I nod. “Yeah. Would that make you happy?”
His brow furrows as he considers it. “I’d have to sort my rent. Talk to my boss.”
“Don’t worry about money,” I say. “If it’s what we want, I’ll make it happen.”
“I’m not taking your da’s dirty money.”
I give him a tight smile. “The money you’re talking about isn’t dirty. It’s earned. I work hard, Damien.”
The gap between us is cavernous. Damien collects a basic wage every month, and I’m handed thick bundles of hundred-pound notes often enough that I’ve stopped counting them.
“I know you do… I’m sorry.” He presses his forehead to mine. “Do you think he’ll agree to it?”
I shrug. “Connor needs me to handle something for him,and I promised my da I’d help. Once that’s done, he’ll let me go if I sell it to him as a holiday.”
Damien kisses the top of my head and pulls me into a hug. I pat his back with the hand I’m not holding my bag with.
“You deserve time out, Tier,” he says. “I’ll make sure every day we’re away is better than the last.”
Deep down, I’m scared this won’t last, that my slice of normal life with him will rot under bad things I’ve done.
All I’ve ever known is my father’s world, obeying every order he’s given me without question. Meeting Damien opened a door to a place I didn’t even know existed.
Usually, being curled up with him gives me a sense of peace. This time, it felt… different, and I can’t quite put my finger on why.
“I’m excited.” He smiles, stepping back to look at me properly. “The two of us taking off with no one to come between us”
“Yeah.” I smile, unsettled by the absence of excitement in my chest. “Just give me a few weeks to get everything sorted on my end.”
He grins and scrapes his bangs back off his forehead. “I’ll start pulling together an itinerary.”
My phone vibrates in my jeans pocket. When I pull it out, my brother’s face lights up the screen.
“It’s Connor,” I say, waving the phone at Damien and blowing him a kiss. “Let’s do Europe. I’ll call you later. Bye.”
I’m already out the door and jogging down the path when I answer, Connor’s voice crackling through the line. “Tier-Tier… why are you avoiding me?”
My stomach drops. “Don’t be daft. I’mjust knackered. I stayed at Damien’s all weekend and had my phone on silent.”
“Yeah?” Connor teases. “You two up all night? Painting little bits of plastic and giving them names?”
I chuckle as the Range Rover's lights blink when I unlock it with the key fob. “Yeah. It’s probably better if you stick with that version, Con, instead of knowing what we really got up to.”
“Oh God,” he groans. “Please, no.”
Once I’m in the driver’s seat, the engine running, and the call synced to the car, I let my head fall back against the headrest and clip on my seat belt.
“Look, Con… I couldn’t get my hands on the footage.”
He goes quiet, though I can hear him breathing on the other end.
“Don’t worry,” I say, forcing steadiness into my voice. “This isn’t the end of it. I got something else instead, and Da’s figuring out a way forward. I’ll do whatever it takes to protect you. You know that, right?”
“Yeah…” he replies, the word heavy. “You shouldn’t have to. I’m the one who messed up. I got myself into that situation.”
“You didn’t know you were being set up,” I say, checking my mirrors as I pull out into traffic.
“I thought he liked me,” Connor says quietly. “And he was playing me all that time. Shit like that always happens when people find out I’m a Blake. They assume I’m already up to my neck in da’s business. But I swear to fuck, Tier, I didn’t kill him.”
