So could Locke, but I knew better than to waste my breath trying to convince him. “I might catch a nap in your bed.”
“Promises, promises,” Locke quipped. “You’ve said that a thousand times, but I only smell myself on my pillow.”
“If that. When was the last time you slept there?”
“Three days ago.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Locke gave me a gentle shove. “Take your innuendo and shove it where the sun don’t shine. Unless you want me to give it right back. I’ve seen the way you look at Decoy.”
“And how’s that?”
“Like you want to vanquish all evil in the world to protect him. I know you feel that way about pretty much everyone, but it’s different with him, isn’t it?”
“Are we still talking about me?”
Locke hissed through his teeth. “Deflect all you want, brother. I’m just warning you to be careful. I know what it’s like to be shackled to people you want more than you should. It’s not fun—not all the time, anyway.”
People. Not person. Was Locke trying to tell me he had feelings for Orla too? On top of the blindingly obvious chemistry he shared with Nash? If he was, then that was a convolution I was too tired to contemplate unless he really wanted to talk about it, and knowing Locke, he didn’t. Not yet. And also, I wasn’t his first choice of confidant. He had a blood brother for matters of the heart.
I started my bike again, checked Locke had everything he needed, and left him at the gate.
In the yard, I parked and found Rubi waiting for me. “You missed breakfast, but I brought you some dinner from last night.”
“I’m okay, thanks.”
“Chill, Folksie. I got the no-meat memo.”
Rubi gestured for me to follow him to the chapel.
With a suppressed sigh, I obeyed, but only because he was too tenacious for me to combat right now.
In the chapel, he pulled out a seat at the table, then disappeared into the tiny kitchen at the back.
He re-emerged with a foil-wrapped bowl and a bottle of apple juice. “Guacaroni, brother. All green and shit.”
I took the bowl from him and peeped under the foil. True to his word, he’d given me a bowl of pasta and lemon-spiked avocados. Apart from Decoy’s toasties, it was the best-looking bowl of food I’d seen in months. “This all for me?”
Rubi passed me a fork. “All for you. Sorry I’ve been neglecting you. No one told me you don’t eat meat.”
“Why would they?”
“Because those that fight together, eat together.”
“That’s the council.”
“Yeah, about that...” Rubi sipped from a tea mug. “I just spent all night with Cam. I know we’re already putting on you with the Decoy thing and whatever fucking madness Alexei drags you into on a daily basis, but he asked me to sound you out about taking a seat on the council.”
I swallowed the food in my mouth. “Someone leaving?”
“No.”
“Okay...” I ate more pasta, unwilling to give up my bowl for a serious conversation just yet. “Explain it to me then.”
“It’s pretty fucking simple, mate. We need you. Your skills. Your knowledge. Your input on just about everything.Way I see it, all not having you at the table is achieving right now is the need to have every conversation twice when someone has to fill you in.”
“There’s plenty I don’t get told.”
