Ranger nodded, understanding, propping the door with his boot. “Shout. I’ll hear ya.”
“You might not.”
“I will.”
As ever, I lacked the time to drown in the menacing intensity he bestowed with a single glance. But I believed him, even as it dawned on me that on top of the sharper than average hearing I already knew he possessed, Ranger knew this routine because of the Rebel Kings. Their threat level wasn’t as constant as mine, but for a back street motorcycle club, their stamp on the underworld was remarkably vast, and perhaps Ranger was in as much danger as I was.
A thought I carried through my compact apartment as I checked every inch of it with the insistent buzz of my phone for company.
Jake.
I knew better than to keep him waiting. In the kitchen, I dug the phone from my pocket, setting it on the counter to keep my hands free. “Bratan.”
“Bratan.” Jake returned the dry Russian greeting, then switched to Spanish to irritate me. “You brought him home.”
“Stop spying on me.”
“I’m not spying. I am the eyes in the back of your head.”
Knowing he was right—that I needed his protection as much as he needed mine—didn’t stop the noise of discontent rumbling from my throat. “No incursions to the system?”
“All clear,” Jake confirmed. “The flat is as you left it a month ago, but don’t take my word for it.”
“I never do.”
Harsh, but true. Jake was a top-tier hacker. Not even Ivanov could get past him in the shadowy arena he inhabited when the rest of us were sleeping. But that was his world, and this was mine. The exposed brick walls and wood floors at my feet.The flesh and bone of the man guarding my front door. I could not find peace until I’d seen for myself that my home was safe. “How’s my girl?”
“She ate my shoes.”
“That will be your fault.”
“Always is.”
I smiled, not disagreeing. “The others?”
“Safe, I promise. You have nothing to worry about but yourself.”
Easy for him to say. Except, it wasn’t. I had no concerns and fears that he did not share. And I trusted Jake.
I loved him.
“Why is he there, Vitka?”
Scratch that. He was annoying. “I am not allowed company?”
“He is not the usual kind of company you keep.”
“Because he is a biker?”
“Because he is aman.” Jake switched to Russian. “Perhaps he is expecting something you only give to women.”
That wasn’t entirely true, and he knew it better than anyone. But I did not want to think about that right now. I wanted to think about Ranger and the vodka I had stashed in my freezer. “Perhaps he wantscompanytoo.”
A pause filtered into the call. I filled it, checking the refrigerator and freezer that contained nothing but frozen pizza and the vodka of my dreams, finding comfort in Jake’s concern as much as it grated on me.He loves you. One of few who ever had. “You do not have to worry about Ranger. He does not seem to expect anything from anyone.”
“What if he did? I think you would consider it, and maybe it is time.”
“Brother, goodbye.”
