Page 149 of Love Thy Brother
“There’s still time to change your mind.” He nudged my knee under the table. “I can burn this contract in a heartbeat.”
“I haven’t changed my mind.”
“Something else bothering you?”
Yeah. The love of my life was supposed to be home any minute and he was four fucking hours away.
Orla didn’t know. I could tell by her smug face, and maybe I should’ve left it, but I was feeling spiky. “Your big wanky lorry broke down. Nash and Rubes are stuck in Leeds.”
Her grin soured and she snatched her phone from the table. “How do you know that?”
“Magic.”
“Fuck,” she cursed. “Nash said his phone’s dying and he can’t charge it in the truck.”
“He’ll have a power bank, Orls.” Cam was scowling at his own phone.
Hated to be the bearer of more bad news, but I showed him Rubi’s latest messages anyway. “That’s dead too, and the service station doesn’t have any in stock. Nash is gonna try and source a battery and fit it, but if he can’t do that in the next few hours they’ll be stuck there all night.”
Without phones. Rubi’s was dying too.
Growling, Cam got up and moved to the chapel door. He spoke to someone I couldn’t see. Locke, maybe. He seemed to go everywhere Orla did.
After a minute of violent silence, Cam came back and gave us both a big-brother look. “If they aren’t on the road by dark, I’ll get Ranger to ride some boys out to them. Watch their backs while they get some sleep.”
I fired a glare at him. “I wasn’t thinking about them getting jumped at a service station. Thanks for giving me something else to worry about.”
“They’ll be okay, Riv.”
Don’t call me that.
The ragey retort burned my throat. Somehow, I reined it in. Took the envelope from him and studied the paperwork. Without Rubi to explain complicated shit to me, it blew my mind. But Alexei was my new BFF and he’d already highlighted anything important. “This is the clause that says they can’t sell it for thirty years?”
“Yup. It’s watertight, but I don’t think you need to worry about it anyway. I met one of these guys this morning and he hates cut-throat development as much as we do.”
“Who did you meet?” Orla perked up. “Was it the hot football player?”
Cam’s gaze drifted to the chapel door before he answered. “Nope. But the dude I talked to wasn’t exactly ugly. I liked him.”
“Because he was pretty?”
“Cos there’s a shortage of pretty men in my life.” Cam ruffled Orla’s hair. “Nah, it was more that he wasn’t a total wanker. It makes everything easier.”
While they talked about hot dudes I’d never met, I picked up a pen and started signing the bits that didn’t need to be witnessed by an Alexei-approved solicitor.
My phone flashed as I was finishing up—an incoming call from Rubi that stopped before I could answer.
I called him back. Nothing happened.
Cam kicked me under the table. “What’s up?”
“Nothing.” I got up and left the chapel before I tried Rubi again.
This time it rang, but he declined the call.
A text popped up a second later.
Rubi:Phone’s about to snuff it. Can you tell Cam we got a battery for the rig. Gonna take a while to fit it and it ain’t the right one, but it’ll get us back if we’re lucky
