I kissed Alexei as the sun rose higher and broke through the sea fog, revelling in how pliant he fell under my hands. How my touch quieted a mind I knew to be as ferociously loud and clever as Saint’s. How could a motherfucker as simple as me ever compete? And yet somehow, in this moment, he was all mine.
His neat beard felt like velvet. I rubbed my calloused fingers through it, hooking him closer, tasting coffee and mint on his lips. I sat on the edge of the roof, my legs dangling free. It became the only reason I didn’t manhandleAlexeiinto my fucking lap.
What a life.
Some days I could hardly believe he was real. I bit his bottom lip. He snatched a breath, and?—
My phone buzzed, reminding me I couldn’t reconfigure our positions and fuck him on the icy screed of the roof.
Heart thumping a riled beat, I pulled back and fumbled for the phone.
Alexei pressed it into my hand. “The old one.”
I dragged myself down to earth and squinted at the screen. The message was benign logistics I’d already set in motion, but discovering that brought me back to an older text I hadn’t had a free moment to contemplate overnight.
Rubi:Something’s up with the Fruit Pickers
Decoy and Folk. Wasn’t sure how they’d coined their nickname, but somehow over the past however long, it had stuck, and it suited them. They were wholesome people—they werehappy,last time I checked, which hadn’t been all that long ago. Had it?
I searched my brain, but Alexei rising and stepping away distracted me. “Where are you going?”
“You know where I am going.”
On the road, to shadow our convoys, keeping watch over our brothers, overSaint, while I kept shit together at home. “I meant where are you goingnow?”
Alexei didn’t deign to answer. Just melted away, leaving me alone on the roof as the purr of an approaching vehicle pierced the quiet.
Rubi and River.
They rolled into the yard inmyfucking car. River cut the engine, slammed the door hard enough to kill someone, and disappeared into the garage without looking back. Rubi hollered after him and threw up his big hands, admitting defeat and sweeping the compound with his keen gaze until he found me on the roof.
I lit another cigarette and waited, enjoying the peace while it lasted. Rubi was my oldest friend. Sometimes, when I didn’t think about the fact that he fucked my little brother on the regular, I found it hard to accept we didn’t share blood. He was annoying enough to qualify as my actual sibling, and I loved him as much.
Though, not enough to help him out as his belt caught on the window-ledge.
“Mother of Dragons, youcunt—fuck’s sake.”
He tumbled onto the roof.
I kept smoking to the soundtrack of River ripping open the garage doors and shattering the tranquillity of the early morning with angry punk music. “What’s up with him?”
“I don’t fecking know.” Rubi righted himself, pushing his mane of gold hair out of his face. “Actually, that’s not true. He found out I’m on the longest route of the run and it upset him, so he’s got to be all violent about it instead of just saying so.”
On brand for my fiery kid brother, but he’d evolved enough over the past few years that I knew it wouldn’t last. Gone were the days where River could rage for weeks at a time. Months.Years. I gave it ten minutes before he came looking for Rubi, and believing that made me long for Saint. For Alexei. For the next few weeks to be over already so I could have both of them back.
Rubi drifted closer, moving subtly enough that I had no time to react before he snatched my smoke and stamped on it. “No cancer sticks. Queen’s orders.”
“No, it fucking isn’t. My sister doesn’t care if I smoke.”
“Everyone cares that you smoke. Live forever, bro.”
“Fuck off.”
“Give it half hour, mate.” Rubi dropped down beside me and surveyed our kingdom. The compound we’d renovated beyond our parents’ wildest dreams, and the HGV hub we’d expanded so much over the last six months that I couldn’t see all the trucks from where we sat. Beyond it lay a swathe of land we’d just cleaned ourselves out of legitimate funds to buy, a reality Rubi understood better than anyone, except maybe Alexei, and it was on the renegade land that his gaze settled. “You figured out what the fuck we’re gonna do with it yet?”
“Nope. You?”
Rubi sipped tea from the mug I now realised he’d face-planted through the window to protect. “Only that it needs to be something fun. I can’t handle another dry business, Cammie. Life’s too fucking short.”
