Page 12 of Love Thy Brother
I need to see him.Even if it was just to tell him to go fuck himself all over again.
Nash offered me a cigarette box. The blunt inside was tempting, but I was still a little fucked up from the night before.
Alotfucked up.Shouldn’t have ridden.But here I was. I claimed a conventional smoke instead and slid off my bike.
Relief flooded Cam’s face, but the worry lines were there to stay. He spun around and strode towards the chapel.
I followed, deflecting the irritating fact that Nash was frogmarching me from behind by noting the changes in the yard since I’d last been here. The HGV hub. The finished outdoor kitchen. Even the old ladies and kids running around seemed different. New brothers milling about.
The chapel came up on me too fast. The door was open and I was inside before I could steel myself for what waited for me on the other side.
Again, familiarity left me dizzy. I searched for a face I could stand to look at and found Saint sitting beside Alexei, peering at a laptop screen.
The hot, freaky Russian—yeah, I said it—eyed Cam as he reached the table and flopped into a random seat. Then Alexei swung his gaze to me. “Little brother, you came.”
Sarcasm? I couldn’t tell. And I lost the brain power to puzzle it out, every sense I had abandoning ship the split second they homed in on the hulking presence at the back of the room.
Tall.
Wide.
Messy gold hair and eyes so gentle he made me cry even when he was smiling.
He wasn’t smiling now.
Definitely not. Rubi leaned against the back wall, massive arms threaded across his chest, his beautiful face twisted in a frown so weary goosebumps prickled my skin.
“Are you okay?” It was out of me before I could take it back, and my voice seemed to startle him.
Rubi stood taller and flattened his expressive face into nothingness. “Sit down, Riv.”
“No.”
“Please?”
A stalemate stretched out. I lit the cigarette I didn’t want, scanning the room, analysing the men who’d shaped my life. Cam and Rubi were whole. Nash and Saint too. The only other person I truly cared about was Orla, and I knew she was fine. I’d seen her at the sales desk when I’d roared onto the compound.
Also, Nash wasn’t having a cow, so what the ever-loving fuck was this about?
Finding out and the weight of Rubi’s gaze on me compelled me to sit down. I snagged an ashtray and stubbed out the smoke that had kickstarted my frazzled pulse. “Get on with it then. I’ve got shit to do.”
The room was already thick with tension, but as Alexei leaned forward, a fresh layer heavied the air. “You are being watched.”
“By the thick as shit prospect with the bad hair? Yeah, I kinda spotted him following me around a year ago.”
“Not by him. By this man.” Alexei spun his laptop around, revealing grainy images of the black Transporter and the goon who drove it. “Do you know who he is?”
Conflicting emotions rose in me. Fury that Alexei had been up in my business warred with relief that he’d got straight to the point so I could end the conversation before it began.
“Course I know who he is. He’s the enforcer for a property firm. Some cunts from Surrey. What do you care?”
“What I care about is not important. I am asking if you know who is tracking your every move and why they are doing it.”
“And I’m saying it doesn’t matter. They can watch me as much as they like. I’m not that interesting.”
In my peripheral, I caught the protest that collapsed Rubi’s feigned stoicism. He was so fucking strong, inside and out, but I was his weakness. Always had been. “Riv, if some arsehole is—”
“Is what? Eating his lunch outside my garage every day? He’s gonna get done for kicking it outside a primary school before he gets in my face.”
