“That’s like thirty hours of driving! It’ll take days.”
He shrugs. “I can drive, you know, I have many talents. We can split it. Couple days to get there, tops. And it’ll keep you out of sight until whatever this is—” he circles his hand between me and Sav, “—settles down.”
Sav is still watching us both, clearly sucked into the dynamic even if he doesn’t fully understand it. I always knew he was secretly a fucking gossip. He’s loving this behind his impassive expression, I can tell.
I don’t know how to say what I need to in front of him, though.
“Are you sure this isn’t…. about something else?” I ask lamely.
Fallow rolls his eyes.
“Shut the fuck up, as if I need to create a whole scenario for that,” he says, which is too close to the truth for comfort.
My cheeks heat, and I steal a quick glance at Sav to remind us both he’s still in the room.
“I’m going. And I don’t need your help, but you do make an excellent driver, and it might be helpful to have a second pair of hands if I have to kill a lot of people very quickly when we get there. Just in case. Come on, what the fuck are you needed here for?”
“Ouch. Hit me where it hurts, why don’t you?”
The words come out dry, but they’re closer to the truth than I want them to be. I’m not sure if I am doing jack fuck here, or what the point of it all is, if I’m being honest with myself. But I don’t have a lot of other career opportunities and Sav’s escape from this lifestyle wouldn’t have happened if he wasn’t the boss’s son, so the rest of us better make the best of what we’ve got.
I barely stop myself from sighing out loud. At least Fallow makes things interesting. He’ll probably get me killed, but what does that really matter?
Sometimes it feels like I’m wasting away here trying to manage a bunch of idiots to commit not very serious crimes. I owe this organization my life, but that doesn’t make it any more interesting.
Fallow’s interesting. He’s not just a croissant; he’s a whole fucking birthday cake.
“Fuck it,” I say out loud, before the thought’s even coalesced in my head. “Let’s go. Beats waiting around here to die, I guess.”
There’s a long pause. Fallow has a ghost of a smile on his face, but not as much as I was expecting. He still seems preoccupied. And Sav is staring at us both in open interest at this point.
“Well,” he says. “I guess my work here is done.”
He turns toward me and grabs my shoulder in a familiar gesture. I’m still facing Fallow, so I can see the minute way that his expression tightens at the contact.
“Try not to die, brother. Let me know when you’re back. And good luck with whatever this is.”
He gestures at Fallow but doesn’t say anything to him before letting himself out of the office.
“Who was that?” Fallow asks, more pissy sounding than I expected.
“I already told you that,” I snap at him. “Why, jealous?”
He snorts, then turns to leave himself in a movement I can only describe asflouncing. But still unbearably sexy.
I cannot survive a road trip with this person. None of this makes any sense, but I already know fighting it would be a losing battle.
Fallow seems to always get whatever Fallow wants, and right now he wants to drag me along in his wake, apparently.
Chapter Nine
Fallow
Idon’t know why I did it. I rarely know why I do anything, and I care even less than that, but this particular case is bothering me.
The whole thing about Colm being stalked by the Aryans was convenient, and I’m obviously going to California with or without him. As soon as Kaitlyn had said the magic word, I was already planning my escape. But the thought of leaving without him… It didn’t sit right.
He’s interesting. And so very fun to play with. I’ve played with a lot of different people before—mostly men—but none of them have held my attention in this singular, ineffable way.
