“For real? You seemed chill as fuck with him.”
“That’s cos me and Nashie are the chill Kings. Also, Saint is the ultimateDad has the Coolest Friends Ambassador. If he can do something wholesome to make your kids happy, he always will.”
Rubi thumped my back and wandered off.
Nash took his place, venturing close enough that his leather-and-marshmallow scent washed over me. “Sorry, I forgot to give Willow her guitar. I got Mats to put it in the car.”
“Are you shitting me?” I turned to face him, instantly obsessed with the festoon lights reflecting in his eyes. “I just had the best day of my life because of you.”
Summer was long gone, but Nash’s face split into a smile that was pure sunshine. “Thebestday?”
“That I can remember.” I shrugged. “I had a lot of shit days for a lot of years. Then you came along—you and her—and now I get to look my kids in the eye and say yes to their fuckin’ dreams.”
Nash knew what that meant to me. What he didn’t know were the words I’d spoken to Orla before I’d left her. The words I’d been carrying in my heart since he’d roared his loud V-Rod onto Crow turf and offered me a home.
Another band started playing, raucous and wild. And it began to rain again, light drops that caught in my hair and trickled into my eyes.
None of it mattered. I cupped his face in my big, rough hands and kissed him, and I didn’t give a single shit who saw.
Lucky you. But as it dawned on me that Nash might’ve felt differently, his arms circled my waist and he tugged me closer, deepening a kiss that suddenly had no fuckin’ right to be seen in public. His tongue was hot and slick. It wasmine, and I pushed him against a nearby van, letting the rain pelt us, until there was a very real chance I’d tear his fuckin’ clothes off before I remembered where we were.
I drew back, heart pounding.
Nash sucked in a shaky breath. “How can something I like so much make me feel like I’m gonna die?”
I tucked a stray curl behind his ear. “Is it a good death?”
“Death by Locke Halliwell? With my heart exploding out of my ribcage?” Nash rubbed his chest. “It ain’t bad.”
I let him calm down. Then I remembered why I’d jumped him in the first place, and those damn-fuckin’ words fell out of me. “I love you.”
Nash blinked, and for a hot second, an innocence flared in his bright eyes, the kind that had no place in the gaze of a seasoned gangster. Then that smile came back and he pressed his forehead to mine. “I—”
An empty beer cup hit the side of my face. Before I could react, Rubi loomed around the front of the van. “Oi. None of that. We’ve already got half our brethren banned for indecent behaviour.”
Nash flipped him the bird but glanced around, already switching back into soldier mode.
No.
I didn’t want that. Not tonight.
Blocking Rubi out, I squeezed his hands until he brought his gaze back to me.
He seemed to forget about Rubi too. “What is it? What do you need?”
With Nash and Orla, needs and wants had become an organic, blurred thing I couldn’t control. But in this moment, I knew exactly what I needed. “Brother, I wanna get drunk and dance with you.”
22
NASH
It was criminal that I’d forgotten how much fun Locke was when he wasn’t in dad or bodyguard mode. Hell, he was fun when hewasall those things, but free of responsibility, with nothing to worry about except putting one foot in front of the other, he was fucking everything to me.
Rubi pressed another beer into my hand. “Get bladdered with your man, Nashticles, I’ve got you.”
I spared him a what-the-fuck glance. “You were off your tits ten minutes ago.”
“Back on ’em now, innit? I’m serious.Relax. You know we’re safe here, and in any case, Folksie will step up if we need to kill anyone.”
