Even the current started to fight me, slowing us down. By the time the rope tension changed, we were out of time. Out ofair.
We had to ascend.
Too fast.It was too fast. I knew it with every metre we climbed, but I couldn’t stop it happening. We broke the surface of the stormy North Sea, and I dragged Alexei to the boat, hauling him aboard, collapsing on the deck with him on top of me, only his body wracking shudders telling me he was still alive.
Rain battered us. My chest heaved. We needed oxygen, and lots of it. But before any of that could happen, we had to finish the game.
With numb fingers, I fumbled for the switch at my waist. Closed my eyes and pressed the button, smiling as a hellfire lit up the night sky.
I didn’t regret a thing.
28
DECOY
Locke stayed with me for two days. He fell asleep on the living room floor a lot. Then came Saint. He slept on the floor too—in Ivy’s bedroom, because she asked him to. They played every quiet game under the sun like he used to when she was tiny.
It was nice to have him around. He’d given us space while Folk had been here, and we’d missed him. Buthewas missing Alexei and Cam, and I was missingFolk, and however sweet his bond with my kid, the heaviness in the air was hard to ignore.
Also, he was shit at staying in one place too long, and without his lovers to lean on, he wore it badly.
On day four, when I was sure he was sick to death of Ivy telling him all about Folk’sso prettysister, I left him alone in my house and spent a rainy summer evening with Embry instead.
The good father eased himself carefully onto the couch. “Who’s babysitting who here?”
Couldn’t say. Embry had come home yesterday, and given that he’d nearly died—again—I’d expected a lot worse than he was giving me. It scared me to think it, but he actually looked okay. Colour in his cheeks. Energy in his gaze.Life. Like Rubi, it made me realise how bad off he’d been before. How close we’d come to losing him, and damn, I wasn’t in the headspace to think about that. With my life upside down and Folk still gone, turned out I wasn’t much good at thinking about anything.
I sought out Ivy. She was on the rug, sorting through the box of nail varnish Orla had given her, engrossed, content.Happy. She hadn’t asked why she hadn’t seen or spoken to her mum for five days, and I hadn’t told her. But I’d have to soon... once I’d figured out what version of the truth I could live with.
Your mum tried to kill me.
I let her.
None of it was good.
“Hey, come on.” Embry nudged me with his barefoot. “Don’t zone out on me. I’m relying on you for gossip.”
I tore my gaze from Ivy. “Gossip?”
“I’m bored out of my mind, bro. Throw me a bite.”
“About what?”
“Anything. Everything. But first you have to tell me you’re okay. Mateo didn’t spit what happened until last night. I’m sorry I haven’t been there for you.”
The guilt in Embry’s voice wrenched me from being lost in my own feelings. “I haven’t been around for you either.” Fuck, there had been days when I hadn’t even thought of my brother lying stricken in a hospital bed. As though my subconscious had known I couldn’t handle one more ounce of stress.
“All right,” Embry reasoned. “So we’re both shit brothers—in our own minds, at least. I still need to know you’re good. Dude, you got run over. Tell me how you’re feeling.”
“Like I got run over. But it’s mostly okay now. I was a bit banged up for a few days, but I stopped thinking about it after a while. There’s so much other shit, it didn’t seem important.”
“Know that feeling.” Embry’s gaze drifted to the girls on the rug. “Last time I looked at Lili from this spot on the couch, I thought I was dying.”
“You feel better now?”
Embry nodded. “I feel a world away from death, and I hope you do too. I’m just sorry you had to go through so much to get there.”
“Back at you, brother.”
