“How in hell’s arse do you think he will ever say yes toyou,basically tellinghimto say no?” Upper asked.
“I did what the Dog asked me to do.”
“Point of fucking correction, it’s just Dog.”
“That’s what I said,” Devil answered.
“No, you saidtheDog, which just made it seem like you were calling me a dog. And you’ve done that, like, a couple of times before, and I have corrected you a couple of times before, but a fucking douchebag will always be a fucking douchebag.”
“And I won’t stop until all of you stop trying to use my supposed last name as some ticket to getting away with shit you indirectly pull with my brother.”
I sighed. “That’s not what we’re trying to do, and it’s not like he’s gonna say yes anyway.”
Milk nodded. “Upper’s right; you kinda did tell him that it was okay to say no, and—”
Devil’s phone pinged, and we all went quiet as he picked it up, swiped up at the screen, and widened his eyes. “He… said yes.”
“What!” I yelled, snatching the phone from his hand and bringing it to my view.
Elio:
Of course. Anything you want.
My jaw dropped. “What the fuck?”
Milk peeked over my shoulder and cooed. “Aw, he saidanything you want! Ugh, to have a big brother… Think he’s looking to adopt?”
Devil grabbed his phone from my grip. “No, he is not.” And then he looked at Dog, who relaxed back on his chair. “Happy?”
With a smirk, Dog responded, “I knew he would say yes. Who wouldn’t do anything for a brother who has never asked him for anything like that before? Simple logic.” His gaze landed on me. “He also probably said no to you because he knows you’re always up to no good, or you guys probably got into a fight we don’t know about, or… he doesn’t really fancy you.” His smile was proud. “Again. Simple logic. You’re all welcome.”
I rolled my eyes and fought the urge to call and give Elio a piece of my mind.
We hadn’t gotten into any fight; in fact, I was mainly at the compound all through last week, and I had followed him to most of his therapy sessions. We talked, we ate, we had sex, we hung out, we were perfect, and I was positive that he most definitely— to Dog’s fucking disappointment—fancied me. Plenty.
Or does he?
Or is this how he’d act with any other woman hefancies?
Does he fancy any other woman?
No. Nope. I’m not thinking this.
We spent the next hour packing up our things and heading out. When we got to the compound, we were escorted by a few soldiers who addressed Devil with the same respect they would have given Elio.
The frown on Devil’s face didn’t exactly tell me if he liked the new attention or the power—it reminded me a lot of the times when Elio would frown, and you wouldn’t be able to tell exactly why he was frowning or what might have triggered his silent anger.
The urge to call the mean man tugged at me, and surprisingly, it was not to call him out for saying no to me and yes toDevil. It was to hear his voice—even if we had been on the phone hours ago when he called to check up on me. For no reason at all.
I didn’t know small gestures like that could make the heart flutter, but it made mine flutter. I had rolled my eyes, but I could still not stop the smile from curling on my lips.
We all settled into the huge kitchen, Upper setting his laptop on the mini dining table, which was for—I don’t know—food tasting? A much grander dining table was a closed door away—an entirely different room.
I spread the map on the table, and Milk laid out notes to put down coordinates and make our own description of the map while Devil studied it.
Dog popped open a bottle of expensive wine while trying to find something good and fast to cook.
“Arturo Garza was either a phony motherfucker or a mad genius who knew how to make simple coordinates seem like the bane of everyone’s existence. Everything we’ve got so far has been dead ends,” I pointed out with a sigh.
