hair-wash night.”
“For them or for us?”
I smiled a little, but it was bittersweet. Liliana was beautiful, sweet, and kind, but it was painfully clear she wasn’t used to having choices or making decisions for herself. The only thing she seemed sure of was her instant affection and trust for me and Rubi.
“It’s not instant for her,”Juana had explained. “Mateo talked of you so often, and Saint too, that she already knows who you are to her.”
I dreamed of the day Saint got to spend time with this magical little girl, but as hard as I tried, I couldn’t see it happening any time soon.
It had been four weeks.
Fourfuckingweeks. I blew out a sigh and flopped back on the couch. My day shift guarding the penthouse was coming to an end, but I wouldn’t take my turn on the couch until later. Mateo’s daughter slept less than she ate, and I liked to spend a little time with her.
She was good company, unlike the birthday boy who was lost in his tea mug again.
I nudged Rubi.
He grumbled under his breath.
“What?”
“I’m just ruminating how weird it is to not know shit about what’s going on. Can’t decide if I like it or not.”
“I like it.”
Rubi eyed me over his mug. “Because you get to drown in denial over Mateo?”
Irritation prickled my skin.
I swallowed it down. “I’m not denying anything.”
