He scrubs a hand down his face. “That capture the flag bullshit?”
I nod. “I’ll bring it back or pay for a new one,” I plead, needing to get a move on.
He gives up, gesturing to the door. “Three hundred bucks and you can have it.”
I balk. “That’s obscene!”
He shrugs. “And the lot of you are annoying. You want the door or not?”
Yri and I curse, shaking out our wallets until we come up twenty bucks short. After some threats and haggling, the man finally relents, but it isn’t without me memorizing his address so I can come back later to coat his driveway in cooking oil.
Yri and I each take half the door and start power-walking across town. “This town is way more interesting than I thought it’d be,” he laughs and I can’t help but to join him. Yri’s good mood is a force to be reckoned with, tempting you to cave in no matter your agitation.
“Think the others are holding their own?”
He smirks. “Angel, without you there to stop them, they are going to be more than happy to get some revenge for the way they hurt you.”
I sigh. “It’s always fighting or fucking with men, isn’t it?”
He sputters. “That’s a pretty generalized statement.”
I grimace. “Okay, that came out wrong. Sorry. But you guys are really holding a grudge over something I’m not even upset about.”
He stops walking, propping the door at his feet so that he can speak adamantly. “They beat the hell out of you, Ezra. Yeah, I know it’s hypocritical since we all go through training, but the three of us just can’t accept that as fine and move on like you can. I’m happy they’ve taught you to be the badass you are, but I can hate the way they went about it. We want to protect you; it’s in our nature. And if you end up joining our flight, all bets are off. We protect our own.”
It’s stupid. It’s reckless. Iknowbetter, but I can’t stop myself. I’m too impulsive for my own good, and yet, it’s hard to remind myself of that when pressing my lips to Vyrian’s feels like the smartest decision I’ve ever made.
I can practically taste his shock and at first, his body is as taught as a wire. But just as quickly as his surprise came it bleeds away. He drops the door to the sidewalk, taking my face between his hands, thumbs brushing over my cheeks. He puts my quick kiss to shame, parting my lips with a sweep of his tongue.
He steps closer and I feel every hard ridge of his body pressing into mine, leaning into his touch. My breath mingles with his until I’m not sure where he stops and I begin. I can feel it in his grip as absolutely as I can feel the fact cementing in the forefront of my mind.
There’s no going back now. As far as Vyrian is concerned, I’m already theirs. The hardest part to wrap my head around? I already was, but it just took braving a step past the line I drew to accept it.
We pull apart and Yri saves me the effort of awkward conversation. He breaks my stare first, bending down to hoist up the door off of the ground.
“You going to help with this or make me do all the work?” he tosses over his shoulder with a sultry smirk.
I practically sigh in relief, more than happy to avoid a conversation and getting my head back in the game. An echo of Kahl’s constant admonishments breaks through my muddled mind, warning the dangers of distractions. I mentally slap myself, rational thought bleeding in.
The entire world surrounding me fell away. I didn’t know who was around, who could’ve been watching; I didn’t care. Anyone could have ambushed me or shot me. Distraction can get you killed.
But I mean, there are worse ways to go out.
I heft up my half of the door and we pick up the pace, already dreading the nightmare it’s going to be getting it up the fire escape since the mall’s closed. When we finally reach it, Yri groans with me, the two of us beginning the hellish ascent. Every landing we need to rotate the door carefully so it’ll fit and there’s no way we’re being sneaky in our approach.
I hear the sounds of fighting several stories above us; grunts and fists against flesh. When we finally make it onto the roof, I’m breathing heavily, and the little breath I manage to fill my lungs with rushes out with my sudden laughter.
Caius and Soren are bleeding profusely and are no doubt going to be a bruised mess by tomorrow. What I can see of brothers, they didn’t fare much better in that regard; except Elias, who they took it easy on.
Each of my brothers is stuffed into one of the sleeping bags, duct tape bound tightly around their shoulders and chests so they can’t move. When Kaiden tries to roll away, Soren sits him up despite his thrashing and wraps a rope over him and Kinsley. Kahl is already bound to Elias the same way and I waste no time snapping a few pictures to cherish later.
Vyrian and I shove the door further onto the roof, trying to catch our breath, and Cai breaks away to help us. “What the hell?”
“Super,” Yri pants, “glue.”
Cai snorts, but quickly finds out he can’t peel it off either.
“Still need to attach it beneath your flag to win,” Kinsley goads, making it clear this was his brilliant idea.
