He went to the gates instead, replaced the Crows with a couple of prospects, and called Locke and Folk into Cracker’s old office, the quiet place he took brothers when they needed to talk.
The thought of him being alone with two dudes I didn’t trust scrambled me to my feet. Unbidden, images of Embry bleeding to death in the back of Alexei’s fancy car swamped my mind.
His blue lips and clammy skin.
His slow pulse.
I saw his vacant stare in my worst waking nightmares. I saw it now and I wanted to puke. Or at least Spiderman off the roof and put myself between him and the stray Crows.
Murder them and every—
My phone buzzed.
Still hawk-eyeing Cracker’s office, I ripped it from my pocket and opened the text.
Saint:calm your tits
Hilarious.
I sent him a middle finger emoji, not expecting a reply.
Lucky me, I got one that Saint clearly hadn’t written himself.
Saint:Enforcer, save your aggression for confirmed enemies. The chaplain can take care of himself.
Only one person—onebrother—referred to me by my job title as if it was my legit fucking name.
Alexei.
I scanned the yard, the perimeter of the compound, and anywhere else I could think of, but didn’t see him or Saint.
Still, I took the veiled order in the message and stood down. Alexei didn’t outrank me—hell, he didn’t outrank anyone considering he refused to wear a cut, vote on anything he didn’t give a fuck about, and a thousand other things—but he was a sharp motherfucker. If he didn’t think Folk and Locke were a threat to Embry, he was probably right.
I went back to watching out for Rubi’s return.
It came ten minutes later, and I abandoned my rooftop post to meet him at the fence.
I stepped out of the shadows as he emerged from the wooded undergrowth, so deep in thought I could’ve slit his throat before he noticed.
Told him as much.
He sighed. “You wanna put me out of my misery, Mats, you’ll have to wait. We’ve got a drama on.”
“Russian drama?”
“It ain’t that specific. Where’s Em?”
“Took the Crows into Cracker’s office. We kicking them out yet?”
“Nah, worse. We’re offering them permanent sanctuary.”
“What? We didn’t vote on that shit.”
“No time, brother.” Rubi pointed at the chapel. “Go take your seat and get some chow. It’s gonna be a long night.”
Rubi didn’t outrank me either, and I was in the habit of being a contrary dick to him. But even I wasn’t dense enough to miss the grave look in his usually placid gaze.
I did as I was told.
