Page 36 of Property of Mercury

Orion chuckles as he butters some toast then puts it on top of a growing pile, while Gemini does something at the stove. Since I hear popping and sizzling, I’ll pray he’s cooking bacon. “Well, while you two lovebirds were walking around outside, several of us met the cleaning crew at the shop. As they finished an area, we painted while a couple of the prospects who were able to come put the shelving units together.”

“Y’all must’ve been there most of the night,” I murmur before taking my first sip of the crisp, icy cold diet soda that Mercury hands me.

“Look, when the cleaning company calls and says they had an unexpected cancellation due to a power outage in the area they were supposed to go to, and they offer to have two of their crews come out, you don’t say no,” Orion says. “Pisces and Aries offered to stay since y’all were out and about, but the rest of us jumped at the chance to get another business up and running.”

“You’re just sore because you didn’t get enough sleep,” Pisces interjects, winking at me and smirking at Mercury. Then, he looks at Gemini and states, “Soundproofing, Gem, please tell me you’ve considered that for the new clubhouse. Either that or I’m going to demand a set of noise cancelling headphones so I can get some sleep.”

Chuckles reverberate around the room as I feel my face grow hot with embarrassment. Mercury, that rat bastard, stands there with a smug look on his face as his cousins continue to give us shit. I know it’s their weird way of bonding, but it suddenly gets to be too much and I snap, “I can’t wait until y’all find someone to walk alongside you. Then I’ll know who can dish it out and whether you can take it.”

A warm arm goes around my shoulders as Orion pulls me in and says, “Calm yourself, Fin, we’re just happy that the surly bastard found someone who can tolerate him. We’re not trying to embarrass you, I promise.”

I shove an elbow into his gut, causing him to make an oomph sound before he backs away, cackling. “I see someone needs more caffeine, beauty sleep, and food,” he chortles.

Rolling my eyes at his antics, I toss my hand up in a peace sign and say, “Then you better get your roll on dude, because I want donuts and maybe an apple fritter.” I know they’re cooking, but I do want to see the shop, so to keep me happy, Orion better get his ass in gear.

Or else.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-THREE

Mercury

After Orion and Finley leave and head to check on the status of the shop, and start unpacking the delivery that had been dropped off, I take up her mantel and sit by the phone, crossing my fingers that Daniel calls and gives us the go-ahead to come on tribal land. In the meantime, I’m plotting for us to hit the hidden bunkers we found deep in the mountain ground. That’ll be happening tonight once night has fallen and we have the stars and moonlight to guide us.

Sutton puts a plate loaded with food in front of me, along with a fresh cup of coffee. “Thanks, Sutton,” I murmur.

“Just because your woman wanted sugary goodness for her breakfast doesn’t mean you need to suffer,” she teases, setting her own plate down.

One by one, the rest of my cousins come and sit down, and soon, we’re eating and joking around as we get ready to face the day. “What do y’all say about heading up close to dusk?” I ask.

“I thought we were going to wait to see if Daniel called back first,” Pisces replies.

“We are waiting for that, of course, but what we found needs to be explored further. I’d like to know if we hid our presence there well enough or not, and whether or not there was any activity last night,” I supply. “It’s not on tribal land, so we have free rein.”

We were able to dismantle the transmitters without messing with the tripwires, which is sure to have gotten at least one of those fuckers out there to nose around to see why things are no longer working. It’s my hope that they dropped something or maybe even left tracks to another location. At this point, I could spend all day every day out there seeking the answers we’re looking for, but my cousins aren’t used to doing that, so I’m trying to keep my desire to dig in deep to myself.

“You make a good point,” Gemini slowly says, his head nodding. “Sitting around doing nothing doesn’t sit right with me. We may not have your level of skill as far as tracking goes, Merc, but we’re able to help, I’m sure.”

I scoff because we were all well-trained by our fathers. “I may have more time out in the field, but y’all know what you’re doing.”

“Don’t downplay your skills and knowledge, Mercury,” Aries chides. “We know you’ve gone through a fuck ton of training that we never did and it’s perfectly okay with all of us. The good thing about how we were raised is we all have a variety of skills we bring to the table. That’s going to help us build a club that we can be proud of while also allowing us to stop these assholes.”

“I wish we could go to the shop and give Orion a hand,” Pisces murmurs.

“Why don’t y’all go? I have to work anyhow so I can listen for the phone,” Sutton suggests.

“Hercules and some of his crew are here preparing the area where the barndominium is being placed, so I’ll let him know to keep an eye on things,” Gemini states. “Let’s go help our cousin realize one of his dreams come true.”

When we roar into the lot, I look through the open bay door and notice that O and Finley are hard at work. I can see the sweat dripping down their faces from here and decide to send Aries across the way to grab a few water bottles from the convenience store. But when I glance at him as I shut down my bike, he’s already striding in that direction, having read my mind like we tend to do since we’ve known each other all of our lives.

“He’s like a damn savant,” I joke as the rest of us dismount, toss our helmets on the handlebars, and head into the garage.

“It’s because we know how each other thinks without us having to say anything,” Gemini reasons, shaking his head. “It’s nice at times, during others, not so much.”

“Isn’t that the damn truth,” Pisces utters as we catch Orion and Finley’s attention.

“What are y’all doing here?” Orion asks as he wipes his hands on a shop rag to get rid of the grease.