“Young, hot women,” Merc said, answering for me.
“Well, what about him?” Code asked, jerking a thumb in Merc’s direction.
“He can come over if he leaves you two assholes at home.”
Both their mouths dropped open and Merc laughed.
“You’d let that old man near your sisters-in-law and not us?” Hype asked.
“Yes, I would. Because,” I said before they could ask why, “he’s thirty-three years old and he’s not interested in some twenty year olds.”
“How do you know?” Hype asked. “He could like ‘em young.”
“I don’t,” Merc replied with a disgusted look.
“He doesn’t,” I answered at the same time as Merc.
Hype looked back and forth between me and Merc. “How the fuck did you know that about him?” he asked, puzzled. “You two don’t talk.”
We were brothers. Of course we talked. Plus, we used Merc as an enforcer often thanks to his size, strength, and skills, which put him directly under my supervision. Not to mention, I made it a point to know every one of my brothers. They didn’t realize it. And Relay would tell me it made me a fucking snitch, but I made it my business to knowalltheir business.
I didn’t consider that being a snitch because I didn’t tell anyone else a damn thing. I just made sureIknew so I could help where I was needed. “You’re twenty-eight,” I told Hype. “Far too similar in age to those girls. You’re not coming any closer to those houses than he is.” I pointed at Code.
They both wanted to flip me off, but they wouldn’t. Not here. Not in church. They had far too much respect for this room, our president, and this tradition. They were fucking thrilled to be included in it at all, so they kept their mouths shut.
“I appreciate you finding us places so quickly,” I told Ruck, getting back to the matter at hand.
“Now that we know The Collective isn’t above going after women and children, we need a safe space. All the families will be staying there, yours, Dev’s, and Camila’s. Even Kilo’s mom will be coming over from Casa Grande to stay in one of the houses. We need everyone close and safe,” Flir said, reading off his laptop.
I knew if I checked, it would show every name of each person in every family listed off and where they’d be staying. He’d probably assigned them bedrooms. “We’ll get everyone moved in over the next couple days. My dad and brothers will help.”
Relay scowled at that, but didn’t say anything. He just crossed his arms over his chest and stayed quiet.
I needed to check in with him after this. Ruck had implied that Relay had been the one who’d asked to stay behind and help. I knew how much he depended on the chaos that we got into. Babysitting wasn’t his style. So why had he made that offer? Why was he staying here to watch over the families?
I was grateful. It wasn’t that I wasn’t. I just didn’t know what was going on with him and wanted to find out what it was. It was important to me to stay in the loop. With him especially.
“Speaking of your dad, I have another assignment for you while you’re lounging in the pool. This place needs to be fortified. We built the apartments here to keep you all together, but it made us a target. I want you, your dad, and brothers to make this property a fortress. A simple fence around the yard isn’t going to cut it anymore.”
“We can do that,” I said. He was right, and we could get that designed, and eventually built. “So what’s the plan for The Collective?” I asked.
“We’re back to square one,” Flir said with a sigh. “We have to find whatever hole they scurried off to hide in.”
Everyone was nodding.
“I can help find them,” I offered.
“No. You focus on your old lady,” Ruck ordered.
“Sheisyour old lady now…right?” Drifter asked, raising his brows.
“Still unofficial.”
“Maybe you should work on making it official,” Ruck suggested.
It was past time I told Devyn how I felt about her. What my plans for our future were. I needed to see if we were on the same page. If we weren’t, I needed to get us there. Dev was mine, and I was going to make sure she knew it.
* * *
