Who? What? How?
A dry smirk warmed Cam’s face, laughter dancing in his eyes again. “Viktor’s been having some fun hounding that cunt with his chopper. Got him thinking the mafia are chasing him with drones. That’s why Doherty came here—daft twat had the fucking nerve to ask for help.”
Locke lounged against the cooling lorry. The tallest rig, which made up for the fact I hated the sound of it. “How’d that go?”
“As you’d expect. Cheered Folk up, though.”
“He okay?”
Cam’s smile faded a little. “I’m taking Decoy’s next run. He needs to be home.”
Locke was tired. We’d been on the road for as many hours as the tachograph allowed. But instant understanding flared in his eyes and he reached for Nash, tugging him closer. “I’ll find him tomorrow.”
“You won’t have to look that hard. Didn’t know how the Doherty thing was going to play out, so we kept everyone close.”
“He’s here?”
“Somewhere. Ivy’s in with the girls.”
Locke’s gaze shifted to the residence and I saw the longing there, for Orla and the baby, but I knew he wouldn’t climb those stairs until he’d seen for himself that Folk was as okay as he could be with Decoy gone another week.
It’s why I stayed in Cam’s immovable embrace instead of seeking out Folk for him, a task made more complex by the fact that Folk didn’t like sleeping here. I’d never seen him willingly knock out in the bunkhouse or the residence, even before he’d shacked up with Decoy. For whatever reason, he didn’t like it, and I couldn’t see him catching a nap in the bar either. “Try...” I pointed at the room that had once been Cracker Delaney’s office. “There’s new books.”
Rubi had filled the shelves from a house clearance in town, turning it into a mini library for the brothers who liked to read. It smelled of old paper, and the mint and lemon that surrounded Embry most days. If I had Folk’s brain, it’s where I’d be.
As it was, coming down from fifteen hours of engine noise was starting to piss me off. My head felt too heavy for my body and I could feel my skin too much.
“Hey.” Cam rubbed his cheek against mine. “Look at me.”
I made a low sound.
Cam waited, somehow knowing my vision was unfocussed and that it didn’t matter what direction my eyes were pointing, caught betweenusand where I’d had to leave Alexei on the road, I was too far away to see anything.
He had this way of breathing.
Cam.
In and out like a metronome, even when he was angry, grounding me, wrapping steady, phantom hands around my ankles, my wrists, my throat, tethering me to where I needed to be.
I closed my eyes, aware Nash and Locke had gone. Cam tightened his arms around me, his muscles cut and hard, his chest warm. So fucking warm. He smelled of smoke and leather. Of home, even if it didn’t feel that way without Alexei, and I pressed my face into his inked throat.
I love you.
Cam wove his fingers into my tangled hair. “I was thinking we could go to the van.”
I drew back, tilting my head.Why?
“I like being there with you, and there’s enough brothers here to watch over the kids and everything else.”
I counted them up.
Embry.
River.
Locke.
Nash.
