Decoy sat up impossibly straighter. “You think Ivy isn’t safe at the house?”
“Of course not.” Cam raised his hands to placate him. “I’d be straight with you if I ever thought that. I’m just an anxious mess over the people I care about, and I care about you a lot.”
“Inpracticalterms,” Alexei said, “that means he would fret a microfraction less if Folk was in the house with you.”
“More than a microfraction,” Cam grumbled. “But I’m not ordering you to do it. And I have no fucking clue if it would be helpful in whatever bullshit you’re going through with Lauren. I’m just giving you another reason why it might be a good idea.”
“Good idea forme. What about Folk?” Decoy said.Again. “This whole plan hinges on him giving up his life to be a pretend step-parent, and that’s not a reasonable thing to ask of anyone.”
“He already agreed to it. That’s what Saint said?” Cam turned to Alexei.
Alexei turned to me. “Is that true?”
“Not exactly.” I tried and failed to keep the dryness from my tone. “I said I’d do anything to help Decoy, but also that I’m not anyone’s idea of a perfect boyfriend.”
Beside me, Decoy made a low sound. A strained laugh. A groan. A plea to the Almighty for the ground to open up and swallow him whole.
Whatever it was, Alexei heard it and I saw something flicker in his eyes.
Deflect.
But how? The plan still had a bazillion holes, but Cam’s motivation made sense. Decoywasvulnerable when he slept in his house—in hisbed—alone. He was a council member. A brother who had enemies just because he showed up to work every day and did his job. And to me, he wasSeth. Whether he ever knew it or not, he was the man whose shy smile had kept me company in the worst moments of my life. There wasnothingI wouldn’t do to protect him.
Trouble was, he wasn’t the only person I felt that way about, and Ivy wasn’t the only innocent I’d give my life to defend.
It’s time.
I met Alexei’s gaze and he gave me a subtle nod as I sat up straighter. “If we’re having this conversation in any serious way, there’s something we haven’t told you.”
6
DECOY
“There’s something we haven’t told you.”
I woke up this morning with sand in my hair and a cast iron resolve to quit swearing for good. But as Folk uttered those words, all my brain had was a string of panicked expletives. Was he fuckingkiddingme? Half a decade later andnowhe wanted to tell people? He wanted to tellCamthat not only had we known each other long before we’d ever come here, but also that we’d failed to disclose it?
My heart did that weird skip, but without the heat that usually came with it when Folk was around. Without the balm to the sharp pain in my chest. Common sense told me Cam would see there’d been no reason more than courtesy for me to tell him. Shitdamn, I hadn’t evenknownFolk was a Crow before he’d deserted them. But still. It was a trust thing, and it dawned on me now more than ever that maybe I’d broken the faith Cam and Saint had gifted me from day one by keeping this from them.
It took all of three seconds for those anxious thoughts to barrel through my mind.
And another three seconds for me to catch up to the fact that no one was looking at me. Folk’s attention was trained on Alexei, and Alexei’s on him while Cam flicked between them, dark brows raised.
“If it’s anything dodgy, Decoy needs to go.”
“It’s not dodgy.” Folk’s hands twitched as if he wanted to reach for me. “Just something that needs to be considered if you’re worried about safety.”
Alexei drummed his fingers. “You would need to tell him eventually anyway, no? Is a question Cam asks often. Sooner or later, he would want an answer.”
I was lost now. But it suited me. I could handle just about anything if Folk wasn’t about to spill our precious secret in the sacred walls of the chapel. Because that’s what it was to me. Sacred.Precious. Life had been hard since that night, and it was a rare day I didn’t find comfort in thinking about him. However wild things were about to become here, knowing I had that... it meant something to me.
It meant a lot.
“Start talking,” Cam growled. “I haven’t got time for games.”
Folk met his gaze head-on. “It’s not a game. It’s about Rocco’s kids.”
Cam ashed his cigarette, waving the smoke away as if the infant boys I’d watched over while they’d still been with their grandmother had been plonked into his lap. “They’re in foster care. We don’t know where, though... fuck. I’m guessing you do?”
