His lips twitches, and I get the sense that he doesn’t mind me as much as he seems to mind our brothers. “Hardly.”
“She calls you brother.”
“So?” He arrows a brow, daring me to push it.
It’s not my place to have an opinion, but I’m curious.
“You’re forgetting I’m twenty-seven to her twenty.” He rubs his finger over the compass he has tattooed on his hand. “And my father is a sadistic and evil bastard who manipulates every truth to fit his narrative. She calls me brother, not because I was ever her brother, but because she likes to provoke me.”
“She likes getting under your skin.” I chuckle. That fits what I know of Dizzy so far.
“It makes me want to remind her just how not her brother I really am,” West says with a bemused smirk at his drink. “If you know what I mean.”
“I got you, man.” It’s all kinds of twisted, but it’s the most he’s willingly disclosed in the time I’ve known him. “Look at you, learning to share.”
“Don’t get used to it.” West watches me out of the corner of his eye. “What about you and Kelsey?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Hmm.” He settles into silence while I roll the joint into a perfectly cylindrical smoke.
I pinch the tip. “Want some? Or do you not partake?”
“Not tonight.” He takes another swig from the tumbler.
“Drink.” Rogue steps up on West’s other side. “Make it a double.”
West turns to him.
“Ivy knows I’m holding something back.” Rogue drums his fingers on the bartop. “Do you know how much I hate that I couldn’t come out and tell her about the goat?”
“If you tell her she’s going to get more freaked out,” West says. “It’s one more day.”
“Two,” Rogue says. “Too long. And you know about the goat as well?”
“It came up while Rebel and I were talking to the FBI.” Whoever is behind it is a problem we need to deal with. “I’m almost certain it has nothing to do with me.”
“Summer said you have a stalker.” Rogue shakes his head. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell us.”
“Didn’t want to freak you out,” I say.
“Who’s the man in black?” West asks.
That’s an oddly specific question. “Simon Lane. Why do you ask?”
“I want to know the name of the man that had my Dizzy’s tongue in his mouth.” His brows are drawn tight and there’s violence simmering under them.
“Forget about the FBI agent. We need to work out who killed the goat,” Rogue lowers his voice. “Because I cannot keep this from Ivy for two more days. We were on a call with Dr. Keller and the woman asked me if I was holding anything back. Doubts, concerns, that kind of thing. Ivy took one look at my face as I tried to work out how to tell her, and she knew something was off. And this is after Bianca decided to throw herself a drama party and tell Ivy we used to be friends with benefits.”
“She didn’t know? Didn’t that come up the night Ivy realized how identical you and Rebel actually are?” Until Roguereassured her she’d be able to tell the difference because of Rebel’s piercing.
“I didn’t lie. I just didn’t think it needed to be clarified.”
“That seems like a bad decision on your part,” West comments while watching the bartender fix our drinks.
“I should have known better, considering Bianca’s antics.” He downs the fresh drink the server puts in front of him. “Refill.”
She nods and busies herself with the whisky once more.
