Not even me.
Especially not me. If he had, he’d have burned me alive with the heat blazing from his fucking eyeballs.
I left them to their staredown and swept the bar. Nash was still by the doors, torn between guard duty and Orla who was dancing up a storm on purpose, goading him, the way he deserved.
He’ll break soon.
Rubi had joined Embry and Mateo, but his gaze kept flitting to a group of brothers by the pool table. I stepped away from Cam and Alexei and began to move through the crowd, weaving my way subtly enough that I didn’t have to touch anyone. I was a big guy, but no one noticed me, save Alexei. Even with my back to him, I felt his eyes on me, taking it all in.
I reached the other side of the bar and dropped into a crouch beside Rubi. “What is it?”
He jumped. “Fuck. Are you even human?”
I waited, not taking the bait. Verbal pot shots were Rubi’s jam, but I didn’t have time for his bullshit. I needed to know what was making him frown and subconsciously reach for the screwdriver tucked in his boot.
Rubi took the hint and leaned closer. “Them blokes who patched over from the Swindon charter. They were watching Cam before I came over. Now they’re watching Alexei and whispering like fuckwitted schoolgirls.”
I followed his gaze to the Swindon clique and listed their names in my head. Davies, Wheeler, Eric, and Leon. Their charter had collapsed through financial mismanagement. Most of their members were wasters, so we’d turned them away, but we’d kept these fuckers for their fists, all of them good fighters when we needed extra hands on the street.
They’d never integrated, though. And I knew why: Cam didn’t like them. He’d never said, but some shit you just knew. Besides, these guys had been Cracker’s idea and no good ever came from that cunt’s influence.
“Alexei’s gonna see them,” I said to no one in particular.
Embry heard me. His stormy eyes were tired and distant enough that Mateo was all up in his personal space, but the good chaplain was always listening. “Maybe you should let it play out. We don’t know Alexei’s plans for the future, but as long as he’s here, the masses need to show some respect.”
It amused me that he knew Alexei wouldn’t let this shit fly. Thatsomethingwas gonna happen. Something not even Cam could control. “I don’t know what he’ll do.”
“That’s the point,” Embry counselled. “Let him carve this out himself. I get the feeling he won’t want any help anyway, not even yours.”
He smiled.
I smiled back because despite the fact that I gave him nothing, he’d still spent every day I’d known him trying to learn the ways of my fucked-up brain. “It could be messy.”
“So? We like mess.”
“True that,” Rubi said. “And we could use some entertainment, seeing as we’re all sober as fuck.”
“Speak for yourself.” Embry hauled himself upright, a wince clouding his face. “I need to sleep. Tell me all about it tomorrow.”
He turned to leave, Mateo a heartbeat behind him, but he stopped and held up his hand, halting Mateo in his tracks. “Stay in case Cam needs you.”
“He won’t need me,” Mateo growled. “He’s got Saint and Alexei all over that shit.”
“For now.” Embry’s weary gaze hardened. “But Saint’s right: it’s gonna get messy and you have a job to do.”
He walked away, slipping through the crowd. Mateo watched him go, jaw ticking, and I felt his tortured frustration as if it was my own. How many times had my heart screamed at me to be with Cam when my rightful place had been with my brothers instead?
I gave him an out. “When Rubi was laid up, Embry sat outside Cam’s room for two days in case he needed anything. Makes sense for you to do the same.”
Mateo sighed and leaned against the back of Rubi’s chair. “Yeah, but Rubi ain’t a crazy bastard.”
“I’ll take that.” Rubi lit another cigarette. “You young’uns are wild.”
“Fuck off.” Mateo swiped Rubi’s smoke and claimed it for himself. “We ain’t that young.”
“Yeah? Why you acting like a lovesick teenager then?”
“Says the dude who’s been hung up on his president’s kid brother—”