A fuckingdevil.
Ryan reached out and squeezed my shoulder, giving me a look that said he knew my thoughts had gone to a dark place.
How did he always do that?
It felt like he could read my mind or just… sense my mood.
“We don’t have a lot of friends right now,” Ryan said softly, meeting my gaze head-on. “It might be a good idea to meet with these guys and see if they’re willing to form an alliance. You need people you and Vox can count on in a gunfight if it comes to that.”
“Fine,” I snapped, annoyed that I would need to make nice with these assholes but unable to deny Ryan anything he asked of me.
Ryan grinned and nodded, brushing my hair out of my eyes. The small, intimate touch made my whole body tingle all the way down to my toes.
“Don’t act like you’re doing me some big favor,” he teased, his brandy eyes twinkling. “You’re the one who’s been complaining that you’re sobored.At least this is something you can do that’s not murder or sex.”
Returning the cow’s head was…an experience.Logan, Ronan, and Dakota were quite the characters, and they were allgorgeous.
Cal made me wear a mask at first, but the second we got out of the car, Ronanscreamedmy full name, basically proving they already knew who I was.
It had been an odd experience. Watching a bunch of serial killers…network.I suppose.
Ronan had only cared about getting the cow head back, but Logan, on the other hand, was more interested in Cal and his motivations.
Once Logan found out that Damian had abducted Cal as a child and essentially groomed him to kill people, Logan’s demeanor had softened considerably.
Dakota’s dad apparently also worked for Apex, and they had been spending time digging into the organization and uncovering all the evil shit they were involved in.
After sharing some of their files with Cal, we agreed to form an alliance. They told us to call them if we ever decide to make a move against the mercenary organization. They seemed more than willing to help.
On the car ride back, Cal was quiet and uncharacteristically grim.
“Why don’t we put some music on?” I asked, and he glanced at me, pursing his lips before turning on the radio.
I frowned.
“What about your robot music? You haven’t listened to that in a while…”
Cal’s eyes darkened, and his fingers tightened on the steering wheel. I watched his knuckles turn white as he swallowed.
“I’m not in the mood.”
I narrowed my eyes on him.
“You haven’t been in themoodsince you were tortured, Callum. Are you going to tell me what’s up with that?” I asked, doing my best to be gentle, but I was unable to keep the concern out of my voice.
His gaze snapped briefly to mine before returning to the road.
“Why do you care, Ryan? You hate my music. Everyone does.”
The bitterness in his tone was worrisome. He’d never seemed upset about people teasing him for being a basehead before. Now, it felt like maybe it did bother him that nobody ever liked it when he listened to something that was clearly a core interest ofhis. My heart squeezed in my chest, and I reached out, laying my hand on top of his on the steering wheel.
He tensed for a moment, but I laced my fingers through his and tugged his hand in my lap, leaving him to steer with his left hand.
“If you like it, then I like it, Cal,” I said softly, and he raised his eyebrows in surprise.
“What? No, you don’t. You said it sounds like‘robots fucking.’”
I chuckled and nodded. “Well, itdoessound like that. Maybe it’s not the kind of music I would choose for myself, but I like listening to it with you. I like when you tell me about all the different DJs and who you’ve been to see live. I like the look you get on your face when a big… What do you call it? A bigdropis coming up, and you get all bouncy.”
