I didn’t like hating things. I liked fun and laughter, especially on Nash.
Forcing the bad away, I brought my hand to his face and smoothed the worry lines from his eyes. Gave his lips a little nudge, turning his frown upside down. “I do trust you.”
Despite his forced grin, Nash’s gaze remained earnest, like he was waiting for more. But it was all I had. On some level, I knew he had more of my story in his head than I’d ever told him, but I’d pushed past that conversation so often that I didn’t know how to stop.
I let my hand drop. “Come on. Let’s get this over with so we can go to bed.”
* * *
There were more chairs in the chapel now. Two more, to be precise, but I still chose a spot by the wall. Loitering, even when Saint eventually dropped into a seat three down from the one he’d occupied last time I’d been in here.
These cats are so random. Only Cam sat where I’d expected him to, but it felt like habit more than grandeur.
He pounded his gavel, then pointed it at the empty chair between Folk and Mateo. “Take a seat, Locke. I’m tired just looking at you.”
“I’m fine.”
Cam shrugged. “All right. We’ve got another leaner. I don’t give a fuck.”
“Liar.” Alexei spun in his seat. “You are obsessed with rituals, biker boy.”
“You’re obsessed withme. Get some new jokes.” Cam turned away from his lover before he could respond and jabbed a finger at Nash. “What happened last night?”
Nash glanced at me before he gave Cam his full attention. “Honestly? I’m not fucking sure. I’m still wondering if it was all in my head.”
“It wasn’t.” I slid a hand in my pocket for my cigarettes before I noticed Rubi bouncing a baby on his knee. “We haven’t had a chance to talk on it, but you felt that tail, right?”
Nash nodded. “Halfway home.”
“Nah, it was before that.”
He frowned. “Where?”
On the hill. But I was aware enough of my nuances to concede that might’ve been me. “I felt eyes on us a mile out from Tap Lane. I don’t know if anyone watched your exchange, but they sure as fuck followed us all the way to the motorway.”
Alexei pinned me with his vampire stare. “Did you lose them?”
I shrugged, and Alexei accepted my answer for what it was.
Cam mulled it over. “You see any bikes on the road?”
“Nope.”
Nash shook his head too, scrubbing a hand down his face. “I didn’t see shit. Doing the motorway dance all night did my box in. I was fucking delirious by the time we got back.”
Rubi reached over and mussed his hair. “No stamina, Nashie.”
Nash yawned. “No dinner more like. Maybe that’s why it took me too long to notice.” He shot me an apologetic frown. “I was more worried about keeping you out all night for no reason.”
“It wasn’t no reason, Nash.”
Our gazes locked for a charged second, like they always did when I said his name. Couldn’t say why, just that his name on my lips got to him, and I fuckin’ loved it enough to say it far too often. “Anyway.” I broke the spell. “I’m always jumpy that close to Crow land, so I figured I was the one imagining shit until you pulled us off piste.”
Nash remained troubled.Flustered. And I felt bad for riling him in a room packed with the most perceptive group of men I’d ever met, but Rubi cleared his throat before I could dig a deeper hole.
He stood with Mateo’s youngest kid in his arms and passed her to me. Then he took a walk around the table, chewing on his thoughts. “You’ve both been on the road long enough to know when this shit is real. If you felt a tail, there’s no doubt there was one.”
“But who?” Alexei twirled a knife in his elegant fingers. “And why? It will be one of three reasons, no?”
