“We’re still trying to build our relationship; I don’t think being overbearing is the right thing at the moment.”
Upper’s brows shot up, eyes widening in surprise. “Wow.”
Devil frowned at the tone, his gaze falling directly on the dark-haired boy who had returned to focusing on the complicated map.
“What’s ‘wow’?” Devil asked
“Nothing. I didn’t say anything,” Upper said.
“If you have something to say, say it, don’t be a coward.”
“Bloody hell, relax.” Upper met his stare. “I have nothing to say to you.”
I looked between them. They obviously hadn’t talked about their relationship. I didn’t know why, or if they ever planned to visit it, but there was some animosity between them, and I wondered how they could still share a room with all that negative energy in the air.
“Guys,” Milk cut in, “no need to fight; let’s just hear what Marino says, and then we can move forward.”
“Yeah,” I said, watching the little stare-down that Upper broke with a shake of his head and a frown. I cleared my throat. “I understand where D’s coming from, but I think Elio might want us in the compound for whatever heist work we want to do. The only reason we’re outside the compound is his little show of making it clear to us that we’re not his prisoners and—”
A sound pinged from my phone, and I rushed to grab it from the table, knowing it was his response.
Big Baby:
No.
I blinked at the message. So abrupt. So decisive. So. Fucking…
I blew a calm breath and remembered that his intention wasn’t to sound mean.
“He said no.”
Dog’s eyes widened. “Now, what kind of boyfriend denies his girlfriend entry to his house when he’s not home? Sure you both are in love?”
I gave him the middle finger, my shoulders slumping. “I guess we’re stuck here for the week.”
“Hell no, I didn’t spend all last night thinking of drinking that addictive wine and cooking in that kitchen to end up in this decent fucking dump.” Dog removed his feet from the table, pinning Devil with a stare. “You’re gonna text him and ask.”
“Where’s the logic?” Devil asked him with a bored look. “Why do you think he’d say no to her and yes to me? Sheliterallyjust asked himminutesago. He’s totally not going to sense something weird going on. At all.” Sarcasm, again, which meant he was growing annoyed.
“It’s a gamble. If you do it and he rejects it, then fine, we’ll stick to the decent fucking dump, but if you don’t do it, we’ll just break into his house and the compound, possibly die if we’re caught—or get injured or some sad shit where we’d probably lose Upper in the process—”
“Why me—”
“What do you dig?” Dog asked over Upper’s voice, watching Devil intently.
Devil’s jaw locked; his gaze steady on Dog, who raised a challenging brow.
With a groan, Devil reached for his phone in his pocket and started typing furiously while reading aloud what he typed. “‘Hello, brother, can Street and I stay in your condo to sort out some stuff we canalsosort out in our own con—’”
“Tell him we won’t touch the wine,” Milk quickly added, earning a glare from Devil, but he continued typing.
“‘We won’t touch your wine collection unless we decide to touch your wine collection, which we probably will—’”
“Tell him we might cook too,” Milk added again, earning another sharp glare.
But Devil continued typing.
“‘We will use and trash your kitchen and will probably miss a stain on the counter, which you might come back to see. It will probably irritate you until you decide to move out, so please, it is very,veryokay to say no to my request to stay in your condo when we can as easily stay in ours.’ Send.” He dropped his phone by his side. “There, done.”
