“Timing aside, you’re not acting like a man who believes Viktor.”
Mateo squeezed my ankle before letting go to change gear, slowing down to follow the brothers ahead as we passed a stretch of roadworks. Then he sighed. “I need a slash.”
He picked up the radio receiver and relayed the message to Nash and Rubi.
Static crackled before Nash’s pissed off voice came on the line. “Use your fucking bog then.”
“While I’m driving?”
“Dude, piss in a bottle.”
“Only if I get to throw it at your head after.”
“Fuck’s sake.” More static. Then it was Nash’s turn to blow out a noisy breath. “All right. Next services with truck facilities are six miles out. Can you hold it that long?”
“Can’t promise anything.”
Nash growled and the line went dead.
Grinning, Mateo replaced the receiver.
I poked him with my foot again, my toe hitting the phone stuffed in his pocket. “Am I the only one who doesn’t wind him up on purpose?”
“Yup.”
“Why? I don’t get it. He’s the nicest bloke in the world.”
“Nah, that’s you, cielito.”
He dazzled me with the shy grin he saved for moments where I was least prepared for the charm he didn’t know he possessed. I swallowed thickly as he turned back to the road, searching for the words to tell him so, but his phone rang long before I found them, buzzing up a storm on the dashboard.
Dazed, I reached for it, ignoring the tic in my brain that told me it was the wrong phone. That Mateo’s was in his pocket. Cam’s name flashed up on the screen and bewilderment hit me harder.
Man, I needed a nap.
I hit the green button. “Mr President.”
“Where’s your phone?”
“Erm...” Good question. Maybe that explained the glitch I couldn’t seem to think past as I spoke into Mateo’s. “On the floor, by my shoes.”
“Is it even on?”
I bent to check. “Nope. Flat. Fuck. Sorry.”
Mateo was already handing me the charging cable.
I took it and plugged my phone in. “Everything okay?”
There was rustling at Cam’s end. Then the sound of a door closing. “Alexei reckons there’s movement near Stockport. Might be nothing, but keep your eyes open.”
“You let Nash know?”
“Yeah, just figured I’d check in with you all while I had the chance.”
“Anything popping down there?”
“Not yet. Just as well, though, to be honest.”
