He slowly turns away from me, and Mac holds out a beer for him with a smile. Cade takes it as his gaze skims the room, and it looks like he’s just moving through another stop on an otherwise normal day.
Somehow, he has me falling even more in love with him.
I force myself to look away from him and light a cigarette as I stare right at Kurt.
“Fine,” he says, grabbing a smoke of his own. “You’ve proven your point.” He takes a drag and lets smoke curl from his mouth as he exhales slowly. “But we still need to find this fucking rat.”
I nod, sliding my gaze back to Cade as Cory passes him a pool cue, and Wingnut aggressively flaps his wings at Dom as he walks by.
“Hear from the supplier?” The words taste rotten in my mouth, and I hate that we’re even entertaining this fucking idea.
Kurt shakes his head. “They’re stringing me along, trying to put me off until next week.” He shifts his gaze to me. “And we meet Frank tomorrow.”
“Fuck,” I mutter. “So the Sons could’ve got to them already.”
“Sounds like it,” Kurt sighs.
That thought hangs heavy over me, causing my insides to churn. I don’t want us involved in guns, so losing this ‘opportunity’ should be a good thing. But this just means the Sons will be the ones bringing them into our province… and that’s even worse. Because I know they won’t just traffic them through.
“Well,” I say, flicking ash into the tray, “tomorrow we see what we can pull from Frank to give us clues who this rat is, and where the Sons are at with all this shit.”
Kurt observes me for a moment. “You got your head on straight?”
I bristle, standing up straight as I turn on him. “And what the fuck does that mean?”
He just huffs and rolls his eyes. “It means I know you want to put a bullet through his skull.” He shakes his head and looks right into my eyes. “And I know you’re heated enough to try to fucking do it. And as much as I’d love the same thing, we can’t. You kill Frank, and the Sons come down on us in full force. Bringing war right to our doorstep that will destroy our home.”
“I fucking know that,” I snap. Every part of me wants to end Frank, but I know I can’t. I have to think bigger and keep them out instead of destroying them.
I’ll be good… but it fucking hurts.
Kurt nods, then shifts his gaze back out into the room. To Cade. He’s silent for a moment as he watches him and takes a slow drag of his cigarette.
Cade leans over the pool table with calculated ease as he lines up his cue, then sinks a ball clean into the corner pocket. Macand Trip shout in celebration and slap his back, while Caz leaps out of Wingnut’s path as the duck lunges for his toes again. Cade laughs as he stands in the middle of the chaos, just letting it all unfold around him.
Kurt exhales smoke through his nose. “You’re bringing him into something he’s got no business being a part of.”
I just shake my head as I keep my eyes locked on his smile. “Oh… but he does.”
TWENTY-NINE
“What didI ever do to you?”
I smirk at Caz as he sidesteps Wingnut, who lunges for his legs again as his webbed feet slap at the concrete floor.
“You asking me or the duck?” I ask, opening the fridge behind the bar to grab two beer out of it.
“Both,” Caz mutters as Kurt huffs and walks away—in the opposite direction of Wingnut.
“Well,” I say, watching Wingnut stretch his wings wide like he’s squaring up for a fight, “your first mistake was choosing birch as your favourite tree.”
As if that’s the best tree in the Betulaceae family.
Caz rolls his eyes. “And the second mistake?”
I shrug, pushing past him. “Ask the duck.”
His yelp behind me makes me smile, but I don’t turn around. My eyes land on Cade just as he sinks the eight ball, and Mac claps a hand to his back, whooping loudly in celebration.
