“Seeing how like the club they are?”
“Yeah.”
“Was for me too when I joined up,” Grif told him. “Panthers,” he
gestured to where Steele was leaning over Kalon’s shoulder looking at something his man was pointing out to him on screen. “In them I found brothers who didn’t want to cut my throat for position in the pack.”
“Yeah.” He watched as Connor and Zack received instructions from Castello. “Do they have far to go?”
“It will take them about an hour to get to town.” Grif made some hand signals toward another man who had also been watching the sparing. He tapped the one Axel recognized as Malik, who in turn nudged the asshole whose ass Axel wanted to kick. All three left in Zack and Connor’s wake.
“You don’t trust Cas’s men?” Axel frowned. He trusted Grif, if his friend had an issue with Castello’s guys then maybe he was an idiot for trusting them.
“Nah,” Grif shook his head, and grinned at Axel, “I’m sending ours after them, in case they need backup.”
Ah, a thought just struck him. Axel had seen similar moves when a prospect was being tested, “You want to see if his guys are sharp enough to spot them?”
“Pretty much.”
Axel really freaking wished that he was going out too. He had no idea how long they had been down here, but he suspected it was already daylight.
“Is there somewhere I can go to breathe?”
“Sure, follow me.”
Axel glanced at Castello but could see him talking to Rock. Eh, he didn’t want to disturb him, and whining that he felt useless since he couldn’t do anything to help but sit and wait was pointless. He nodded and followed Grif up the stairs to the walkway that led back to the main corridor. He would check back in soon.
Axel didn’t see the way Castello frowned when he saw him leaving with Grif, never noticed him taking a step toward him, before Rock’s hand on his arm stopped him, and never heard Rock mutter, “He’s safe with G.”
Chapter 13
Castello had spent hours combing through all the intel Rock’s team provided on the cartel; making the connections between the Diamond enforcers he had been sent to track and the drugs hadn’t been difficult. “I don’t know why CID gave this job to me,” he grumbled to Rock, “They should have just asked you and those two fucks would have been behind bars months ago.”
“CID doesn’t know he exists.” Steele lifted a coffee pot and refilled mugs.
“I’d like to keep it that way, thank you very fucking much.” Rock took a sip from the mug Steele offered him, “So don’t fucking tell them.” He winced at the bitter brew, “Did you let Jason near the fucking coffee machine?”
“Nope,” Steele grinned at Rock, “Fritz.”
“Fucking Jase is rubbing off on him,” Rock pushed the mug away from him.
Castello managed not to choke at the words coming out of Rock’s mouth, barely. Seriously, did he not hear what he just said? Because Castello was pretty damn sure rubbing each other off was part of the deal when it came to his former Boss and his partner.
Rock went to grab a fresh mug from the pile stacked on a service trolley near the wall. “Did Jase touch any other pot?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Good.” Rock filled a mug from the second pot and cautiously sniffed it before taking a sip. “That’s better.”
As much as Castello was enjoying being with his Delta brothers, he couldn’t stop himself from watching the stairs, waiting for Axel to return. As soon as Zack and Connor got their asses back here to the Dreamworld, he was going to hunt down Axel.
“He’s fine, you know.” Rock peered over the top of his mug at Castello.
“G won’t let anything happen to him.”
“I know.” Castello did know that. While Axel may not have the experience the rest of them had, he was no wilting daisy either. “I just—”
“I get it,” Rock agreed, “I have G and Allie, I swear to fuck there are days they will give me gray hairs. But at the end of the day I know they are strong enough to live this life.” He paused and blew out a breath, “You think Axel is?”
