Yup. So did I.
“Anyway.” Nash hauled himself to his feet. “I’ve got a night’s work ahead of me. I’ll be with Cam until fuck knows when, but I’m reachable if you need me. Don’t be shy.”
He said the final words as I came upright to meet him and pulled me into a hug.
I returned his embrace. “Need anything before you go?”
Nash let out a dry laugh. “Not unless you have a simpler life stuffed in your pocket.”
“If I had, I’d be living it.”
“You and me both, brother.”
Nash left. I went back inside and closed the bar, turfing out every brother who looked as though he might catch himself a nap on the couches.
The prospects went home. Finally, I was alone in the bar. I shut the music off, eyeing Bear through the window, the sight of him pissing me off. It was a scary thing that a part of me wanted to march outside and boot him off the bench.
I settled for turning my back on him and retrieving the plate Rubi had brought me before the Russians had walked onto the compound and demanded an audience. I hadn’t had time to eat. Hadn’t felt like it either, but I was hungry now.
Starving, actually. The toasted sandwiches I’d shared with Folk seemed a lifetime ago.
I stuck the chicken paprikash in the microwave and grabbed a bottle of water from the bar, dropping the coins to pay for it into the till. The others didn’t bother—they gave enough back to warrant a couple of drinks every night. But I liked the stock sheets to balance.
The microwave pinged. I fetched my plate and took a seat at the bar while I ate my belated dinner, grateful I’d found more than one brother who could cook. Grateful to the woman I’d never met who’d trained Cam and Rubi so well.
Her picture was on the wall—Cam, Orla, and River’s mum. She was as beautiful as their dad had been handsome, but it was more than her long hair and big eyes. It was the kindness and empathy she’d raised her children with. The children of her friends when she’d found them lacking.
I’d never had that, and I was thankful every day that I had friends to help me give it to Ivy.
A bike engine signalled a new arrival in the yard. At this time of night, it had to be a high-ranking brother to get through the gate.
My heart skipped in the hope that it was Folk.
I didn’t mind too much that it was Mateo. Or that he kicked Bear on his way past, waking him up and pointing to the gate.
“Fuck off,” he snapped.
Bear fucked off.
Mateo pushed into the bar, dark hair a mess from his helmet, amber eyes gleaming in the dim light.
Not gonna lie, he had the look of a man who’d just had some bomb sex, but I’d come to learn that he always looked like that.
I pointed my fork at the bar. “There’s more food if you want it.”
Mateo’s expression brightened. He stomped to the back of the bar and found the surplus food I’d left in a bowl.
The microwave did its magic. Mateo returned with a fork and calmer aura around him. “I’d marry Rubi if I wasn’t already hitched.”
“River might have something to say about that.”
“He’s got something to say about everything.”
True. Though he was nicer about it these days. “Is Lili with Juana?”
“And Orla. They’re bunking up at the flat for a while.”
“Nash said.”
