“Saint was here? What the fuck for?”
“Honestly? I think he came to tell me he thinks Lauren’s up to something, but it didn’t pan out.”
Rubi took a seat on a nearby crate. He had more plates of magic to deliver, but something in what I’d said plainly made him want to give Orla and our brothers cold food. “What’s Lauren done to ping Saint’s Spidey-senses?”
“Nothing.”
Rubi frowned, stroking a hand through the scruff on his jaw. “And if I know Saint, it’s the lack of drama that’s freaking him out?”
“Something like that.” I ripped into the breakfast roll Rubi had brought me, hoping Nash and Folk got round to feeding themselves on the road. “It’s not exactly radio silence, but this is the first school morning I’ve worked in ages without her lighting up my phone every ten seconds.”
“Maybe she grew a better personality.”
“Maybe.” I pointed at the kettle by the loading bay sink. “You want tea?”
“Can the Folkster swim? Course I want fucking tea. Let me just text the riffraff and tell them to go help themselves.”
Rubi busied himself with his phone. It had the same kind of waterproof case that Folk’s had. As if I needed another reminder that he existed. Goddamn, we’d eventually got round to washing in the shower, but by now his ocean scent was part of me. His touch imprinted on my skin. If I closed my eyes, I could still feel his lips at my neck.
Or, you know, pour water into the wrong cup.
I finished my breakfast and made Rubi his favourite sugary tea.
When I took it to him, he was as deep in thought about Lauren as Saint had been, and the anxiety I’d kept at bay most of the morning came rushing back. Rubi and Saint were different men. If they were both worried, I was in trouble.
Rubi sipped his tea and eyed me over the rim of his mug. “If she ain’t had a personality transplant, then it seems to me that she’s lulling you into a false sense of security. Amping up the shock factor for when she plays her trump card.”
Vicious nausea gripped me. “Her trump card is taking my kid and disappearing into the sunset.”
“She’d need money to do that. And Ivy’s passport. Does she even have one?”
“Not that I’m aware of, but Lauren could’ve applied and not told me.”
“So could you.”
“What for? I’m not going anywhere.”
Rubi waved a hand like that wasn’t important. “All right. What about Ben? She’d need permission from his bio dad to fuck off with him too. It ain’t just you.”
“I don’t know who the fuck that is.”
“Maybe we should find out. Couldn’t hurt to have an ally, brother.”
Allies. Friends. Brothers. I had all I could wish for, and Lauren still held the worst thing that could ever happen to me over my head. Being with Folk had been good for keeping the clouds of despair from bearing down on me. But without him to lean on and Rubi’s methodical analysis flaying me open, I had nowhere to go.
I sank onto the crate next to him. “It’s abduction if she takes Ivy abroad without my consent, but she could go anywhere in this country too. That’s how I ended up here—following her around until she got bored of moving every couple of months.”
“But Ivy’s in school now. That must mean something.”
“On paper. But what am I going to do? Make my kid travel a hundred miles to Whitness Primary every damn day?”
Rubi dragged his crate closer and nudged me with his massive shoulder. “Listen, if anything happens, we’ll figure it out. Not saying it won’t be a clusterfuck of drama, but we’re resourceful motherfuckers, and none of us are prepared to lose our little queen, okay? It ain’t happening. Also, we don’t even know The Ex is up to anything.”
“She might be getting laid, I suppose. Saint’s going to check later.”
“Lucky him.” Rubi shuddered. “What does Folk think?”
Folk.Just hearing his name gave me the briefest respite. Like wrapping cold hands around a hot tea mug. “He’s probably enjoying the silence. He reads Lauren’s messages for me these days. So I don’t have to.”
