Page 55 of Lucky Boys
“Are you all ready to go?”
“Yeah. I just said goodbye to Diego.”
I turned toward Wes. “Don’t let him push you away. He’s good at that. But he likes you. And I think he needs you.”
Wes met my eyes, and fuck, his stare was intense. I wiggled under his gaze. “I won’t, Brooks. Ask anyone here, I’m really patient and I don’t get scared off easily.”
Wes came up to me and, to my surprise, hugged me. “I’ll take care of him.”
I didn’t realize that was what I was waiting for, but immediately I felt more relaxed. I returned the hug and kissed Wes’s cheek. “Thank you. He deserves to be cared for.”
Wes said goodbye to Skye and Maverick and then did one last double check that we had everything. Luca let him good-naturedly before kissing him quiet and pushing him inside. Then it was just the four of us.
It kind of hit me that I would be in a different country or possibly countries, trapped in a safe house for however long,alone with these three men. All of whom watched me with hunger in their stares that both scared and excited me. Diego was worried about the mission, but he should be worried if I’d survive these men. And honestly, did I even want to?
I stood in the middle of the safe house that would be my home for a while, still trying to get my bearings. I felt kind of foggy and I wasn’t sure why. It was probably all the traveling and sitting I had been forced to do. My eyes found Skye as he manically unpacked the kitchen. It looked like he was as strung out as I was.
I was in fucking Finland. Not that I got to see much of it. After an 8-hour flight on a fucking private plane, because Luca, all I’d really seen was the airport and then whatever we’d passed on the few-hours’ drive from Helsinki to our hidden home. Larsen originally had Matthew hidden in Sweden somewhere, but Diego’s best guess on a starting place to find them was here in Finland. He had been able to trace the money that was removed from the account Covington set up and saw that another account had been set up with a home address in Finland. So here we were.
I probably should’ve paid attention to our surroundings, but I’d been in this awkward mood between exhausted and wired. All the traveling had worn me out, but also, I couldn’t sit still if I tried. I’d sat too fucking much all day. I was bored, and excited, and wanted a nap, but I needed to get all this pent-up energy out. I wanted a snack, a shower, a fuck, and a cuddle. I wanted to call Diego and my mom. I wanted to explore the lush forests our house sat in the middle of. I wanted to find Matthew and get this job started. I needed pain and praise. Fuck, what I really neededwas to remember to take my ADHD meds, which I may or may not forgotten to take today. I did not travel well.
As soon as we’d arrived, Luca had claimed one of the rooms as his office and gone in there to make phone calls. Apparently, there were people he had to alert that we were in their territory, and others he had to call to cash in favors to get us everything we needed. It was a lot. I just needed an address and a way to bypass security and I was good. All the politics bullshit was way above my paygrade.
Maverick walked in from outside, where he’d been checking the perimeter. Somehow, the bastard didn’t look any worse for wear, like 15 hours of traveling was nothing.
Maverick looked from me to Skye who was now singing Britney Spears while rinsing off a head of lettuce, that came from—someone—I wasn’t totally clear on how these groceries got here, and raised his eyebrows. “How’s it going?” he asked skeptically. I glared.
He laughed at me, the bastard. “Oh, so it’s like that, brat? Huh?” Fuck, that tone of voice. I swallowed, but couldn’t answer if I wanted to, my mouth suddenly so dry.
Maverick pursed his lips, eyes bouncing between Skye and me. “Alright, both of you, listen up.” Skye perked up from the kitchen and placed the head of lettuce on the heavy wooden table. Why did we even have a head of lettuce? Did anyone eat that crunchy water crap?
Skye looked intrigued. “What’s up?”
“You two need a release. Both of you, go shower, clean up—everything. I’m going to drag Luca out of that office, and then we’re going to have some time just for the four of us before this shitshow starts. There’s a stable out back. Thirty minutes, boys, then I want you both out there, sparkling clean and naked, waiting for us.”
CHAPTER 23
SKYE
Brooks lookeda little shell-shocked as he stared at Maverick, mouth open, but not in a bad way. Those sweats he was wearing didn’t hide a damn thing, and he hadn’t been expecting that order.
“Wait, here? We can play here?”
Maverick raised an eyebrow, his universal sign of ‘don’t fuck with me’.
“Why? Do you have another suggestion?”
Brooks’s mouth closed and then opened again. “Well, no. I just didn’t expect it. I thought we were here to work.”
“And we are. But we’re not sending y’all into the field ready to come out of your skin. So, play first, then work.” Maverick looked at his watch.
“27 minutes.”
Fuck. I knew what it meant when Mav was in one of those moods. I grabbed Brooks’s hand and started to physically drag him out of the room. “Let’s go, sunshine. I’ll answer any questions while we get cleaned up. But trust me, you don’t want to not be ready when time’s up.”
Brooks shivered and licked his lips, picking up the pace to follow me through the safe house. I had never been in thisparticular one, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out where the bedrooms and bathrooms were. This wasn’t one of ours, as Luca had called in some favors, but apparently the guys who owned it were kinky fuckers too, so I couldn’t wait to see what was out in the old stables.
Up the stairs, I opened the door to a simple-looking bedroom. I led Brooks to the next one. Bingo.
